How to Choose Coffee Bean Varieties and Brewing Methods? Introduction to Common Coffee Types in Specialty Coffee Shops

How to Choose Coffee Bean Varieties: Look at Green Beans First, Then Roasted Beans

Many internationally renowned coffee manufacturers go to great lengths before roasting coffee beans to provide high-quality products. Cuppers seek samples according to their desired taste profile and flavor to find this season's "premium sample beans." After roasting the coffee beans, cuppers use cupping methods to determine if the roast degree needs adjustment. Through layer-by-layer quality control, they confirm whether the taste and flavor characteristics differ from their own products. Therefore, they consistently seek large-scale coffee plantations that can supply coffee beans long-term to enhance the stability of their established brand's excellent quality.

Major international coffee companies hire cuppers to evaluate coffee beans and find large-scale coffee plantations for long-term cooperation. Unfortunately, domestic coffee consumption is considerably lower compared to abroad, making it impossible to cooperate with large-scale coffee plantations like international companies do.

In recent years, many small-scale coffee plantations, through farmers' dedicated cultivation efforts and fair trade practices with Cup of Excellence certification, have encouraged coffee farmers to participate in high-quality coffee scoring competitions. They have gradually begun to cultivate high-quality specialty coffee beans. Furthermore, they emphasize the freshness and storage of green beans. We advocate for fresh and diverse coffee beans, using small-batch artisan roasting and providing customized services that can create custom roasts for different groups. The goal is to seize the "freshness" advantage—something that major international coffee companies currently cannot achieve!

How Are Coffee Bean Varieties Graded?

Why Do Coffee Beans Need Grading?

There is no standard value for coffee bean grading. To indicate coffee quality levels and facilitate trading convenience, coffee grading has become a very important indicator. Many coffee-growing regions still trade according to grading systems today. There are various grading methods, some based on processing methods (washed, natural), coffee bean size, defect rates, growing altitude, etc. However, more and more single-origin beans are labeled with the specific estate or cooperative name, and some even include their botanical variety name. Although coffee bean sizes are generally similar, coffee bean grading and classification still rely on bean size and color depth for differentiation.

Coffee Bean Grading Examples:

Kenyan Coffee Beans: Grades AA, A, B, C, and PB. AA is the highest grade, followed by A, B, and C in descending order. Additionally, there's Peaberry (PB), which has smaller beans with special flavor and extremely limited production, usually commanding higher prices.

Indonesian and Ethiopian Coffee Beans: Graded based on defect bean counts. Indonesian beans are mainly classified into 6 grades: Gr1-Gr6. Ethiopia is divided into 5 grades, with Gr1-Gr2 reserved for washed beans. Gr1 represents 0-3 defective beans per 300g of green beans, while Gr2 represents 4-12 defective beans per 300g. Natural processed beans are graded as Gr3, Gr4, or Gr5 in quality order.

Guatemalan Coffee Beans: SHB: Grown at 4500-5000 feet altitude (Strictly Hard Bean); HB: Grown at 4000-4500 feet (Hard Bean); SH: Grown at 3500-4000 feet (Semi-Hard Bean); GW: Coffee beans selected from below 2000 feet altitude (screened).

Costa Rican Coffee Beans: SHB: Grown at 3900-5400 feet (Strictly Hard Bean); GHB: Grown at 3300-3900 feet (Good Hard Bean); HB: Grown at 2600-3300 feet (Hard Bean); LGA: 500-2000 feet (Low Grown Altitude).

We hope this introduction to coffee bean grading systems helps everyone further understand the importance of coffee beans.

How to Choose Coffee Beans?

How to choose coffee beans? Let me answer your questions. Selecting coffee beans can start with freshness, purity, and appearance. How to buy high-quality beans? Refer to the following information, and you can transform yourself into a coffee bean expert.

Freshness: Chew one or two coffee beans in your mouth. If the sound is very crisp, it indicates the coffee beans haven't been exposed to moisture. Then take a deep smell with your nose to clearly detect the coffee beans' aroma.

Purity: Observe whether each coffee bean's color, size, and shape are consistent. The popular Italian blend beans in recent years are made from various coffee bean varieties to create unique brand flavors, so different sizes and colors are normal. Dark and medium roasting causes coffee beans to release oils, but if light-roasted beans release oil, it indicates they have spoiled.

