What Makes Espresso Coffee Beans Right for Crema?

Freshness and resting period come first when choosing espresso coffee beans. Beans roasted within five days and shipped quickly arrive in good condition, but a rest of seven to twelve days is still needed before brewing. Skipping that rest pushes carbon dioxide into the crema, producing a thick-looking layer that breaks apart fast and leaves the shot tasting weak.

Variety and roast level then decide crema thickness. Arabica beans grown at high altitude give more elegant floral, fruity, or chocolate notes, while Robusta grown at low altitude yields far more crema and is usually dark roasted. Blends and SOE single-origin beans each have a place, and pressure plus coffee-to-water ratio determine how stable the final layer is.

To make a cup of espresso with golden crema and rich aroma at home, choosing the right coffee beans is the first step. Starting from freshness and resting period, this article analyzes the differences in crema performance between Arabica and Robusta, and introduces the flavor characteristics of several Front Street espresso blends and SOE single-origin beans. Then, around extraction pressure and coffee-to-water ratio, it explains how to obtain a stable and thick crema, helping coffee lovers find a balance between equipment and parameters to make a cup of espresso with a full body and rich layers.

Now more and more people are trying to make espresso at home, hoping to see a golden, shiny layer of crema floating in the cup and to smell a rich, alluring coffee aroma. The prerequisite for all of this is having a bag of fresh, high-quality espresso coffee beans.

An excellent cup of espresso is based on the fresh roasting degree of the coffee beans. Fresh beans not only release layered aromas, but also bring fine, thick crema. Front Street Coffee always regards freshness as a core principle. All Front Street Coffee beans are roasted within 5 days and support shipping within 24 hours, striving to ensure that consumers receive them while they are still in the best condition.

However, espresso coffee beans are not better the fresher they are. If the 7 to 12 day resting period is skipped, the large amount of carbon dioxide in the beans will be pressed into the crema during extraction, forming a crema that looks thick but is rough and fragile. This kind of crema will quickly break apart and dissipate, and the coffee will taste weak.

Second, the thickness of espresso crema mainly depends on the coffee variety and the roast level. Currently, commercially cultivated coffee trees are roughly divided into three categories: Arabica, Robusta, and Liberica. Among them, Liberica is rarely seen on the market due to its scarce production and mediocre flavor performance.

Generally speaking, Arabica coffee beans grown at high altitudes have more elegant aroma and flavor, and depending on the variety and origin, they display richer floral, fruity, or chocolate notes. Robusta, on the other hand, is mostly grown in low-altitude areas. Its advantages are high yield and strong disease resistance, and it is usually dark roasted. Its crema content is much higher than that of Arabica, and its taste is stronger with a heavier body.

From the perspective of origin, Arabica from the Americas and Asia often performs better in crema than African beans, so they appear more frequently in espresso recipes. In addition, the roast level also affects the richness of the crema. Generally, the darker the roast, the more prominent the crema performance, so espresso coffee beans are mostly medium-dark roasted or dark roasted.

The combination of Arabica and Robusta — Front Street Classic Blend Coffee

Flavor: caramel, butter, roasted nuts, dark chocolate

In order to present the classic "Mamba blend" style, we use Front Street Mandheling and Front Street Brazil as the base, giving the espresso a viscous texture and rich aroma. At the same time, in order to add complexity, we also add a small amount of Vietnamese Robusta to push the crema to the extreme. Using it to make a hot latte, the chocolate aroma is rich without losing the smoothness of creamy nuts. Front Street Classic Espresso Blend is suitable both for beginners trying it for the first time and as an everyday household staple coffee.

The combination of American and Asian beans — the espresso moka pot coffee beans recommended by many baristas - Front Street Black Cocoa Blend Coffee

Flavor: nuts, chocolate, cream, cookies

Starting from cost-effectiveness, we launched this high-quality espresso blend with stable taste, moderate crema, balanced acidity and bitterness, and an affordable price. The recipe uses Front Street Yunnan small-bean coffee and Front Street Brazil Red Bourbon, and during extraction you can smell the rich aroma of caramel and nuts. Because it uses a medium-dark roast and retains slight fruit acidity, it tastes refreshing as an americano, while a latte highlights the sweetness of the milk even more. This espresso moka pot coffee bean recommended by many baristas - Front Street Black Cocoa Blend - is very suitable for household users who prioritize cost.

A single-origin with rich spice and chocolate aroma — Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling SOE

Flavor: spices, herbs, dark chocolate, caramel, nuts, sandalwood

Unlike espresso blends, SOE pursues highlighting the personality of a single origin and can clearly reflect the characteristics of the origin in espresso. Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling SOE coffee has undergone one machine screening plus three manual selections, making it one of the best among Indonesian specialty Arabica beans. When used to make espresso, it presents obvious flavors of spices, herbs, pine wood, and dark chocolate, with a full body and a long finish. It can be used both as a high-quality single-origin espresso for daily extraction and for pour-over, moka pot, and other methods.

A single-origin with cream and mixed nuts — Front Street Brazil Queen's Manor SOE

Flavor: creamy peanut, chocolate, toasted bread, maple syrup

Brazil is a major coffee-producing country, and its specialty beans naturally carry nutty aromas, bringing a very good sense of balance when used as a blend component. After being made into espresso SOE, it presents obvious creamy mixed nut flavors, sweet and rich, with a slight sweetness like sucrose. After adding milk, it is like drinking a warm, gently sweet hot cocoa, very comforting.

After choosing the coffee beans, the next step is extraction. To extract a thick golden crema, the extraction pressure needs to be maintained at 9 bar. Some small household machines that use vibration pumps find it difficult to stabilize the pressure throughout the entire extraction process, which is also one of the reasons why the crema is not rich enough.

With sufficient hardware support, the next thing is the extraction method, such as the coffee-to-water ratio. Some friends think that if they want more crema, they should extract more coffee liquid, and the crema will increase accordingly. But if you carefully observe the flow process, you will find that what first comes out is brown-black, then brown-yellow, then golden-yellow, and finally yellow-white.

With sufficient hardware support, the next thing is the extraction method, such as the coffee-to-water ratio. Some friends think that if they want richer crema, they should extract more coffee liquid, and the crema will increase accordingly. But if you observe the coffee flow process, you should find that what first comes out is brown-black, then brown-yellow, then golden-yellow, and finally yellow-white.

This is exactly the process of coffee crema changing from thick to thin. The further into the later stage, the thinner the crema and the lighter its color, which instead drags down the quality of the entire cup of espresso. Front Street's espresso coffee-to-water ratio is usually controlled between 1:1.8 and 2, and rarely exceeds 1:2. For example, the parameters being tested today are 20 grams of coffee powder, extracting 40 grams of coffee liquid in 30 seconds.

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