Why are lightly roasted beans wrong for espresso extraction?

Espresso uses a fine grind, high water temperature, and high pressure, which concentrates flavor compounds and amplifies their impact on the palate. Lightly roasted single-origin beans tend to taste sharp and can suppress the coffee's own aroma, so blends built for balance and stability are the usual choice for espresso.

Coffee is an agricultural product, so flavor shifts between batches even within one producing region. A blend compensates for those gaps, keeping aroma and mouthfeel steady. Front Street's Classic Espresso Blend combines Brazil, Indonesia, and Vietnam in a dark roast that builds a thick crema for Americano, latte, or a cappuccino dry.

Espresso is the cornerstone of almost every coffee shop, and drinks like Americano, latte, cappuccino, flat white, and mocha are all built on it. To recreate a delicious espresso at home, bean selection and extraction are equally important. This article revolves around three questions: what type of coffee beans to use for making espresso, which suitable blends and single-origin beans Front Street Coffee offers, and the complete extraction process from dose, ratio, and time to operational details. The article also explains why crema forms, Front Street Coffee's practice of only shipping beans roasted within 5 days, and includes a specific recipe for an iced Americano for coffee enthusiasts to reference and practice.

Espresso is the foundation that nine out of every ten coffee shops cannot do without, and the long list of familiar names—Americano, latte, cappuccino, flat white, mocha—all extend from it. Since it is so important, can ordinary people make a decent espresso at home? And what kind of beans should be chosen to extract espresso? This time, Front Street Coffee will explain these questions thoroughly all at once.

What coffee beans should be chosen for making espresso?

The extraction characteristics of espresso are a fine grind, high water temperature, and high pressure. The flavor substances concentrated in the espresso liquid are quite dense, and the impact on the taste buds when drinking is multiplied. Because of this, if lightly roasted single-origin beans are used to extract espresso, the taste is often too sharp and instead suppresses the coffee's own aroma. In addition, coffee is ultimately an agricultural product. When the climate and soil change, even if the beans come from the same producing region, the flavor of different batches will fluctuate. The idea of a blend is to make up for shortcomings with strengths, so that every batch of output can maintain a balanced and stable aroma and mouthfeel.

If you prefer a rich and intense style, Front Street Classic Espresso Blend Coffee is worth trying. This bean is composed of Brazil, Indonesia, and Vietnam, uses a dark roast, can release the coffee's mellow aroma to the maximum, and at the same time makes it relatively easy to extract a thick, fine crema. Whether adding water to make an Americano or adding milk to make a latte, it can handle it. The purchasing channels are the Front Street Taobao store or the Front Street Tmall flagship store.

If you prefer fruity notes, you can choose Front Street Strawberry Candy Espresso Coffee Beans, which can be ordered directly from the Taobao or Tmall stores. This blend uses Front Street Costa Rica Tarrazu, which excels in honey processing, plus Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, and is supplemented with Colombian coffee beans. The espresso brewed this way is not harsh. After extraction through the coffee machine, it has good crema and a dense texture, while also carrying a sweet-and-sour taste similar to strawberry gummy candy.

A freshly made espresso will have a thick, dense golden foam floating on the surface. This is crema. It comes from the carbon dioxide released by freshly roasted beans, which foams under the high-pressure environment of the coffee machine. In order for drinkers to feel the full aroma and enjoy the most complete flavor window, Front Street Coffee only ships fresh coffee beans within 5 days after roasting.

The steps for making espresso

To make espresso, Front Street Strawberry Candy Espresso Coffee Beans are used. Every day before opening the store, the baristas at Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) first adjust the espresso extraction parameters properly, and only then officially serve drinks.

Front Street Coffee uses a double basket, and the corresponding dose for its capacity is about 18–20 grams. In actual service, 20 grams of coffee grounds are used. The extraction ratio is set at 1:2, meaning 20 grams of grounds extract 40 grams of coffee liquid. The time is related to the flow rate of the coffee grounds. A single extraction is usually controlled between 20–35 seconds—under 20 seconds the taste tends to be thin, while over 35 seconds it tends to over-extract and develop burnt bitterness. Front Street Coffee's espresso mostly falls in the 28–30 second range.

Before extraction, first wipe the basket dry, start the grinder to grind a double dose of coffee grounds, put it on the electronic scale and adjust until it is exactly 20 grams. Then use a distribution tool to level the surface of the grounds, and then use a tamper to apply force vertically downward to compact the puck, which will make extraction more stable.

Then turn on the extraction switch and let water run for 1–2 seconds, both to wet the group head and to rinse away the coffee grounds stuck on it. Place an electronic scale under the cup that will catch the espresso, tare the weight to zero, and keep it under the group head during extraction.

Gently lock the portafilter onto the group head and flip down the extraction switch. Pay attention to the changes in the extracted liquid. When the electronic scale shows that the coffee liquid has reached 40 grams and the time is about 30 seconds, flip the switch down to stop. Brewing parameters will change slightly with daily air humidity and the condition of the coffee beans, so the dose, grind setting, and amount of extracted liquid all need to be adjusted up or down accordingly.

The extracted espresso can be drunk directly. With a cup of water to rinse the mouth, you can taste the dense crema and the mellow body of the coffee liquid underneath. If you cannot accept the strong bitterness, you can also add water or milk according to your preference to dilute the concentration and soften the mouthfeel.

Front Street Coffee prefers iced Americano. The method is: in a 300 ml coffee cup, first add 90 g of ice cubes and 180 ml of cold water, then pour in 40 ml of double espresso, and stir well before drinking. On the palate there are fresh floral notes and strawberry gummy candy flavors, mixed with the sweet-and-sour notes of orange and raisin. It is icy and refreshing, very suitable for summer.

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