Why is Coffee Divided into Single-Origin and Espresso? How Are They Distinguished? How to Drink Single-Origin Coffee

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Why is coffee divided into single origin, dark roast, and espresso? How are these distinguished?

When you walk into a specialty coffee shop or open a professional coffee bean merchant's website, you might be confused by the dazzling array of coffee names. Why do coffee beans have such long names? Why is coffee divided into single origin, dark roast, and espresso? How are these categorized? What do these seemingly complex coffee bean names represent behind the scenes? This article will guide you through understanding the meaning behind coffee bean names step by step.

1. Origin Indication: "Single Origin" and "Blend" Coffee

Commercially available coffee beans can generally be divided into two broad categories:

Single Origin Coffee

Coffee Blends

"Single Origin coffee" generally refers to single variety coffee beans from a single country or producing region. It can be compared to a coffee solo. If a package of coffee is labeled with a coffee-producing country name (the European continent does not produce coffee beans; if the label shows European city names such as Italy, Vienna, etc., it is not single origin coffee), it generally represents a package of single origin coffee. For example, FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet Coffee Sumatra Lake Tawar, FrontStreet Coffee Guatemala Antigua, etc. These are specific coffees produced in particular countries, regions, or estates, known as "single origin coffee." Because each country or different region has its own climate, soil, and natural environment, the cultivated coffee has unique characteristics. Tasting "single origin coffee" allows you to understand the characteristics and flavors of coffee from a specific country or region.

"Blended coffee" refers to coffee beans mixed and blended from several single origin coffees, which can be compared to a coffee concerto. The blending method of blended coffee can be simple (such as traditional "Mamba": Mandheling plus Brazil) or it can be a complex art. Through proper blending, single origin coffees with different characteristics can jointly create a more harmonious and wonderful movement. Usually, espresso coffee (espresso, latte, cappuccino) uses blended coffee beans.

2. Roast Level Indication: Dark Roast, Southern Italian, Northern Italian, Vienna, French Roast

In addition to origin-related indications, the most common are roast level indications. Raw coffee beans need to go through a roasting process to release their unique charming aroma, and coffee roasting is closely related to its flavor. If you see "Italy," "Vienna," "Southern Italian" and other indications on coffee labels, don't mistake that these coffee beans have any relationship with the aforementioned place names—they likely have no relationship, because traditionally, "Italy," "Vienna" are synonyms for a degree of roasting (or blending method), not representing coffee produced in Italy or Vienna (as mentioned above, continental Europe does not cultivate and produce coffee beans). "Northern Italian" represents medium-light degree, light brown bean surface without oil release roasting; "Southern Italian" indicates oily, shiny bean surface, deep brown dark roasting; "Italian Roast" generally refers to relatively deep degree roasting. "French Roast" generally refers to extremely dark roasting with bean surface color near black, with slight charcoal flavor and no acidity. "Vienna" usually refers to blended coffee mixed from coffee beans of different roast levels.

The deeper the roast level, the higher the roasting temperature. The medium-light "Northern Italian" roast has more complex and bright flavors, with fruit-like acidity and extremely low or no bitterness. The deep high-temperature "Southern Italian" roast has more mellow, rich, and smooth flavors, with caramel-like sweet aftertaste. "French Roast" has relatively simple flavors but with slight charcoal flavor and completely no acidity.

3. Coffee Bean Grading, Small Regions, Estates, and Other Indications

Currently, the grading systems for coffee bean producing regions worldwide are not consistent, so you might see terms like "SHB," "AA+," "Supremo," "Extra-Fancy," "Peaberry / Small Berries" etc. on coffee labels. These are coffee bean grading names. Commercially available roasted beans sometimes indicate the grading of single origin coffee, but usually do not indicate it.

The best coffees in Central and South America are graded by cultivation altitude, with coffee beans above 4500 feet marked as "SHB (Strictly Hard Bean)"; "AA+" is the highest grade of Kenyan coffee, only batches with particularly excellent flavor and few defects are allowed to be marked "AA+", "AA" is the largest grain size, "AB" has smaller grains, "PB" is peaberry; Colombia also uses coffee bean appearance size and defect rate as grading standards, "Supremo" indicates the largest grain size. It's worth noting that coffee bean appearance size is not related to flavor, but higher production altitude usually means better flavor.

Following the country name is the small region indication. Taking FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Yirgacheffe as an example, Ethiopia is the coffee-producing country name, indicating this is a "single origin coffee"; Yirgacheffe is a high-altitude narrow small region within Ethiopia's Sidamo region. Different small regions mean different flavor characteristics. For example, the famous Ethiopia Harrar is produced in southern Ethiopia near Somalia. Harrar has wine-like aroma, blueberry or grape flavors, with thick mouthfeel, while Yirgacheffe tastes refreshing and bright, with citrus or lemon peel-like aroma, with relatively thinner mouthfeel.

However, some coffee beans have a string of names following the small region name, which might be the name of a specific coffee estate or processing station. For example, FrontStreet Coffee Guatemala Antigua SHB- Finca Los Volcanes 02 Crop, this long string of name tells us the following information:

Producing Country: Guatemala -- Guatemala is a famous coffee-producing country in Central America.

Region: Antigua Volcano -- This is Guatemala's famous volcanic coffee producing region.

Grading: Strictly Hard Bean (SHB) -- Indicates this coffee grows above 4500 feet altitude.

Producing Estate: Finca Los Volcanes Estate -- "Finca" means "Estate" in Spanish.

Harvest Year: 2017 -- The year is for roaster's reference, so commercial roasted bean labels usually do not indicate the year.

In commercially available roasted coffee beans, to reduce consumer selection confusion and identification burden, such complex labeling is generally not done. Coffee beans from different small regions and different years may have significant flavor differences. Professional roasters taste the current year's raw coffee beans from each producing region annually and adjust roasting and blending methods so that consumers can receive products with stable flavors and minimal differences.

Important Notice :

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