Essential Coffee Basics | Understanding Coffee Bean Package Labels

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When you frequently purchase coffee, do you find yourself greatly puzzled by the Chinese and English labels on the packaging? Do you feel awkward about not knowing where to start asking questions, ultimately ending up buying a bag of coffee that isn't suitable for you?

This time, we'll set aside the professional indicators of raw bean trade and origin, focusing solely on consumer-facing packaging. We'll explain the content and grade classification of raw beans, hoping to help you clearly understand your purchasing needs and quality when buying coffee, while also learning the stories behind coffee labeling.

Basic Information on Coffee Packaging

Typically, packaging will indicate basic information such as 'Country, Region, Origin, Varietal, Process, and Grade.' Let's explain using the above image:

Country: Ethiopia

Region: Kochere town in Yirgacheffe

Varietal: Heirloom

Elevation: Cultivated in mountainous areas above 2000 meters

Farmer: Collective

Process: Washed

Notes: Here the roaster provides flavor descriptions including lemon, black tea, and other flavors.

For coffee connoisseurs, the above information is extremely helpful. This indicates that today I've purchased FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee beans, which come from the Kochere town—a common and quality-stable region with good reputation and flavor. Although it's a cooperative product rather than from a large estate, the washed processing method still provides a clean and outstanding bright flavor, indicating I can taste the traditional FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe's clean citrus, lemon notes, and sweet-sour black tea aftertaste.

Alright, for those who frequently purchase good specialty coffee, do you feel like something seems to be missing? Yes, this lacks the raw bean grade, roast degree, and roast date.

The Importance of Grade and Roast Information

This information is extremely important for connoisseur-level coffee enthusiasts. The grade indicates that I won't pay a high price for inferior raw beans. Generally, Ethiopian raw bean grading uses washed G1-G2, while natural process uses G3-G5, which is quite easy to distinguish—the smaller the number, the higher the grade and the more uniform the quality. However, for Kenya, another African country, the grading system classifies by bean size rather than quality, so AA beans are larger than AB beans, but this doesn't necessarily represent better flavor quality! Therefore, it's possible that AB beans might be priced higher than AA beans.

As for the types of grading, there are several common ones that can be divided into three categories:

1. Classification by size

2. Classification by cultivation altitude

3. Classification based on the percentage of defective beans

I'd like to write a related article later to explain the details. Today, we only need to know that these three classification modes exist.

Furthermore, why should roast degree also be indicated? Perhaps this is a personal insistence as a roaster. After all, when consumers cannot open the package to see the bean color to judge flavor, they should be provided with reference data, such as light-medium roast, medium roast, or dark roast. Some experts might even want to see you specify which stage of the Agtron index. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe G1 grade coffee beans retain more flavor compounds at light-medium roast than at medium-dark roast, but the flavor comes from acidity (such as citric acid, lactic acid, etc.), so lighter roasts will also have more fruit-like sour notes, which not all consumers may love.

However, if FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe is roasted to medium-dark degree, acidic substances are greatly reduced and flavor becomes minimal, possibly leaving only some products from caramelization and dry distillation reactions, greatly diminishing the flavor that FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe should present. Connoisseurs will definitely not love this, but if the roast degree isn't clearly indicated, consumers might buy the wrong product home, causing unnecessary misunderstandings, which would be unfortunate.

The Importance of Roast Date

The roast date also helps stores manage shelf placement and allows consumers to accurately determine the optimal enjoyment period and expiration date. If this information cannot be known, it might lead to misjudgment of coffee bean flavor during brewing, while also damaging the selling store's reputation, making the loss outweigh the gain. Therefore, I strongly recommend that roasters indicate when the coffee was roasted, providing guidelines for both stores and consumers, and allowing consumers to enjoy the freshest coffee flavor during its peak period. Gaining consumer appreciation is the roaster's greatest joy and the driving force for continuous improvement.

Conclusion

The above is our brief introduction to coffee bean outer packaging. We hope this helps you as a basis for judgment when purchasing coffee. If you have any questions about the above article, you're welcome to write for guidance.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473