How Do You Choose Espresso Coffee Beans for a Cafe?

Espresso coffee beans fall into two broad groups: commercial beans and specialty beans. Specialty beans cost several times more and deliver distinctive, traceable flavor, while commercial beans are cheaper and designed for milk drinks such as lattes and cappuccinos. The choice depends on the shop's positioning, drink menu, and how much room for profit the owner needs.

Specialty beans are high-quality green beans, free of defects, roasted to express a variety's own character, like the chocolate note of Brazilian beans or the citrus note of Yirgacheffe. When blending coffee beans, common origin combinations pair Brazil and Colombia for sweetness and body, with Ethiopia or Sumatra added for aroma. Extraction parameters and daily volume decide whether the higher bean cost pays off.

Faced with a dazzling array of coffee beans, should espresso use commercial beans or specialty beans? This article compares the differences between the two types of coffee beans from the perspectives of cost, flavor, and quality, outlines the six major characteristics of specialty coffee beans and the blending advantages of commercial beans, and offers bean selection advice based on a coffee shop's positioning. It also explains in detail the common origin combinations and extraction parameters for espresso blends, as well as the flavor characteristics of specialty regions such as Ethiopia, Colombia, Sumatra, and Brazil. At the end, Front Street espresso blend coffee beans are recommended to meet daily production needs with high cost-effectiveness.

In the coffee market, coffee beans can be broadly divided into two categories: commercial beans and specialty coffee beans. In terms of price, specialty coffee beans are often several times more expensive than commercial beans. If cost alone is considered, choosing commercial beans clearly leaves more room for profit. However, the coffee extracted from commercial beans is far inferior in flavor to specialty coffee beans and is usually more suitable for making espresso-based milk drinks such as lattes and cappuccinos.

Which tastes better, specialty coffee beans or commercial Front Street espresso coffee beans, and how should a coffee shop choose?

Regarding specialty coffee beans, there are several characteristics that need to be clarified first.

The concept of specialty coffee only gradually became popular in recent years, and its definition is actually still relatively vague. In simple terms, specialty coffee beans refer to high-quality green beans that, through exquisite roasting techniques, fully restore the unique flavors contained within the coffee beans themselves. This taste belongs only to that variety itself. After roasting is completed, they also need to be enjoyed within the optimal drinking period.

Characteristics of good-tasting specialty coffee beans:

1. Specialty coffee beans must be high-quality beans with no defective beans.

2. Specialty coffee beans must come from excellent varieties, and the resulting coffee beans have unique aroma and flavor with a distinct character. For example, Brazilian beans have a chocolate note, and Yirgacheffe beans have a citrus note.

3. Specialty coffee beans have relatively high requirements for the growing environment. They are usually grown at an altitude of 1,500 meters or even above 2,000 meters, with suitable rainfall, sunlight, temperature, and soil conditions. For example, the volcanic ash soil of Antigua, Guatemala, provides a good foundation for the growth of specialty coffee.

4. The harvesting method for specialty coffee beans is best done by hand-picking.

5. Specialty coffee beans are processed using refined methods. Careful washing and sun-drying, along with various refined green bean processing methods, give the coffee "layered," "fruit-acidic," "sweet," and "mellow" flavors.

6. Specialty coffee has a strict grading system. Strict grading ensures uniform quality. In addition, protection during storage and transportation is also quite important, such as controlling temperature and humidity, ventilation conditions, and avoiding the absorption of off-flavors. If these steps are not done well, even beans of the highest grade will no longer be specialty.

Front Street commercial espresso blend coffee beans are good-tasting characteristics

Commercial beans generally refer to coffee beans whose own quality is not high, with lower quality and a relatively high defect rate. In terms of price, specialty coffee beans are several times more expensive than commercial beans. From a cost perspective, choosing commercial beans naturally offers greater profit potential. Those produced and packaged on a large-scale, mass-produced basis are generally commercial beans.

As far as the flavor of a single bean is concerned, the coffee made from commercial beans is far inferior to specialty coffee beans. Generally, commercial beans are used for blending, and through blending, coffee with quite a good taste can also be made.

This type of commercial coffee bean is usually relatively cheap. Whether in terms of green beans or roasting techniques, it can only be said to be produced according to mass-production standards. The biggest difference between specialty coffee and commercial coffee beans lies in quality and price. Specialty coffee beans may cost 90 yuan per pound, while the lowest price for commercial beans can be around 40-50 yuan per pound.

