On weekdays, you can come into contact with a variety of customers at the bar, and quite a few of these customers are not used to acidic coffee beans. Usually, coffee with strong acidity is lighter roasted coffee, and indeed some lighter roasted coffee has an unacceptable sourness. Therefore, guests are naturally left with the impression that the lighter the coffee is roasted, the more acidic the coffee will be.
So is this really the case? This depends on the source of the acidity in the coffee and the changes in these acids during the roasting process.
●The sour substances contained in green coffee beans include malic acid, citric acid, tartaric acid, chlorogenic acid, phosphoric acid, etc.
During the roasting process of coffee, the sugars and organic acids in the beans will begin to degrade due to heat or decompose into acids such as formic acid, acetic acid, lactic acid, fumaric acid, and cornic acid. However, as the roasting degree deepens, these acids will continue to degrade or evaporate.
During the roasting process, the most dramatic changes in sourness and acid concentration occur during the development stage after first crack begins. It seems that the acid in the coffee will reach the highest value at a certain point after the first crack and then decrease due to the thermal decomposition or volatilization of the acid.
In fact, at the beginning of the first crack, organic acids such as formic acid and acetic acid in coffee will be generated in large quantities, reaching a maximum value near the end of the first crack, and then begin to decrease. The original organic acids such as citric acid and malic acid will be slowly decomposed as the first explosion proceeds. Citric acid and malic acid are acids that taste brighter and more pleasant, while acetic acid and formic acid are highly volatile, taste and smell sour, and can be irritating in high concentrations.
Moreover, after the first crack begins, the sucrose in the coffee will slowly be consumed in the reaction. Therefore, in fact, coffee tastes the most sour during the medium-light roasting stage. When it comes to extremely light and light roasting, because the sucrose in the coffee beans is more retained and the total amount of organic acids is not that large, it actually tastes soft and sour with a natural sweetness. Some green beans that originally contain higher sugar content will even taste strongly sweet if they are roasted to this stage.
●Bake a Front Street Papua New Guinea washed iron pickle, and bake it twice. We tried our best to make the yellowing point before the first crack and the first crack point the same, and only changed the development time after the first crack.
The first bean dropped at 190.5 degrees 1:20 seconds after the first crack (the intensive middle part of the first crack)
The second one dropped beans at 191.8 degrees 1:40 seconds after the first burst (the tail of the first burst)
Cup test results:
The first one: The entrance is sour and soft, and then the sweetness will soon join. However, the aroma will be relatively simple and slightly similar to ginseng.
Second branch: The acidity at the entrance will be brighter, the acidity is higher, the sweetness appears later, the aroma is more complex, and there will be a fruit-like aroma.
Therefore, in fact, it is not that the lighter the roasting degree, the more acidic the coffee will be. It is related to the complex changes and combinations of various flavor substances in coffee roasting. However, there is no doubt that roasting too lightly will cause the coffee beans to have a green and astringent taste.
●Recommended brands of coffee beans that are more acidic
Fruity acidity and floral aroma, as the iconic flavor of medium-light roasted coffee beans, are deeply loved by people. A few days ago, a friend who is keen on fruity coffee asked Front Street Street what kind of coffee he could recommend with its own floral and fruity aroma. In this case, let’s find out what fruity single-origin coffee beans are recommended one by one~
1、Bright citrus acid + white floral aroma - Front Street Guodingding coffee beans
Guodingding Cooperative, with 300 cooperative small farmers, is famous for growing the best quality coffee in Ethiopia. The processing method also follows the most traditional washing method, which is known as "Yirgacheffe's last pure land". For those who come to Front Street to drink coffee, if they want to drink washed fruit-flavored coffee, FrontStreet Coffee baristas will give priority to recommending the fruit coffee on the bean rack. The washed Guo Ding Ding Cooperative coffee not only lacks the bitterness of traditional black coffee, but also has fresh and bright citrus, citric acidity, and the fragrance of jasmine, making many coffee drinkers fall in love with it as soon as they drink it.
2. Rich berry aroma + cherry tomato acidity - Front Street Kenyan cherry tomato coffee beans
For those who naturally like acidity, Front Street has always recommended this bean, so in terms of acidity alone, no other coffee can compete with it. The first varieties of this Kenyan coffee are SL28 and SL34. Both SL28 and SL34 are varieties selected after multiple breedings. SL28 belongs to the Bourbon genetic group and has the bright tone and rich acidity of the original Bourbon. The SL34 bloodline is closer to Typica’s genes and has a milder acidity. Secondly, it uses the unique local K72 water washing treatment method. The multiple soaking and washing mode creates clean but solid fruit acids. The iced coffee made from Front Street cherry tomatoes has a dark berry flavor and a plump cherry tomato aroma. It is very enjoyable to drink when iced. Therefore, it is also the first choice of many friends for cold brew.
3. Raisins + Fruit Gummies - Front Street Strawberry Candy
Compared with other fruity coffees, the "origin" of this bean is somewhat special, because it combines two well-known production areas in Central and South America, one is honey-processed coffee from Costa Rica, and the other is washed Gesha from Panama. In order to highlight its essence as much as possible, Front Street adopts medium roasting, so that it can show both tangerine honey flavor and mellow sweetness when brewing. It is suitable for cold brewing, hand brewing, espresso and other extraction methods. It is refreshing in the mouth.
4. The acidity of passion fruit + the sweetness of blueberries - Front Street Columbia Big Belly Button
At the 2023 WBC Finals, Australian player Jack Simpson used a coffee called Big Belly Button, and fully demonstrated its rich juice flavor through three different drinks. This slightly strange variety also attracted people's attention. Front Street Big Navel Coffee comes from Whelan, a famous production area in Colombia. It is produced by the Divide Manor. It is processed using a double anaerobic sun-drying process, which allows the coffee cherries to successfully release the attractive floral and fruity aroma. Each time it is brewed, it always has rich flavors of grapes, oranges, blueberries, etc.
5. Citrus sour + honey grapefruit tea - Front Street Flower Butterfly
Butterfly consists of three coffee varieties: Gesha, Caturra, and Carduay, all produced in the famous Poquete in Panama, where the familiar Jade Manor and Alida Manor are located. Through searching for information, Front Street learned that in the past, in order to pursue yield, Gesha varieties were planted together with coffee tree species from Caturra and Carduai. In order to highlight the characteristics of Geisha, they began to subdivide and collect the three varieties, and used exquisite washing and processing, and finally mixed them together for packaging when exporting. Since high-quality Gesha accounts for 70%, the coffee has obvious grapefruit, citrus and light floral aromas, and the washing process also gives the coffee a translucent tea feel.
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
