Nowadays, many people are learning to make espresso at home, hoping it will have golden crema and a rich, fragrant coffee aroma, so a fresh bag of high-quality espresso beans is very important.
A perfect espresso first depends on freshly roasted coffee beans, which not only bring layered coffee aromas but also present dense and rich crema. Front Street Coffee has always adhered to the most important point—the freshness of coffee beans. Therefore, Front Street Coffee beans are all roasted within 5 days and support shipping within 24 hours, achieving all-around freshness.
Secondly, it is not that the fresher the espresso beans, the better. Without a 7-12 day resting period, the abundant carbon dioxide inside the coffee beans will be pressed into the crema, forming a very thick crema, but this crema is very rough and unstable, and will quickly rupture and break down, while the coffee's flavor will be relatively weak.
Second, the richness of espresso crema is mainly determined by the coffee variety and the degree of roasting. Currently, coffee trees used for commercial cultivation are mainly divided into three categories: Arabica, Robusta, and Liberica. Among them, Liberica is rarely seen on the market because its yield is very small and its flavor is not outstanding.
It is generally believed that Arabica coffee beans grown at high altitudes have elegant aroma and taste, and depending on the variety and growing location, they will show richer floral and fruity notes or chocolate notes. The last one, Robusta, is mostly grown in low-altitude environments. Its advantages are large yield and strong disease resistance. It is usually roasted dark, and its crema is much richer than that of Arabica, and it has a strong taste and heavy mouthfeel.
From the perspective of origin, the crema performance of Arabica from the Americas and Asia is somewhat better than that from Africa, so they are more common in espresso beans. In addition, the roast level also affects the richness of the crema. Generally, the darker the roast, the better the crema performance, so in order to show good crema, espresso beans are usually medium-dark roasted or dark roasted.
The combination of Arabica + Robusta — Front Street Classic Blend Coffee
Flavor: caramel, butter, roasted nuts, dark chocolate
In order to highlight the classic "Mamba Blend" flavor, we selected Front Street Mandheling and Front Street Brazil as the main base, giving the espresso a viscous texture and rich aroma. At the same time, considering the coffee's rich layers, we also added a small portion of Vietnamese Robusta to maximize the crema. A hot latte made with it has a rich chocolate aroma while still being smooth like creamy nuts. Front Street Classic Espresso Blend is not only suitable for all beginners to try for the first time, but can also be used as a daily staple for home use.
The combination of American beans + Asian beans — Front Street Dark Cocoa Blend Coffee
Flavor: nuts, chocolate, cream, cookies
For cost-effectiveness, we launched this high-quality espresso blend that combines stable taste, moderate crema, balanced acidity and bitterness, and an affordable price. It uses a formula combining Front Street Yunnan Small Grain and Front Street Brazil Red Bourbon. During extraction, it has a rich aroma of caramel and nuts. Because a medium-dark roast is used to retain slight fruity acidity, the taste of an Americano is relatively refreshing, while a latte highlights the sweetness of milk. This Front Street Dark Cocoa Blend is very suitable for home users who prioritize cost.
Spiced chocolate aromatic single origin — Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling SOE
Flavor: spices, herbs, dark chocolate, caramel, nuts, sandalwood
Unlike espresso blend beans, SOE pursues highlighting the flavor of a single origin, and can reflect obvious origin characteristics in espresso. Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling SOE coffee has undergone one machine screening + three hand sortings, and is an outstanding example of Indonesian specialty Arabica. The espresso made from it has obvious flavors of spices, herbs, pine wood, and dark chocolate, with a mellow taste and lasting finish. It can be used for daily extraction as a high-quality single origin espresso, and can also be used to make pour-over, moka pot, and other coffees.
Creamy mixed nuts single origin — Front Street Brazil Queen's Manor SOE
Flavor: creamy peanut, chocolate, toast, maple syrup
Brazil is a major producing country. Its specialty coffee beans naturally carry nutty aromas. When used as a blend, they bring a very good sense of balance. As an espresso SOE, it has obvious creamy mixed nut flavors, sweet and rich, with a slight sweetness of sucrose. Paired with milk, it is like drinking a cup of warm, clear, and sweet hot cocoa, very comforting.
After choosing the right coffee beans, what remains is the issue of extraction. To extract rich golden crema, the extraction pressure must be maintained at 9 bar. Some small home machines that use vibration pumps find it difficult to stabilize the pressure throughout the entire extraction, which is also a reason for insufficient crema.
After having sufficient hardware support, the next thing is the extraction method, such as the coffee-to-liquid ratio. Some friends may think that to get richer crema, they should extract more coffee liquid, and then the crema will increase accordingly. But if you observe the process of coffee flowing out, you should notice that what comes out first is brown-black, then brown-yellow, then golden-yellow, and finally yellow-white.
After having sufficient hardware support, the next thing is the extraction method, such as the coffee-to-liquid ratio. Some friends may think that to get richer crema, they should extract more coffee liquid, and then the crema will increase accordingly. But if you observe the process of coffee flowing out, you should notice that what comes out first is brown-black, then brown-yellow, then golden-yellow, and finally yellow-white.
This is the process of coffee crema changing from thick to light. The further into the later stage, the thinner the crema becomes, and the color becomes lighter accordingly, which instead affects the overall quality of the espresso. Front Street's espresso coffee-to-liquid ratio is usually between 1:1.8-2, and rarely exceeds 1:2. For example, the parameters adjusted today are 20 grams of coffee powder extracted into 40 grams of coffee liquid in 30 seconds.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
