Should Espresso and Americano Coffee Beans Be Dark Roasted? What's the Ideal Roast Level for Espresso Coffee Beans

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What's Good About Nearly Carbonized Coffee Beans?

It turns out this type of bean is a blend. Artisanal roasters mix various uniquely flavored Robusta beans in different proportions, along with some Arabica beans as the base. The goal is to create the shop's signature: a rich, thick, full-bodied espresso extraction.

The intoxicating part is the abundant crema. Look closely and you will find that crema comes from the coffee's own oils. Those oils are the result of roasting green coffee at high temperatures, all the way past the dense second crack.

Typically, beans like these come out of the roaster deep in color but have not yet released oil. Because the beans keep giving off heat themselves, you gradually see a sheen of oil appear on the surface as they cool. Coffee like this releases a powerful aroma, an intense, robust fragrance that is hard to resist. Only dark roasting can force the oils out, but that also shortens freshness and shelf life accordingly.

Espresso beans have an optimal tasting window of about five to seven days after roasting. After the seventh day, and up to ten days, the oils slowly change and an unpleasant rancid smell gradually emerges. At that point, when extracted on an espresso machine at nine pounds of steam pressure, crema will fill 80% of the extraction cup. Drunk straight, the flavor is unforgettable. Add coffee brown sugar to lift the flavor, and it becomes another experience altogether.

I suggest you remember to drink plenty of water when drinking this coffee to dilute the extraction in your stomach, and it is best not to drink it on an empty stomach.

Espresso Beans

Many people love lattes, and I am no exception. Before I came into contact with specialty coffee, I only ever loved drinking lattes, and I only knew that a latte is espresso plus milk; I did not know that espresso is made from several types of coffee beans blended together. The key to a good latte is the espresso blend formula. Blending a good espresso involves considerable expertise.

Why Blend Beans?

1. By using different beans and different roast degrees in different ratios, create a distinctive house specialty.
2. Balance costs.
3. Create espresso blends.

Blending Theory

I roughly divide coffee beans into three categories: white, gray, and black. White beans mainly provide aroma and acidity at the front of the taste, gray beans mainly provide the sweet base notes, and black beans mainly provide bitterness and the aftertaste in the finish. You then configure them according to each bean's characteristics and suitable roast level. A workable ratio is 3:5:2. Some beans may fall between white-gray or gray-black, so you need to experiment to find the best classification for the most complete match.

White (front aroma and acidity): light roast - Kenya, Guatemala, Yirgacheffe, and so on.

Gray (middle body and sweetness): medium-dark roast - Brazil, Costa Rica honey-processed, El Salvador, and so on.

Black (back bitterness and aftertaste): dark roast - Mandheling, Kenya, Guatemala, and so on.

Gray-black - Colombia (medium-dark roast) - trending toward a bitter aftertaste.

Espresso blends mainly emphasize sweetness, and sweetness pairs well with milk. A little white plus more gray and a middle amount of black can be tried with Guatemala, Brazil, and Kenya.

You can first classify beans by front aroma, middle body, or back aftertaste sweetness, then match them one by one for tasting.

1. FrontStreet Coffee Kenya AA (medium roast) + FrontStreet Coffee Mandheling G1 (medium-dark) + FrontStreet Coffee Guatemala Antigua-Flora (very light roast) - sweet, with body and a light floral aroma, good texture, and delicious. Some people report the coffee flavor is not strong enough.
2. FrontStreet Coffee Kenya AA (medium roast) + FrontStreet Coffee Mandheling G1 (medium-dark) + FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Yirgacheffe (washed) (light roast) - plenty of sweetness, an even richer body, light floral and fruity acidity, and delicious. The coffee flavor is still not strong enough.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

For a home Americano that is forgiving and full-flavored, FrontStreet Classic Blend is the reliable choice. Built on a traditional Italian-style recipe of Indonesian Mandheling, Brazil Red Bourbon, and washed Vietnam, it combines the low-acid, full-bodied, herbal and woody tones of Asian coffee with the balanced, creamy smoothness of the Americas, giving you butter, nut, spice, and dark chocolate aromas in the cup with a wild character and generous crema.

If you want something fruitier and sweeter for an espresso or Americano, try FrontStreet Strawberry Candy Espresso, a medium roast that blends single-origin Arabica from Colombia, Costa Rica, and Ethiopia. Low in bitterness with a gentle acidity, it carries rose aromas and layered notes of grape, raisin, sweet orange, and fruit candy, closing on a distinctive almond finish.