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In the cold winter, many friends often visit Front Street's store, and as soon as they step in, they order a warm hot latte. After tasting the rich wine aroma in Front Street's latte, they want to try the espresso directly. Watching Front Street's barista go through a whole routine, even though they only ordered an espresso, they end up with an extra glass of ice water. Front Street believes that many people, when ordering espresso for the first time, will more or less have some doubts: What is the correct way to drink espresso? There is already water, so why does the barista still bring a glass of ice water?

Front Street has also seen friends pour the espresso directly into the ice water. Since espresso is characterized by concentrated and rich flavors, some may not be used to it, so they mistakenly use the ice water to dilute the espresso.

The method of making espresso may seem simple—just dose the grounds, distribute them, tamp, then lock on the brew head and extract to get an aromatic, golden, viscous liquid. However, making a nearly perfect espresso requires experienced skill.

The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) once explained espresso preparation as follows: 9–10 bars of pressure, 7 to 9 grams of coffee grounds, 88 to 92°C water temperature, 22 to 28 seconds, extracting 45 milliliters of espresso.

With the arrival of the third wave of coffee, coffee beans are roasted lighter, and improvements in espresso machine manufacturing technology have greatly changed today's espresso extraction parameters: 9–10 bars of pressure, 18 grams of coffee grounds, 92 to 94°C water temperature, 25 to 27 seconds, extracting 30 grams of espresso. Visibly, the extraction amount has changed from milliliters to grams, making it more precise.

When extracting espresso, people consider many factors such as the ambient temperature and humidity, the roast level of the coffee beans, freshness, grind size, extraction pressure, time, and more.

Front Street adjusts various parameters every day before serving to ensure consistently high-quality espresso.

When adjusting parameters, Front Street considers factors such as grind size, extraction pressure, dose, and extraction yield.

[Grind size] If the grind is finer, the surface contact area between coffee particles and water increases, and more flavor compounds are extracted; if too fine, there will be over-extracted flavors; vice versa.

[Extraction pressure] In early espresso machines, the extraction pressure was close to atmospheric pressure. If the pressure is too low, the extracted crema is less, the flavor is weaker, and the mouthfeel is thin; if the pressure is too high, the extremely high pressure will damage too much coffee structure and extract more unnecessary flavor compounds, easily producing a bitter taste.

[Dose] The dose generally depends on the capacity of the coffee basket. If too little is used, it is easy to under-extract; if too much, the portafilter cannot be locked on and brewing is impossible.

[Extraction yield] Generally speaking, the extraction ratio is close to 1:2. After extraction begins, as time passes, the flavor and mouthfeel are richer in the early stage and thinner in the later stage.

FrontStreet Coffee's espresso extraction parameters

Grinder: Galileo Q18

Grind size: 2.1

Coffee machine: Pegasus E98

Pressure: 9±2 bar

Temperature: 90–96°C

Dose: 19.5 grams

Extraction yield: 35 grams

The espresso extracted by Front Street using the above adjusted parameters has a rich whiskey aroma on the palate, obvious vanilla and cream flavors, berry acidity, a long dark chocolate finish, and a viscous, smooth mouthfeel.

Front Street Sunflower Warm Sun blend coffee beans

Origin: Honduras & Ethiopia

Varieties: Caturra, Catuai, Pacas, local heirloom varieties

Processing method: washed & natural

The reason Front Street's espresso blend has such a rich wine aroma is that 70% of it consists of Honduran Sherry coffee beans. After refined washed processing, Honduran Sherry coffee beans are placed in sherry whiskey barrels for low-temperature fermentation for dozens of days, allowing the sweet sherry whiskey aroma to slowly penetrate into the green coffee beans. They are then spread out in a cool place to dry, avoiding direct sunlight that would raise the temperature and cause the wine aroma to dissipate or even produce undesirable fermented flavors. The other 30% is Ethiopian natural Red Cherry, using the most original and traditional natural processing method, giving the coffee beans a longer finish and more pronounced sweet and sour notes.

On FrontStreet Coffee's pour-over coffee bean list, there are two single-origin coffee beans: Honduras Sherry and Ethiopian natural Red Cherry. Front Street needs to remind you not to think about buying these two single-origin beans and blending them yourself at home to make espresso. This is because different extraction methods express different flavors, and even the roast levels are different. To avoid the problem of unused coffee beans going to waste, Front Street custom-blended this espresso blend with the consideration of meeting the needs of both espresso and pour-over.

Next, let Front Street tell everyone how to drink espresso.

When serving espresso, FrontStreet Coffee generally pairs it with a small spoon and a glass of ice water. Before drinking the espresso, take a sip of ice water to clean the palate, then use the small spoon to slightly open the golden crema on top to check the quality of the espresso. Then take a sip, let the coffee liquid stay in your mouth for a moment to experience its flavor and mouthfeel, and rinse your mouth with ice water before each sip, so as to fully experience the flavor and mouthfeel of the espresso at different temperatures. Of course, if you personally like, you can also use the small spoon to stir the entire cup of espresso, mixing the upper and lower layers evenly before drinking.

If you want to use this espresso blend to make pour-over coffee, Front Street recommends using a KONO dripper, 87°C water temperature, and a medium-coarse grind.

Dripper: KONO dripper

Water temperature: 87°C

Dose: 15 grams

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Grind size: 70% passing through China standard No. 20 sieve

Pour water in a "の" shape to completely wet the coffee grounds and let them bloom for 30 seconds. Then pour from the center with a small stream and slowly circle to 125 grams for the first stage. When the water level in the dripper drops to just about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring gently and slowly in circles up to 225 grams and stop. The total extraction time is about 2 minutes.

After Front Street's Sunflower Warm Sun blend is extracted by pour-over, it also has a rich whiskey aroma on the palate, berry acidity, obvious vanilla and cream notes, and a full-bodied mouthfeel.

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