How to Choose Espresso Beans? What Ratios Work Best for Blends? What Are the Theories?

Espresso coffee is typically made using blended beans, because single-origin coffee beans may not produce espresso with sufficient richness and can have acidity. Even when mixed with milk or sugar, the acidity remains, leading coffee enthusiasts to question whether they're drinking espresso rather than pour-over black coffee.

Since we're talking about blended beans, are there specific considerations? Or can any coffee beans be used for blending? Espresso beans generally choose two types of coffee beans: Robusta and Arabica. Blending methods typically involve Robusta with Arabica, or Arabica with Arabica.

Robusta

Primarily used in espresso blends to increase body and obtain rich crema. Robusta coffee beans are oval, spherical, or nearly spherical in shape, with a straight center line.

Arabica

Arabica coffee produced from different regions, altitudes, and climates exhibits unique characteristics, displaying distinctly different personality flavors. Unroasted, it smells like fresh grass, but after proper roasting, it reveals "fruity aromas" (light to medium roast) and "caramel flavors" (dark roast). Suitable for single-origin and various blends, it can be prepared using various extraction techniques.

Espresso coffee places great emphasis on roast degree. Unlike pour-over coffee, where beans of different roast levels can be adjusted through water temperature or powder-to-water ratio to brew the regional flavors of single-origin coffee, FrontStreet Coffee typically avoids using very lightly roasted coffee beans. Lightly roasted beans extract more acidity and less oil, and when made into milk coffee or cappuccino, the fundamental flavor tends toward sourness.

Espresso is the most representative Italian coffee. Americans call it "Espresso" to fully express the concept of rapid extraction. Initially popular only in southern European countries like Italy, France, and Spain, it later swept across the Americas, becoming one of the most popular beverages. The ideal espresso has very low acidity, high body, and rich, velvety, thick reddish-brown crema containing the coffee's aroma and flavor. Crema is the single most important indicator of a complete espresso, essentially needing to capture the coffee's intense flavors.

Using proper espresso beans can extract a perfect cup of espresso. How can you tell if the extracted espresso is successful? FrontStreet Coffee shares a small secret: observe the appearance of the crema.

You might not understand these professional coffee terms at first, so FrontStreet Coffee will introduce them. "Crema" refers to the dense, light reddish-brown foam on the surface of espresso. During the roasting process, coffee beans produce large amounts of carbon dioxide on their surface. Most dissipates during cooling, while a small amount remains inside the beans. These gases are released during grinding, which is why FrontStreet Coffee recommends making coffee as soon as possible after grinding.

Single-Origin Espresso (SOE) Trend

Of course, espresso can also be made from single-origin beans, which is the recently popular SOE. SOE stands for Single-Origin Espresso. While not necessarily equivalent to specialty coffee, if you select single-origin coffee beans with easily identifiable flavors as SOE, you can create uniquely characteristic espresso. For example, Yirgacheffe's typical citrus flavors, Kenya's fruit flavors, etc., and since espresso amplifies coffee flavors, specific characteristics become more prominent compared to pour-over. However, although SOE performs outstandingly, because it comes from a single origin, defects are also relatively easily amplified, so factors like roasting and grind size affect the flavor, meaning it's not necessarily better tasting than blended coffee.

What is Blending?

Blending naturally refers to combining two or more types of raw beans, but you can also blend the same coffee beans at different roast levels, or even mix new crop with aged coffee or old crop of the same coffee beans. Therefore, the types referred to in blending are no longer narrowly defined coffee varieties but have extended broadly to coffee flavors. Blending typically uses 2-6 types of coffee beans; too many varieties make it difficult to express the unique flavors of coffee.

Blended coffee generally doesn't use a 1:1 blending ratio, as this might suppress each other's unique flavors. Therefore, blending requires primary and secondary components to create flavors more wonderful than single-origin coffee. If you want complex and varied flavors, you can reduce the proportion of the main base bean, and vice versa.

Why Blend?

Although some fixed varieties of coffee can be consumed directly as single-origin, most coffees have more or less flavor defects. For example: no special flavor, lack of depth, insufficient intensity, or certain flavors being too strong. To compensate for these shortcomings, several coffee beans with different characteristics are blended to create harmonious and deep flavors. There are three points to consider in blended beans: price, stability, and flavor. These three form an "impossible triangle," meaning you can't have all three - you can only sacrifice one to pursue the other two. There are two forms of blending: one is mixing green coffee beans in certain proportions or according to desired flavors before sending them to the roaster, commonly called "green blending." The other is directly mixing roasted coffee beans, called "roasted blending." FrontStreet Coffee's blending is roasted blending.

