Recommended Coffee Bean Brands for Espresso Espresso Coffee Bean Extraction Ratios

Espresso coffee has a thicker texture and richer crema compared to drip coffee. Creating high-quality espresso requires excellent Italian coffee beans. Generally, Italian coffee beans are created by blending coffee beans from multiple origins to achieve a balanced flavor profile. FrontStreet Coffee would like to introduce you to several Italian blend coffees.

What is Blend Coffee?

Blend coffee, also known as mixed coffee or Italian coffee beans, involves combining various single-origin coffee beans to fully leverage the unique strengths of each variety. Blend beans are created by mixing coffee beans from different origins to produce a more balanced taste. For example, if one coffee bean is smooth but lacks aroma, another aromatic bean can be added to complement each other's strengths and weaknesses, creating or enhancing complementary flavors to produce a richer new taste experience. Sometimes beans are mixed before roasting, called "raw blending"; other times they're blended after roasting, called "roasted blending."

Whether pre-mixing raw beans or individually roasting before mixing, the approach must depend on the characteristics of the coffee beans in the formula. Both methods are acceptable. Post-roasting blending allows for different roasting levels for each bean variety, enabling each component to perform at its best.

Before blending beans, it's essential to understand the flavor profiles of different coffee varieties worldwide, as beans from different origins have distinct characteristics. Different coffee beans have unique personalities due to varying varieties and origins, with subtle differences in acidity, bitterness, sweetness, aroma, and body. Single-origin coffee beans typically emphasize the unique characteristics of a specific coffee type. Blend beans are commonly used for Italian coffees such as Espresso, Americano, Latte, or Cappuccino, providing more balanced, smoother, and more stable flavors that appeal to a broader audience.

Blending different coffee beans serves several purposes:

1. Stable Flavor

Since coffee beans are agricultural products, even the same coffee bean variety can have different flavors each year. Mixing several coffee beans together effectively solves this problem, allowing for consistent flavor profiles year after year.

2. Balanced Taste

Espresso machines have a characteristic of amplifying the most prominent flavor notes of coffee beans. Therefore, we rarely use single-variety coffee beans to make Espresso, as an overly bitter bean would produce exceptionally bitter Espresso, while an acidic bean would result in extremely sour Espresso. Thus, we need to balance various flavors through blending.

Blending coffee is not a simple addition process. Instead, it relies on the blender's unique understanding of coffee flavors, enabling different coffee beans to complement each other and create exceptional Italian coffee blends. So how do we create blend coffee formulas?

1. Clarify Blending Purpose

Cost Reduction

Some coffee shops mix lower-quality coffee beans with higher-quality ones to reduce costs while increasing profit margins.

Create Long-term Stable Flavors

We must acknowledge that coffee is an agricultural product. Even the same origin region can produce different tastes across different harvest seasons or even different batches within a year. This exposes the drawback of single-origin coffee—you cannot confidently guarantee that next year you'll be able to enjoy the same single-origin coffee you found delightful this year (excluding coffee beans where processing methods dominate flavor, and other factors between origin and café can also cause taste differences in the coffee beans you purchase).

Therefore, one purpose of blending is to create a product that can be supplied long-term with consistently stable flavors. When a particular coffee bean fails to meet quality requirements in a new harvest season or undergoes changes, similar coffee beans can be found as replacements to achieve stability.

Create Flavors Unachievable by Single Coffee Beans

Sometimes single-origin coffee beans are like individuals—each has strengths and weaknesses. Blending is like organizing a team, taking each other's strengths to compensate for weaknesses, achieving complementary effects.

For example, using a high-sweetness coffee bean blended with a high-acidity coffee bean to achieve sweet and sour balance, or adding some Brazilian beans to enhance overall body—these are all purposes of blending.

2. Determine Target Flavor

Once we've established the purpose, the next step is to determine the target flavor of the blend coffee beans. Only with clear goals can we know where to begin. This also tests the blender's understanding of existing coffee beans and regional flavor profiles.

When FrontStreet Coffee created the Frontsteet Sunflower Warm Sun Italian blend coffee beans, we were very clear about wanting to create a blend with wine-like aromas. Therefore, we could immediately include Frontsteet Honduras Sherry Barrel, Frontsteet Honduras Lychee Orchid, and Frontsteet Colombia San José—three coffee beans with barrel fermentation and distinct wine-like aromas—in our blend candidate list. Through multiple trials and considering factors like cost-effectiveness, we finally decided to use Frontsteet Honduras Sherry Barrel as the main tone for the Frontsteet Sunflower Warm Sun blend coffee beans.