How should a coffee shop choose espresso blend coffee beans

Overall, how to choose coffee beans also depends on the coffee shop's own positioning. If a coffee shop pursues cost control, commercial beans are generally used for espresso. If making specialty coffee and providing customers with authentic freshly ground coffee, then specialty coffee beans will be the best choice. The most commonly used varieties are usually several, including Brazil, Colombia, Blue Mountain, Yirgacheffe, and Mandheling.

Recommended good-tasting espresso blend coffee beans

Coffee made by blending coffee beans from multiple origins. The roaster will roast two to four kinds of coffee beans at the same time. The coffee beans come from different origins and growing countries, and each type of coffee is roasted in a different way.

In order to provide your favorite coffee taste, they are blended according to different ratios (roasting and blending). Coffee is a natural product from a plant, so it is a living, constantly changing thing. Every time coffee is roasted, its taste must also be tasted. Blending about 2-3 different coffee beans to achieve balanced flavor and deliciousness is truly a technical skill.

Colombia, Nicaragua, Brazil: chocolate, nuts, caramel

Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda: sweet, sour, nutty, lemon notes, sometimes astringent

India, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea: vegetal, spicy, salty

In the industry, blends with lower acidity are generally used. For example, commercial-grade beans such as Vietnamese robusta, Brazil, Yunnan, Mandheling, and Guatemala are used for blending. Espresso coffee beans are usually given a dark roast or medium-dark roast, which produces better crema and makes them suitable for espresso, lattes, and other milk coffees.

An ideal cup of Espresso should achieve a balance among all elements, with a distinct mouthfeel, and after drinking it, the throat should feel mellow rather than bitter.

To put it more specifically, it should have moderate acidity, bitterness, and sweetness, rich flavors, a solid and thick body, and a lingering finish, giving people a refreshing citrus-like acidic aftertaste～

Extracting a cup of espresso

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- Water temperature | 93-94℃

- Pressure | 9 ba

- Freshly ground coffee powder | 20 grams (use a digital scale)

- Total coffee weight | 40 grams (use a digital scale)

- Brewing time | 25-28 seconds (use a timer)

Specialty coffee beans Ethiopia

Ethiopia is an agricultural country with a history and tradition that can be called the birthplace of coffee. Yirgacheffe is one of the production areas in southern Sidamo. About 12 million people are engaged in coffee production, making it a major Arabica coffee bean exporter in Africa. The high-quality coffee here is outstanding and worth seeking out. It has a soft mouthfeel, an aroma of wine with a wild note, and a slight acidity. After drinking it, it is unforgettable.

If you are a student who really likes African beans, you should easily notice that, compared with Kenya, Ethiopian beans generally vary more in size and are noticeably lower in uniformity. Whether Yirgacheffe or Sidamo, whether washed or sun-dried, sometimes in the same batch of coffee beans you can observe clearly different roast colors and particle sizes. Nearly 2,000 coffee varieties in Ethiopia have been recorded, including 1,927 native varieties and 128 introduced foreign varieties. So if you judge by appearance alone, Ethiopian coffee varieties are a "Grand View Garden," containing everything: long, short, thin, fat...

[Front Street Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Aricha] (sun-dried, light roast) -- light fermented wine aroma, sweet orange, spices, honey sweetness. Aricha Processing Station sun-dried Aricha is rated G1, the highest grade, by ECX. From green bean appearance, consistency, and freshness to dry aroma and flavor, it is quite excellent.

[Front Street Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Worka] (washed, light roast) -- lemon, kumquat, white grape juice. The Worka cooperative joined the famous Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union and produces high-quality washed Ethiopian coffee that can reach the highest grade, G1.

Specialty coffee beans Colombia

Colombia is one of the largest producers of high-quality coffee in the world, a shining pearl on the world coffee map, and a coffee land blessed by God. Arabica coffee is grown on steep slopes at altitudes of 800-1,900 meters in the foothills, all hand-picked and washed.

The flavor of Colombian coffee is balanced, with a relatively smooth mouthfeel, like a gentleman among coffees, proper and well-behaved. Its production areas are very broad, with the most famous ones including Medellin, Armenia, and Manizales, conventionally collectively referred to as "MAM."

Colombia's specialty bean production areas are mainly in the south, at altitudes above 1,500 meters, including San Augustin in Huila Province, Popayan in Cauca Province, Nariño Province, and Tolima Province. The products from these places all have delicate acidity and berry aromas, along with caramel aroma and abundant sweetness.

