Whether enjoyed on its own or as part of an espresso-based drink, a good, balanced espresso is the first prerequisite. However, to produce an espresso with balanced acidity, body, and sweetness, you need to start with the right coffee beans—blending beans from different origins together.
 
When it comes to espresso beans, there are mainly two categories: one is SOE coffee that emphasizes the flavor of a single origin, and the other is blended coffee beans that pursue a balanced taste. Coffee shops usually use the latter—so what is the reason for this?

 
What are espresso blend beans?

In the past, roasters mixed different coffee beans together to hide small amounts of poorly roasted or low-quality coffee, and there was no shortage of filler in such blends. However, over time, blended coffee beans have become increasingly popular among roasters who want to offer an exclusive, signature coffee. They are also favored by roasters who want to provide coffee beans with a consistent flavor throughout the year.
 
Many roasters use single-origin coffee beans to make espresso, but because some origins may lack a well-rounded flavor profile, this can produce an unbalanced taste. For this reason, roasters who want to offer a balanced espresso usually blend coffee beans from many single origins together.

Many single-origin coffees vary with the seasons, while blended coffee beans allow roasters to maintain the same quality over a longer period. This kind of blend provides a thick texture, rich flavor, and the ability to blend perfectly with milk, so customers can enjoy a consistent and standardized coffee in every batch.

What are the characteristics of espresso blend beans?

Front Street Coffee believes that if you have a fixed recipe, the simplest approach is of course to blend the different coffee beans first and then roast them together. But if you are experimenting with and comparing different blend components and their corresponding ratios, you will of course want to roast the various coffee beans first and then carry out various trials. Otherwise, every time you change the blend components and ratios, you need to roast again.

In the field of roasting, blending first and then roasting is generally called "raw blending," while roasting first and then blending is called "roasted blending." In fact, neither method is inherently superior or inferior. The advantage of raw blending is that roasting the same batch of beans together makes the roast degree of the whole batch more consistent and the flavor stable, but when selecting beans you need to choose ones with similar screen sizes to blend, otherwise the roast may very likely be uneven. The other method, roasted blending, allows you to grasp the optimal roasting attributes of each coffee bean before blending, so that they can better complement each other's strengths.

Under normal circumstances, all the coffee beans can be roasted together. Only when the roasting results are not ideal do you need to consider using separate roasting. In such cases, separate roasting can usually achieve relatively good results. Especially for drum roasters, a relatively moderate roast level can generally be found.

Front Street Coffee has launched 5 distinctive and cost-effective blended coffee beans according to different requirements:

1. Front Street Specialty Blend Espresso Coffee Beans  (Colombia: Brazil)

Flavor characteristics: a comfortable bittersweet taste, extremely smooth on the palate, with a faint grassy aroma, a light fragrance with a slight bitterness, sweet and smooth, and a finish that leaves one feeling pleasant.

Coffee beans from Colombia's Huila region have a pleasant acidity, an aromatic scent, moderate acidity, and a rich sweetness that is very intriguing, while coffee beans from Brazil's Cerrado region have a comfortable bittersweet taste and are extremely smooth on the palate. This Front Street Specialty Blend coffee is suitable for all kinds of specialty coffee shops.
 

2. Front Street Commercial Blend Espresso Coffee Beans  (Colombia: Brazil: Vietnam)

Flavor characteristics: a classic taste, with caramel sweetness, nutty and cocoa-like, dark chocolate flavors, balanced acidity and sweetness, slightly bittersweet, and a long-lasting finish.

Coffee beans from Colombia's Huila region have a pleasant acidity, an aromatic scent, moderate acidity, and a rich sweetness that is very intriguing, while coffee beans from Brazil's Cerrado region have a comfortable bittersweet taste and are extremely smooth on the palate. Robusta provides a rich crema. This Front Street Commercial Blend coffee is suitable for coffee shops and beverage shops of all sizes.
 

3. Front StreetFront Street Black Cocoa Blend Espresso Coffee Beans (Yunnan AA: Brazil)

Flavor characteristics: with soft fruit acidity, caramel sweetness, nutty and dark chocolate flavors, smooth and viscous, but relatively light in taste.

Yunnan's natural conditions are very similar to those of Colombia, with high altitude and a large temperature difference between day and night. Its flavor is of the mellow-aroma type, with moderate acidity, a rich and full-bodied taste, uniform beans, high oil content, and fruity notes; its quality and mouthfeel are similar to Colombian coffee. Coffee beans from Brazil's Cerrado region have a comfortable bittersweet taste and are extremely smooth on the palate. This Front Street Black Cocoa Blend coffee is suitable for small coffee shops, bakeries, and beverage shops.

4. Front StreetSunflower Warm Sun Espresso Coffee Beans  (Honduras: Ethiopia Yirgacheffe)

Flavor characteristics: obvious fruit acidity, a faint berry aroma lingering, rich winey and chocolate flavors, and a comfortable sweet aftertaste.

Honduran coffee beans bring this coffee a rich whisky aroma and the finish of liqueur chocolates, with an intense fragrance. The sun-dried Red Cherry brings this coffee a fermented note, berry aroma, and a smooth entry. Because this Warm Sun Blend coffee comes in half-pound packs, it is suitable for coffee shops that require a distinctive espresso flavor and somewhat higher bean quality, or for espresso lovers with relatively small usage.

5. Front Street Strawberry Candy Espresso Blend Coffee Beans (Costa Rica: Colombia: Ethiopia)

Flavor characteristics: obvious aromas of roses, strawberry gummies, and dried blueberries, moderate sweetness and acidity of grapes and citrus, and an almond aroma in the sweet aftertaste.

Front Street Costa Rican coffee, known for its honey processing, has a prominent sweetness, while Ethiopia is known for its bright citrus acidity and floral aroma. On this basis, combined with the chocolate and nutty flavors of Colombian coffee, the resulting Front Street Strawberry Candy Espresso Blend naturally carries a sweet aroma. With the extraction support of the coffee machine, the espresso not only has no harshness, but also comes with good crema and a dense texture, along with a sweet-and-sour taste like strawberry gummies.

Compared with espresso blend beans, the taste of SOE in coffee shops is also mainly fruity acidity, because the coffee beans selected are generally light to medium roast. If you also want to trySOE, we recommend Front Street HuakuiSOE coffee beans. This is a specialty sun-dried coffee from the famous Guji Hambela region of Ethiopia. Extracted as espresso, it has flavors of red berries, citrus, and cream, with very rich layers.

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