What Are Single Origin Coffee Beans and Espresso Coffee Beans? Can Single Origin Beans Be Used for Espresso?

The Difference Between Pour-Over Single-Origin Coffee Beans and Blend Coffee Beans

First, FrontStreet Coffee believes we need to clarify what blend beans refer to in this discussion. Since we're comparing them with single-origin beans, which are coffee beans from a single producing region (from one estate/cooperative or multiple estates/cooperatives from a single origin), then blend beans are mixtures of coffee beans from different producing regions/countries (with purposeful blending, not random mixing).

One of the most important characteristics of single-origin beans is traceability - they can be traced back to estates in the producing region or even individual coffee farmers. This helps improve cultivation standards in the origin regions to obtain higher-quality coffee. Therefore, single-origin coffees on the market are generally considered specialty coffees (through natural elimination and market screening). It's generally believed that coffee beans with more specific traceable origins allow for better observation of coffee quality, enabling the selection of high-quality coffees to enter the consumer market.

Blend Coffee Beans

Blend beans, as a long-standing concept, were already promoted when espresso coffee began to gain popularity. Initially, rich, sweet, and bitter espresso was popular, while single-origin coffees had biased flavor characteristics - meaning both advantages and disadvantages coexisted. Additionally, high-quality single-origin coffee beans were expensive, so this led to the practice of using coffee beans from other regions to compensate for the disadvantages of one bean while maintaining its advantages, to create coffee with good balance.

Roasting Approaches

In terms of roasting, pour-over single-origin coffee beans generally require different roasting levels based on their regional flavor characteristics. For example, FrontStreet Coffee uses medium-light roasting for Ethiopian coffee beans to highlight floral, citrus, and berry fruit acid flavors, while for Indonesian Mandheling, medium-dark roasting is used to emphasize nutty, chocolate, and caramel flavors with rich body.

Key Considerations Before Coffee Bean Blending

Before blending coffee beans, we should be clear about the following points:

1. The theme of the blend - what kind of coffee flavor you want to create, that is, determining the goal of the blend.

2. Understanding the characteristics of each coffee bean - to blend coffee, you must first be thoroughly familiar with the characteristics of each single-origin coffee, understanding the subtle relationship between roasting levels and coffee flavors, all of which can only be achieved through cupping.

3. Determining the role of each coffee bean in the blend.

Since multiple coffee beans are used in blending, you must be clear about the task of each coffee bean - whether you want it to highlight mellow bitterness, bright acidity, or heavy body.

Principles of Coffee Blending

When blending, the following principles should generally be followed:

1. For blending, use original beans with distinct characteristics and avoid using coffee beans with similar flavors. Original bean selection can be considered from three aspects:

Green bean processing method: whether the green beans are processed using the washed method or the natural drying method. The processing method has a significant relationship with coffee bean flavor.

Green bean origin: Coffee producing regions are generally divided into three major areas, including Central and South America, which includes about 20 countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador, Jamaica, Peru; Southeast Asia, which includes about 10 countries such as India, Indonesia (including islands like Java and Sumatra), Papua New Guinea; and Arab and African regions, which includes about 25 countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Arab, Uganda.

Coffee bean flavor: refers to which aspect of coffee bean flavor - acidity, bitterness, sweetness, or body - is most prominent, or neutral beans with balanced characteristics.

The most commonly used original beans today are Brazilian, Colombian, and Mocha.

2. The number and proportion of coffee bean varieties in the blend.

Since this is blending, it naturally refers to the blending of two or more types of original beans, but a special case is blending the same coffee bean with different roasting levels, or even blending new crop with aged coffee or old crop from the same coffee bean. Therefore, the varieties mentioned in blending are no longer narrowly defined as coffee varieties, but broadly extended to coffee flavors. Generally, 2-6 types of coffee beans are used in blending; too many varieties will fail to express the unique flavor of the coffee. Blended coffee generally does not use a 1:1 blending ratio, as this might suppress each other's unique flavors. Therefore, blending should have primary and secondary distinctions to create a more wonderful flavor than single-origin coffee. If you want the blended coffee to have complex and varied flavors, you can reduce the proportion of the main original bean, and vice versa.

3. Coffee blending relies on continuous experimentation.

Therefore, before blending, you should adopt a mathematical combination approach to formulate a blending plan table, then determine the best plan through the process of blending-cupping.

FrontStreet Coffee's Signature Blends

Don't think this is a negative, clumsy method. In fact, only through the blender's experience, inspiration, and such tireless experimentation can a good cup of coffee be blended. This is also how FrontStreet Coffee's roasters, through continuous experimentation, created the Sunflower Warm Sunshine Blend, Specialty Blend, Commercial Blend, and Basic Blend. These blends offer balanced, high-quality flavor profiles at different price points.

FrontStreet Coffee's Sunflower Warm Sunshine Blend uses Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry and Honduras Sherry beans. Frontsteet designed this blend to be suitable for both espresso and pour-over. When used for espresso, this coffee bean has an obvious fermented wine aroma, with citrus and berry acidity immediately emerging upon entry, carrying whiskey fragrance and a black chocolate aftertaste. When brewed by pour-over, the flavor is not as rich as when making espresso. After brewing, it has fermented wine aroma and a hint of citrus fragrance. At high temperature, there's only obvious wine aroma and black chocolate aftertaste. When the temperature drops, it slightly reveals citrus and berry acidity, with an overall clean and fresh profile without vanilla cream texture.

FrontStreet Coffee's Specialty Blend uses Brazilian and Colombian beans, offering comfortable sweet-bitter flavor, extremely smooth entry, with light roasted grass fragrance, fresh aroma with slight bitterness, sweet and smooth taste, and a pleasant aftertaste. Coffee beans from Colombia's Huila region have pleasant acidity, aromatic aroma, moderate acidity, and rich sweetness that is intriguing. Coffee beans from Brazil's Cerrado region have comfortable sweet-bitter flavor and extremely smooth entry. This specialty blend coffee is suitable for various specialty coffee shops.

FrontStreet Coffee's Commercial Blend uses Brazilian, Colombian, and 10% Robusta beans. With classic flavor, this blend brings rich crema and texture, caramel sweetness, nutty and cocoa-like, black chocolate flavors, balanced sweet and sour, with slight sweet-bitter notes and persistent aftertaste. Coffee beans from Colombia's Huila region have pleasant acidity, aromatic aroma, moderate acidity, and rich sweetness that is intriguing. Coffee beans from Brazil's Cerrado region have comfortable sweet-bitter flavor and extremely smooth entry. Robusta provides rich crema. This commercial blend coffee is suitable for coffee shops and beverage shops of various scales.

FrontStreet Coffee's Basic Blend uses Brazilian and Yunnan beans, with soft fruit acidity, caramel sweetness, nutty and black chocolate flavors, smooth and thick texture, but relatively light flavor. Yunnan's natural conditions are very similar to Colombia's, with high altitude and large temperature differences between day and night. The flavor belongs to the mellow aromatic type, with moderate acidity, rich and mellow taste, uniform particles, high oil content, and fruity fragrance. Its quality and texture are similar to Colombian coffee. Coffee beans from Brazil's Cerrado region have comfortable sweet-bitter flavor and extremely smooth entry. This basic blend coffee bean offers high cost-performance, suitable for espresso beginners and small coffee shops.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473