Which Espresso Coffee Beans Offer the Best Value? Where to Buy High-Quality Espresso Beans?

For more professional coffee knowledge and coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

The Origin and Artistry of Espresso

Espresso originated in Italy, where its name means "especially fast" in Italian. It involves extracting coffee liquid instantly through steam pressure. This method preserves coffee oils for extended periods, resulting in rich, mellow flavors with balanced acidity and bitterness, earning it the title of "the artwork of coffee." Additionally, espresso often serves as the foundation for other coffee varieties such as latte, cappuccino, macchiato, and mocha—all made with espresso as their base.

Choosing Italian Coffee Beans

Italian coffee is typically made from blends of various coffee beans, such as Kenyan, Mandheling, Mocha, Brazilian, and Colombian beans, which are commonly used as base beans for blending. Different bean varieties from various origins, combined with different roasting times, naturally create unique textures and aromas when blended. The main criterion for selecting coffee beans is whether the extracted flavor matches personal preferences.

Brewing Italian Coffee at Home: From Beans to Machine Selection

1. Kenyan Coffee Beans

Kenyan coffee beans have pronounced fruit acidity and a relatively hard texture. Those with blackcurrant flavors are considered premium. Coffee beans from small farms typically have superior quality and capacity compared to large farms, whose quality can only be considered average. Kenyan beans are classified into seven grades based on particle size and appearance, with AA or AA+ being the highest grade, followed by AB, PB, C, E, TT, and T. However, good appearance doesn't necessarily correlate with good flavor.

2. Colombian Coffee Beans

Belonging to the Arabica variety, Colombian coffee has a moderate body. After roasting, it carries sweet aromas with strong acidity and a sweet, slightly bitter taste. It's often used in coffee blends, with those exhibiting sweet potato skin flavors considered the highest grade.

3. Mandheling Coffee Beans

Produced in Sumatra, Indonesia, Mandheling serves as a base bean. When roasted, it develops bitterness with a rich, intense flavor, making it one of the most commonly used beans in coffee blends.

4. Mocha Coffee Beans

Mocha beans from Ethiopia in Africa belong to the Arabica variety, featuring an enchanting combination of sweetness and acidity with a distinctive chocolate flavor. During roasting, they develop fruit aromas. When blended into coffee, they enhance the aroma and contribute unique, mellow characteristics.

5. Brazilian Coffee Beans

Belonging to the Arabica species, Brazilian coffee has a neutral flavor profile with slight acidity, sweetness, bitterness, and a light aroma. As a neutral-tasting coffee bean, it lacks strong distinctive flavors, making it suitable both for single-origin consumption and for blending with other coffees.

The Complexity of Developing Coffee Blends

Developing a coffee blend is actually more complex, time-consuming, and takes longer than working with single-origin beans. We know that for single-origin coffee, as long as the roasting brings out the origin's flavor characteristics, it's considered a good bean. Most beans, if roasted without major mistakes using light to medium roasting and prepared with pour-over methods, can express their flavor characteristics well.

When developing a blend, you need to have thorough knowledge of beans from major producing regions. For example, you can't use beans from the same region with the same processing method for blending. If you use Kochere and Banko Gotiti from Yirgacheffe for blending, it would be pointless because the blended beans would still exhibit floral and citrus notes, and this blend would likely lack body. Wouldn't it be better to blend washed Yirgacheffe with Central American Guatemala or Costa Rica? Therefore, you first need to understand beans from major regions, their specific flavor profiles, and then determine what these beans can achieve when blended together—whether they can compensate for each other's shortcomings or create new flavors.

Testing a blend also takes longer. We know that blended beans need a resting period, typically 7-10 days. We usually start testing from the fifth day after roasting and continue testing to find the optimal resting period.

Secondly, there's the blending ratio. For example, when blending two types of beans, should it be 3:7, 4:6, or 5:5? If using three types of beans, the ratio distribution becomes even more complex. These decisions rely on your understanding of green beans combined with roasting experience.

When I develop new blends, I first use sample roasters to save on bean costs. Once I've determined the blending ratios and roast degree, I use larger roasters to replicate the roasting curve. The development process typically takes about a month. I also choose roasters from the same brand to make curve replication easier and reduce errors.

Therefore, I believe a good blend is one with good balance and high sweetness.

Americano coffee with particularly good crema doesn't necessarily mean it tastes good. If your blend contains over 50% Robusta beans, the crema will be excellent, but the flavor will be too bland and monotonous.

I recommend choosing Arabica coffee beans, with Robusta beans not exceeding 20%. Avoid choosing beans that are black and oily—beans roasted this dark are intended to mask poor quality and defect flavors, because oily beans only retain burnt bitterness with no other flavors, neither good nor bad. Purchase freshly roasted coffee beans, as they have a shelf life. The flavor of blended coffee beans begins to decline one month after roasting.

Recommendations for Cost-Effective Italian Coffee Beans

There are still some small domestic studios that produce good roasted beans, but they may not consistently maintain quality.

Currently, some of the better-performing ones include Shushupai, Wei Bei, FrontStreet Coffee, M2M, and others.

If you prefer stable and authentic blends, you can purchase from major Italian brands like Illy, Issimo, and Lavazza.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473