Why Coffee Is Made From Freshly Roasted Beans

Coffee is made from roasted coffee beans, and freshness decides how much aroma actually reaches the cup. Beans sold in supermarkets or by large chain brands often carry roasting dates months in the past, and nitrogen flushing cannot replace what time has taken. If the bag is a gift for someone who knows coffee, skip the supermarket shelf and look for a recent roast date instead.

Beyond the date, three pieces of information tell you whether a seller pays attention: variety, altitude, and processing method, plus an origin stated as specifically as possible. China produces less than one percent of the world's coffee beans, so most beans on the market are imported, which makes these details matter more. Small traders who publish them are usually the ones worth buying from.

Coffee, red wine, and tea are all flavor foods, yet China's coffee bean production accounts for only about 1% of the global total, and most beans on the market are imported. If you just want to try branded beans in a sharing spirit, feel free to give them a try; but if you're giving them to someone who knows coffee, it's best to give up on buying from large supermarkets. Whether espresso or single-origin, there is only one core principle when choosing: fresh roasting. Beans from supermarkets or chain brands often have roasting dates months in the past, with serious loss of aroma, and even nitrogen-flushing and other preservation techniques can't make up for it. In addition, if you can obtain the three pieces of information—variety, altitude, and processing method—and the more specific the origin, the more reliable the quality usually is. This article recommends several freshly roasted specialty coffee brands and explains why small bean merchants deserve more attention.

Coffee, red wine, and tea all belong to the category of flavor foods, and China's coffee bean production is less than 1% of the global total, so most coffee beans on the market rely on imports.

If you're just buying some branded beans with a sharing attitude that doesn't expect much from the flavor, there's no harm in giving them a try. Or if you're planning to buy a bag of coffee for someone who knows coffee, then please give up on buying coffee beans in large supermarkets. Whether it's espresso or single-origin coffee, the most basic principle for choosing coffee beans is only one: fresh roasting. Starbucks or supermarkets alike—just check the roasting date, and most are products from months ago. Coffee is made from roasted coffee beans, and the longer since roasting, the more aroma is lost. Although some brands use various preservation techniques (such as nitrogen flushing), beans that are several months old have certainly lost a great deal of their aroma. Some major brands, in order to make their coffee beans keep longer, also roast the beans darker—in other words, losing even more flavor.

Besides freshness, no matter which country the coffee comes from, if you can find three pieces of information about the beans: variety, altitude, and processing method. If the seller pays attention to these three elements of coffee beans, the resulting beans won't be bad. On the other hand, the more specifically the origin can be identified—the smaller the region—the better it naturally is. For example, Front Street Coffee's Hambela Florals beans from Sidamo Province, Ethiopia, in most cases can be believed to be of higher quality than generic Ethiopian coffee beans.

Below are several recommended freshly roasted specialty coffee bean brands.

Front Street Coffee: A roasting shop in Guangzhou. The storefront is small, but the variety of beans is diverse—you can find all kinds of famous and not-so-famous beans. It also offers an online store. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Mingqian: I've visited them. One big feature of Mingqian is that the branding is done impressively. But as for the coffee—ha—let's talk about something else. Here Su Tiepi played a big role. In China, being able to recruit someone who can design, loves coffee, and is willing to work with you is truly not easy. I really admire Zhongshun for this. https://shop36409483.taobao.com

Jialumeng: Said to be opened by Japanese people, but Japanese people always do things differently from people of other countries—always going their own way, not following internationally common evaluation standards, so the roasting method is not mainstream.

Zhiguansp: I don't know much about it, but I just searched and saw the screen full of baristas' credentials and was speechless... Dude, can you have a bit of coffee shop character? https://zhiguansp.tmall.com

Black Mage: Never heard of it either, and I looked it up. You can drink it for fun, but if you want to advance and drink better coffee, you can give up on this one.

Uncle Bean: This is a coffee shop that puts more thought into marketing than into coffee. Surprisingly, sales are still mediocre... https://doushu.tmall.com

Fisher coffee: This one is okay, just slightly expensive. https://shop33121581.taobao.com

17 Degree Coffee: Recommended for beginners, not expensive, and high cost-performance.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.