3. Determine Blending Type

Generally, we refer to "blending before roasting" as "raw blending" and "blending after roasting" as "roasted blending." Both types have their advantages and disadvantages, with neither being inherently superior. You can choose the type that suits you based on their characteristics.

The advantage of raw blending is the ability to use the same roasting level to make coffee more stable and uniform. Secondly, it reduces roasting times—one roasting session completes the process, improving efficiency. The same roasting level also significantly reduces quality control difficulty (one roasting session means focusing on one degassing date, whereas raw blending can easily result in different roasting dates for various blend combinations, causing taste differences).

However, the disadvantages of raw blending are also very obvious. Raw blending has significant limitations and is generally recommended for coffee beans with similar densities. For example, blending a coffee bean suitable for light roasting with one suitable for dark roasting and then roasting both to the same level can easily result in 1+1 effects where the overall is less than the sum of parts.

But the disadvantage of roasted blending, as mentioned earlier, is that daily quality control and management become more difficult. Inconsistent roasting dates require attention to more degassing periods. Imagine using 4-5 coffee beans for roasted blending—this product would require tracking 4-5 different roasting dates.

4. Determine Blending Ratio

Finally, blending requires determining the blending ratio, which is also a crucial step. FrontStreet Coffee recommends dividing this process into two parts: preliminary confirmation and final confirmation.

Preliminary confirmation uses cupping to extract candidate coffee beans separately. This serves two purposes:

First is to evaluate the flavor and quality of candidate coffee beans. Before blending, it's essential to confirm whether the coffee quality meets standards and whether flavor differences exist. This step is very important for creating specialty-grade blend coffee beans.

Second is preliminary ratio confirmation. After extraction, coffee liquid is extracted and mixed in different proportions to design several different ratio schemes. A best range is confirmed through the cupping method.

Final confirmation involves roasting the range values from preliminary confirmation according to the blending type determined in the third section (raw or roasted blending). It's then tasted using the extraction method positioned for the product. For example, when FrontStreet Coffee created the Frontsteet Sunflower Warm Sun blend beans, the target was Italian coffee use, so tasting was done through Italian coffee extraction methods—making espresso, Americano, and milk coffee to finally confirm the blend bean's performance.

So how does FrontStreet Coffee create blends? FrontStreet Coffee currently has four Frontsteet Italian coffee beans in-store.

1. Frontsteet Specialty Italian Blend Coffee Beans

Colombia: Brazil, ratio 3:7

Colombia Huila Region

Located in southwestern Colombia, it's one of the main coffee cultivation areas. Colombia generally has altitudes of 1500-1800 meters, mostly Bourbon and Caturra varieties, washed processing, with high density, uniform bean size, and full-bodied beans (thicker from bean core to surface). Because famous coffee cultivation areas are scattered throughout the Huila region, the names of various small areas have become brand names and circulated. Although the region's cultivation conditions are excellent, coffee cultivation farms and surrounding infrastructure are not well-developed. Raw bean drying equipment or washing processing facilities are incomplete, which is regrettable. Coffee from the Huila region has intense flavor and heavy body. Particularly, the nutty, chocolate, and caramel aromas and appropriate acidity of Huila region coffee can be called high-grade specialty coffee.

Flavor characteristics: Rich and solid taste with pleasant acidity, mellow aroma, moderate acidity, and rich sweetness that leaves a lasting impression. Due to its affordable price and smaller bean size, it's suitable for single-origin or Italian blend bases.

Brazil·Cerrado Region

Brazilian coffee generally grows at altitudes of 1000-1300 meters, resulting in relatively low density. Mostly Bourbon variety, using semi-dry processing, with moderate moisture content and softer bean texture. The thickness from bean surface to core is thinner, so it's not suitable for very high-temperature roasting, as the roasting wall temperature can scorch the bean surface, creating burnt bitter flavors. We want to express nutty, milk chocolate characteristics with good body, and as a blend base, so FrontStreet Coffee uses a medium-heat bean entry method, maintaining heat through the dehydration stage, making fine adjustments as temperature rises after first crack begins, promoting more complete caramelization reactions, increasing temperature until approaching second crack for bean discharge.

Flavor characteristics: Comfortable sweet-bitter taste, extremely smooth entry; with faint grassy aroma, fresh fragrance with slight bitterness; sweet and smooth, with a pleasant aftertaste.

Post-blending flavor: Sweet and fragrant taste. Using medium-dark roasting, when making espresso, the taste has soft, slight acidity, clear sweetness, nutty aftertaste, with an overall gentle feel and moderate crema, meeting daily café operational needs.