[Cauca Province] is a region certified for Colombian coffee origin. The average altitude is 1758m-2100m. 80% of Cauca Province is mountainous. The soil in the production area provides sufficient nutrients for coffee growth. Low nighttime temperatures and relatively higher altitude slow down the pace of coffee growth. Coffee from the Cauca production area has excellent acidity and widely praised sweetness.

Specialty coffee beans Sumatra

Coffee cultivation in Sumatra Mandheling began in the 18th century, when the growing area was near Aceh Province by Lake Tawar in the north. Today, most Sumatra coffee areas are located in the south, in Lintong, Subu, and Takengon. Because the differences between Sumatra's growing regions are not large, production areas are not used as the distinguishing standard. Instead, picking and processing methods have a greater impact on coffee flavor. Indonesia's main coffee-producing areas include Sumatra Island, Java Island, and Sulawesi Island, among which "Mandheling" from Sumatra Island is the most famous.

Mandheling is also called "Sumatra coffee." In the northern Lake Tawar area, it can be called Aceh coffee or Lake Tawar coffee. In the Lintong and Lake Toba areas, it can be called Mandheling.

Mainly from two production areas:

One is the Aceh production area, which includes five origins: Lake Tawar, Gayo Mountain, Gayo people, Aceh Mandheling, and Takengon Mandheling;

The other is the North Sumatra production area, consisting of four origins: Lake Toba, Lintong, Mandailing people, and Batak people.

Mandheling is one of the coffee beans most suitable for dark roasting in the world. One famous reason is that after dark roasting, its own characteristics do not disappear. Mandheling's heavy flavor and low acidity, plus its thick mouthfeel like traditional Chinese medicine, make it very popular in Asia. In fact, high-quality Mandheling is also very suitable for medium-light roasting; at this roast level, it can express a good fruity flavor.

[Front Street Indonesia Sumatra Mandheling] (traditional wet-hulled method, medium-dark roast) -- baked toast, nuts, pine, caramel, herbs. Mandheling coffee is produced in the Lake Toba area of North Sumatra Province and the Lake Tawar area of Aceh. This is the famous "Two Lakes, Two Mandhelings," with a wild mountain fragrance, the unique earthy taste of a primitive forest.

[Front Street Golden Mandheling Coffee] has a rich and solid aroma, with bright high-quality acidity, high balance, sometimes nutty notes, high sweetness, and a rich, mellow body. Flavor: baked toast, pine, caramel, cocoa, with a slight herbal earthy note.

Specialty coffee beans Brazil

This largest coffee-producing region accounts for one-third of global consumption across various grades and types of coffee, holding a place in the global coffee trading market. Although Brazil faces natural disasters several times more than other regions, its arable area is already enough to compensate.

There are many types of coffee here, but its industrial policy is oriented toward large quantity and low price, so there are not many exceptional coffees, but it is a good choice for blending with other coffees.

Among them, the most famous is Santos coffee. It has a mellow, neutral taste. It can be brewed directly or blended with other types of coffee beans into a composite coffee, and it is also a very good choice.

Other types of Brazilian coffee, such as Rio and Parana, require less care and can be produced in large quantities. Although the taste is relatively rough, they are still a good-value coffee. Because they are distributed throughout the country, their quality varies, and they have their own standards (NO.2--NO.8 according to the amount of impurities, NO.13--NO.19 according to bean size, and six grades according to taste). Almost all Arabica varieties are of good quality, and prices are very stable. The most famous are "Brazil Santos," Cerrado, and South Minas. They are necessities for blends and single-origin coffee, familiar to the public.

Flavor characteristics: mild, moderate acidity and bitterness, soft aroma.

Best roast level: medium roast, medium-dark roast

Flavor characteristics of Brazil: comfortable sweet-bitterness, extremely smooth on entry; with a light grassy aroma, fragrant with a slight bitterness; sweet and smooth, with a pleasant aftertaste;

Front Street espresso blend coffee beans brand recommendation

The Front Street espresso blend coffee beans roasted by FrontStreet Coffee have full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, the cost-effectiveness is extremely high. Taking the style recommended for commercial production—Front Street commercial espresso blend coffee beans—as an example, one bag is 454 grams per pound, priced at only about 60 yuan. Based on 10 grams of powder per single shot of espresso, one bag can make 45 cups of coffee, costing less than 1.5 yuan per cup. Even if each espresso drink uses a double shot, calculated at 20 grams of powder per serving, the price of a double espresso does not exceed 3 yuan. Compared with the price of over a hundred yuan per bag sold by a certain well-known brand, this can truly be called a conscientious recommendation and is suitable for the daily production needs of coffee shops.

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