Appearance: Check whether coffee beans are complete, avoiding broken or chipped beans. Usually, beans with black cracks are better.

Steps for Choosing Good Coffee:

Step 1: Choose Fresh, Flavorful Beans

1. Go to specialty stores or small coffee roasting workshops that roast coffee beans daily to select fresh coffee beans.

2. Choose stores that properly store coffee beans. Placing coffee beans in sunlight or dirty containers is unacceptable. Roasted coffee beans are easily affected by oxygen in the air, causing oxidation that degrades their oil content and dissipates aromatic compounds. Temperature, humidity, and sunlight accelerate deterioration. The correct method is storing coffee beans in cool places using one-way degassing valves that prevent air from entering.

3. Reputable coffee shops or small coffee roasting workshops usually maintain certain quality standards for their products and roasting methods. Moreover, you can gain considerable coffee bean knowledge from them.

Step 2: Buy a Month's Supply at a Time

When buying freshly roasted coffee beans, the principle of purchasing small quantities is wise. Otherwise, if you buy too much at once, coffee beans will lose their original flavor over time. When buying by gram, purchasing half a pound (about 230 grams) at a time is the most appropriate amount.

Step 3: Store Properly to Preserve Coffee Bean Flavor

The shelf life of roasted coffee beans at room temperature is about 2-3 weeks at most, but they should be kept from air exposure as much as possible in airtight containers. If storing for more than 3 weeks, it's best to freeze them in the refrigerator. Remember to store coffee beans in sealed jars or multiple layers of plastic bags when refrigerating to prevent them from absorbing food odors from the refrigerator. This way, coffee bean quality won't change significantly, but it's still recommended to drink freshly purchased coffee beans while fresh.

Coffee Bean Composition Analysis

Fat: Coffee contains various types of fats, with acidic fats and volatile fats being the most important. Acidic fats contain acids whose strength varies depending on coffee variety. Volatile fats are the main source of coffee aroma, emitting about 40 aromatic compounds in extremely complex and subtle components.

Sugar: Coffee beans contain about 8% sugar, which mostly converts to caramel during roasting, giving coffee its unique brown color.

Extract: Can be divided into several types, accounting for nearly one-third of roasted beans.

Caffeine: Caffeine is the most notable component. Its effects are extensive, influencing various parts of the human body including the brain, heart, blood vessels, gastrointestinal tract, muscles, and kidneys. Moderate caffeine stimulates the cerebral cortex, promoting sensory, judgment, memory, and emotional activities, making cardiac function more active, dilating blood vessels to enhance circulation, and improving metabolic function. Caffeine can also relieve muscle fatigue and promote digestive fluid secretion. Additionally, it promotes kidney function, helping the body excrete excess sodium ions. Unlike other narcotic or stimulating substances that accumulate in the body, caffeine is excreted within about two hours.

Tannic Acid: Refined tannic acid becomes pale yellow powder that easily dissolves in water. When boiled, it decomposes to produce pyroligneous acid, making coffee taste worse.

Minerals: Include lime, iron, sulfur, phosphorus, sodium carbonate, chlorine, etc., but due to low proportions, they don't significantly affect coffee flavor, only adding slight astringency.

Crude Fiber: Green bean fiber carbonizes during roasting. This carbonization combines with sugar caramelization to form coffee's color, but powdered fiber significantly affects coffee flavor.

How to Taste Coffee

There's no single correct way to drink coffee. You can drink pure black coffee or add sugar and milk. In Africa and Arabian regions, people even add spices like cinnamon to coffee. People not accustomed to coffee's bitterness usually add sugar and milk to counteract it. However, drinking a cup of pure black coffee allows you to appreciate the rich flavor of coffee itself and is considered the mark of a coffee connoisseur. Regardless of how you drink it, tasting coffee still requires some etiquette and knowledge.

Steps: When a cup of coffee is served, don't rush to drink it. You should follow a gradual process like tasting tea or wine to achieve relaxation, refreshment, and enjoyment.

Step 1: Smell the aroma and experience the rich fragrance coming from the coffee.

Step 2: Observe the color. Coffee should ideally present deep brown rather than pitch black and impenetrable.