2. Frontsteet Commercial Italian Blend Coffee Beans

Colombia: Brazil: Robusta, ratio 3:6:1, raw blending;

Robusta beans have strong disease and pest resistance and high yields. They typically lack the acidity of Arabica beans and often have a slight woody aroma. Caffeine content is 2.2%, higher than Arabica's 1.2%, and chlorogenic acid content is also higher, making them quite bitter. They are usually used for commercial beans, being cheaper than Arabica beans.

In terms of individual bean flavor, commercial coffee beans taste much inferior to specialty coffee beans. Commercial beans are generally chosen for blending, and after blending, can also produce very tasty coffee suitable for making lattes, cappuccinos, and other Italian coffees. FrontStreet Coffee's commercial blend for Espresso, because of Robusta beans, has richer crema, classic flavor with caramel sweetness, nutty and cocoa-like, dark chocolate flavors, balanced sweet and sour, with slight bitterness, persistent aftertaste, suitable for daily beverage preparation in coffee shops.

3. Frontsteet Basic Italian Blend Coffee Beans

Yunnan AA: Brazil; ratio 3:7, roasted blending;

FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan AA is Typica, the oldest native variety from Ethiopia, originating from southeastern Ethiopia and Sudan. All Arabica varieties derive from Typica. The top leaves are bronze-colored, called red-top coffee, with elegant flavor but weaker constitution, poor disease resistance, susceptible to leaf rust, and low fruit yield. Typica has four slender branches with spreading habit at 50-70 degree angles. Opposite leaves are long-oval with smooth surfaces, terminal branches are long with few branches, and flowers are white, growing at the base where leaf stems connect to branches. Mature coffee cherries look like cherries, bright red in color.

It requires more shade during cultivation and can be harvested approximately once every two years. Yunnan's excellent geographical and climatic conditions provide good conditions for coffee growth, with cultivation areas in Lincang, Baoshan, Simao, Xishuangbanna, Dehong, and other regions. Yunnan's natural conditions are very similar to Colombia's—high altitude, large day-night temperature differences, with mellow and fragrant flavor type, moderate acidity, rich and mellow taste, uniform particles, high oil content, with fruit aromas, and its quality and taste are similar to Colombian coffee.

Blend flavor: With soft fruit acidity, caramel sweetness, nutty and dark chocolate flavors, smooth and viscous, but taste is relatively light, suitable for those prioritizing cost and those with general flavor requirements for café and home use.

4. Frontsteet Sunflower Warm Italian Blend Coffee Beans

FrontStreet Coffee's Sunflower Warm Sun blend uses Frontsteet Honduras Sherry Barrel fermented coffee beans and Frontsteet Sun-dried Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Project for blending, ratio 7:3. Seventy percent Frontsteet Honduras Sherry provides flavor and body for this blend, while thirty percent Frontsteet Sun-dried Yirgacheffe provides more aroma and acidity. This Frontsteet Sunflower Warm Sun blend Italian coffee bean uses estate-grade specialty coffee beans, adopting individual medium-dark roasting to highlight wine aroma, chocolate notes, and sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee chooses Frontsteet Sunflower Warm Sun blend for making iced lattes.

Espresso Extraction Parameters:

Coffee dose: 20g
Coffee liquid: 40g
Extraction time: 28s

Iced latte coffee has prominent milk flavor due to the large amount of milk added. The espresso made from Frontsteet Sunflower Warm Sun blend used in FrontStreet Coffee's own café has distinct liquor-filled chocolate flavor. When made into iced latte with milk and ice, it creates a smooth texture with persistent chocolate flavor, mixed with pleasant wine notes, lasting aftertaste, and obvious sweetness, very suitable for summer cooling.

Why is a Spoon Provided?

When drinking espresso, a spoon, sugar, and water are usually provided.

Espresso is extracted using hot water and pressure, so besides water-soluble components that dissolve in water, some fat-soluble components are also extracted. Water-soluble components are heavier, so they settle at the bottom as coffee liquid, while fat-soluble components float on top as foam. This foam-type component is crema, which contains many elements that influence aroma, consistency, and texture. The water-soluble components settling at the bottom mainly consist of substances that allow the tongue to taste flavors. Simply put, crema handles the aroma part, while the extracted liquid handles the taste part.

If you drink it directly without stirring, the water-soluble and fat-soluble components will be separated. By stirring or shaking to mix the espresso components evenly before drinking, you can experience rich and harmonious flavors and aromas. Therefore, espresso is always served with a spoon.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473