FrontStreet Coffee's espresso beans are typically mixed from multiple coffee beans to achieve complementarity or highlight certain flavors. For example, some baristas like to use Kenya, Mandheling, Brazil, and Colombia coffee beans as base beans for mixing. Because coffee beans from different producing countries, using different roast levels, create unique mouthfeel and aroma in the mixed espresso. Whether the extracted espresso meets personal preferences becomes the selection standard.

Before FrontStreet Coffee blends coffee beans, they must first understand the different flavors of coffee varieties from around the world, with beans having different characteristics based on origin. Different coffee beans have different personalities due to different varieties and origins, with subtle differences in acidity, bitterness, sweetness, aroma, body, and other flavors. Single-origin coffee beans often focus more on expressing the unique characteristics of a particular coffee type. The advantage of roasted blending is that after roasting is complete, complementary adjustments can be made based on the flavor performance of the beans, fine-tuning the blending proportions according to actual conditions to present a stable coffee flavor.

FrontStreet Coffee Premium Blend

FrontStreet Coffee Premium Blend coffee beans use Colombia coffee beans paired with Brazil coffee beans in a 3:7 ratio. The characteristic nutty and chocolate flavors of Colombian coffee blend with the rich peanut and creamy coffee flavors of Brazilian coffee. This espresso blend has a very balanced overall profile, rich crema, extremely smooth mouthfeel, with a light aroma but a slightly bitter taste characteristic of the Americas, very popular among FrontStreet Coffee's customers.

FrontStreet Coffee Commercial Blend

FrontStreet Coffee Commercial Blend espresso beans: Colombia coffee beans : Brazil coffee beans : Robusta coffee beans, ratio 3:6:1. In terms of individual bean flavors, FrontStreet Coffee's commercial beans produce coffee flavor that is much inferior to FrontStreet Coffee's premium beans. Generally, commercial beans are chosen for blending, and after bean blending, they can also produce coffee with excellent taste, suitable for making lattes, cappuccinos, and other espresso drinks. When we use FrontStreet Coffee's Commercial Blend for Espresso, because of Robusta beans, the crema is richer, with classic flavors, caramel sweetness, nutty and cocoa-like, dark chocolate flavors, balanced sweet and sour, with a slight bitterness, and a persistent aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee Basic Blend

FrontStreet Coffee Basic Blend coffee beans are made by blending Yunnan coffee and Brazil coffee in a 3:7 ratio. Flavor characteristics: with soft fruit acidity, caramel sweetness, nutty and dark chocolate flavors, smooth and viscous, but the taste is relatively light.

FrontStreet Coffee Sunflower Warm Sun Blend

The espresso drinks currently served at FrontStreet Coffee use FrontStreet Coffee's Sunflower Warm Sun Blend, which uses FrontStreet Coffee's Honduras Sherry and FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Red Cherry coffee. Through continuous blending by FrontStreet Coffee's baristas, a relatively perfect blending ratio of 6:4 was achieved. Flavor characteristics: with obvious fruit acidity, a light berry aroma lingering, rich wine and chocolate flavors, and a comfortable sweet aftertaste.

In FrontStreet Coffee's view, espresso blends can amplify the advantages of certain coffee beans while masking their inherent disadvantages, making full use of each coffee bean - why not do this? Of course, more coffee beans in a blend don't necessarily mean better flavor. The more coffee beans you add, the harder it is to consider every detail, and the flavors become more chaotic. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee believes that blending about two to six coffee beans is sufficient.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations:

Regardless of what kind of coffee you brew, the freshness of the coffee beans is very important. FrontStreet Coffee has always believed that coffee bean freshness greatly affects coffee flavor, so FrontStreet Coffee ships coffee beans roasted within 5 days. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy is "freshly roasted good coffee," ensuring that every customer who places an order receives the freshest coffee when it arrives. The coffee resting period is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive their coffee, it's at its peak flavor.

For friends who need ground coffee, FrontStreet Coffee offers a gentle reminder: if coffee beans are ground in advance, there's no need for a resting period, because during transportation, the pressure from carbon dioxide buildup in the packaging can also help the coffee flavor become mellow, so you can brew a cup immediately upon receiving the ground coffee. However, ground coffee needs to be brewed promptly, because coffee powder oxidizes quickly when exposed to air, meaning the coffee flavor will dissipate relatively quickly, and the coffee won't taste as good. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee recommends purchasing whole beans and grinding fresh before brewing to better appreciate the coffee's flavor.

Brewing coffee is also an art, and FrontStreet Coffee believes that with more practice, you can also make delicious cold brew coffee at home.

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

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Important Notice :

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