By splitting the extracted espresso into 2~3 parts, then crafting them into different types of coffee and finally combining them for service—this is a very popular serving format in coffee shops nowadays: the Coffee combo.Since you can taste different "dishes" made from a single bean at the same time, and the cup sizes are small so they don't fill you up, Combo has won a huge following. Because of this, more and more coffee shops are starting to offer Combo(except Front Street).Although it looks simple enough, many friends find after actually making it that one cup in the combo always tastes unsatisfying. Either it's too bitter, or it tastes like nothing much, and the aroma isn't very pronounced either. So some friends, when buying beans online on Taobao, ask Front Street customer service: did I use the wrong beans?To be fair, actually all coffee beans can be used to make Combo, because as Front Street said, Combo is just splitting one espresso into two or three parts, then making them into different types of coffee. And in our daily lives, the vast majority of espresso drinks are made this way, which is why Front Street says all coffee beans can be used to make Combo.But if you have certain requirements for your Combo—for example, it needs some special aroma, an impressive memorable point—then the choice of coffee beans has certain requirements. For instance, it needs enough aroma and enough flavor, and this is also the characteristic of the coffee beans most coffee shops use when making Combo nowadays. So today, Front Street will share: what kind of coffee beans are suitable for making Combo!1. The roast level shouldn't be too extremeIf we want to make a Combo with rich aroma and outstanding flavor, then it's best not to choose very dark roasted coffee beans. Because overly dark roasting adds a lot of smoky aroma to the coffee and makes the taste heavier, and these will mask the coffee's flavors, so we can't taste the coffee's own flavor characteristics.(Not that dark roast beans are bad, just not quite suitable for this purpose)Of course, coffee beans roasted too light aren't suitable either! Although lighter roasting won't have smoky aromas masking the flavors, because there isn't enough caramelization, the coffee's sweetness won't be sufficient and it will taste rather sour. And since the flavors and taste are relatively thin, they'll easily be masked by the taste of milk, making the milk coffee taste like nothing much.Therefore, when making Combo, we'd best choose some light-medium or medium roasted coffee beans. Because beans at these roast levels both retain enough flavor, and since the caramelization happens just right, they give the coffee enough sweetness while also having the ability to stand up against the taste of milk.2. Deeper fermentation levelIf we want the coffee to have sufficiently outstanding flavor expression, then we can also limit the processing method. For example, choosing coffee beans that use deeper fermentation processing methods to make Combo. Such as natural,anaerobic, and honey processed beans.In previous posts introducing processing methods, Front Street mentioned that different processing methods cause coffee beans to undergo different degrees of fermentation. The deeper the fermentation, the richer and more prominent the coffee beans' aroma will be. Andnatural, anaerobic, honey processing and other methods will all cause coffee beans to undergo sufficiently deep fermentation, developing very rich flavors.So if we want to make a Combo with outstanding flavor expression, coffee beans processed with these methods will be a good choice.What beans meet the above two criteria?There are actually quite a lot of coffee beans that meet the above two criteria! For example, in Front Street's bean list, more than half the coffee beans satisfy these two conditions: just-right roast level, and rich, prominent aroma. Among them, there are several coffee beans that many coffee shops love to use when offering Combo—their aromas are all very rich and very special, so you can refer to them~The first is Front StreetEthiopia·Alo, and the coffee made with it has flavor notes of mango, pineapple, citrus, and magnolia; the second is Front StreetDivisoria Estate·Sidra, with flavor notes of grape, passion fruit, floral, and fruit wine; the third is Front StreetGeisha Blend·Strawberry Candy, which Front Street often shares, and the coffee made with it has prominent flavors of strawberry gummy, white floral, and citrus~Key points to note when making ComboOnce we've got suitable coffee beans, next we start making the coffee. And regarding Combo, there are many things we need to pay attention to during preparation.① Dose used:Since the espresso needs to be split into multiple portions to make different coffees, unless you normally use a relatively large dose, it's best to appropriately increase the dose used. Because we generally extract at a ratio of 1:2(or so). If the dose used is relatively small, then each portion of coffee liquid divided evenly won't be much, and the resulting cup size will therefore be smaller.(This is something coffee shops need to note for service; home users can do as they please~)② Espresso extraction:When coffee shops do their daily morning calibration, after dialing in the espresso extraction parameters, they'll also specially make a latte to verify whether this espresso can be used to make a latte. Why? Because a tasty espresso isn't necessarily suitable for making latte!When the espresso's flavor intensity isn't high enough, or the acidity is too prominent, the milk coffee made won't taste as good. It might have little coffee taste, or it might taste rather jarring. For a latte, which requires adding a lot of milk, the espresso base needs a certain bitterness to make a cup of flavorful milk coffee, while black coffees like americano don't need this. So during morning calibration, we also need to make an extra latte to check whether this espresso is suitable for making latte(one of the reasons).Therefore, many coffee shops, when making Combo, will specifically let the portion of espresso used for the latte pull a bit more espresso liquid. This can effectively boost the coffee's bitterness, increase the balance of taste, and thereby make a latte with prominent flavor.③ The ratio between coffee and materials:Lastly is the ratio. Since the coffee beans we use to make Combo are generally lighter than those used for regular espresso, we'd best appropriately adjust the ratios. For example, the coffee-to-water ratio for Combo americano, and the coffee-to-milk ratio for Combo latte, can both be appropriately increased.Taking Front Street as an example, when Front Street uses the medium-dark roasted Front Street Classic Blend from its bean list to make a regular latte, the coffee-to-milk ratio is 1:5, that is, 40ml of espresso paired with 200ml of milk.But if using the light-medium roasted Front Street Divisoira·Sidra from the bean list to make the latte in a Combo, the coffee-to-milk ratio would be 1:4~4.5. The reason is the same as Front Street mentioned earlier: because the roast isn't as dark, the flavor intensity isn't as high, so naturally you can't add too much water or milk to dilute the coffee's taste.So the above are some production notes and coffee bean selection points when making Combo. Of course, Front Street is just giving everyone a reference here; in actual practice, you still have to adjust according to the specific situation. The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