Step 3: Taste. First, take a sip of black coffee to experience the original coffee flavor. Coffee should have some sweetness, slight bitterness, slight acidity, and no astringency. Then taste in small sips. Don't rush to swallow the coffee in one gulp. Hold it in your mouth temporarily, allowing the coffee to mix slightly with saliva and air before swallowing.

Temperature: The optimal temperature for drinking coffee is 85-88°C. Since regular coffee texture isn't very stable, it's best to taste it while hot. To prevent diminishing coffee flavor, preheat the coffee cup in boiling water. The ideal coffee temperature is 83°C at brewing, 80°C when poured into the cup, and 61-62°C when reaching the mouth.

Generally, tasting coffee while hot is basic coffee etiquette. For high-quality coffee, aside from reduced aroma when cooled, the taste profile remains consistent with when hot, or even improves.

Flavor: Coffee beans contain about 5-8% sugar, which mostly converts to caramel during roasting, providing aroma and bitterness. Unconverted sugar retains slight sweetness. During roasting, tannic acid is released and combines with caramel to produce slightly bitter sweetness. Therefore, people generally perceive coffee taste as having bitterness, acidity, sweetness, aroma, and astringency.

Amount: Unlike drinking alcohol or juice, a full cup of coffee can be unappetizing. Generally, seven to eight tenths full is appropriate. Moderately portioned coffee not only stimulates the taste buds but also leaves no heavy feeling after drinking, providing endless aftertaste. Meanwhile, moderate coffee consumption can appropriately help relieve fatigue and refresh the mind. Coffee has different strengths, so unlike tea or cola, you shouldn't drink several cups consecutively. The appropriate amount for coffee is 80-100cc. If you want to drink three or four cups consecutively, dilute the coffee concentration or add lots of milk to avoid nausea. Varying sugar content can also make coffee more delicious.

Why Coffee Should Be Cupped

Cupping! This term is familiar to coffee lovers. Cupping is generally needed in three situations: coffee farmers or traders cupping for green bean grade evaluation, roasters cupping for roasted coffee, and baristas cupping for brewing methods. Should ordinary people cup? Of course, because when we taste a cup of coffee, what exactly are we experiencing? Are the aroma, mouthfeel, and flavor in the coffee truly what we want? For example, is the so-called "Taiwan coffee" that claims to be non-acidic, non-bitter, and slightly sweet truly good coffee? Does roasted coffee bean price really correlate with good-tasting coffee? This is often complex and subtle. I can only say that "fresh" roasted beans are more important. And what is "specialty coffee"? Is it very expensive, extremely rare estate beans with special flavors? This definition is too narrow. What's important is how we know the true flavor that this cup of coffee brings. Even the cheapest Brazilian beans have their delicious qualities. Therefore, I divide the factors that determine a good cup of coffee into the following four items and their influence levels:

1. Mastery of green bean origin flavor - 40%
2. Control of coffee bean roast level - 30%
3. Storage of fresh roasted beans - 20%
4. Brewing method - 10%

Therefore, when we taste a cup of coffee, we can understand the coffee characteristics expressed in aroma, mouthfeel, and flavor through cupping to find your favorite cup. Of course, professional cupping has specific roast degrees, cupping brewing methods, and cupping procedures. If ordinary people use this professional cupping method to find good coffee, you'll be greatly disappointed. Beyond these three professional cupping scenarios, ordinary people tasting coffee can also understand coffee characteristics through the cupping process. Cupping is both simple and difficult, but just maintain a normal perspective and don't let drinking coffee become painful. The purpose of cupping for us is to present the flavors we experience through data scoring, allowing everyone to understand coffee bean characteristics while helping everyone better understand coffee bean flavors through cupping and choose their favorite coffee beans.

You can use any roasted beans you want to taste, appropriate grinding methods, and your chosen brewing method to prepare coffee. By recording coffee grinding, brewing, and tasting step by step, this becomes what we call "coffee tasting cupping." Coffee tasting cupping is generally divided into the following items for scoring:

1. Dry Fragrance

After grinding fresh coffee beans into powder, carbon dioxide from the cells releases these aromas. Smell this aroma forcefully. Aroma characteristics express the essence of flavor. Sweetness indicates acidity, while pungency indicates stimulating taste. Aroma intensity reflects coffee freshness from roasting, grinding to brewing.

2. Wet Aroma

The coffee aroma released during brewing or immediately after pouring into the cup. You can detect fruity, grassy, and nutty aromas that should be consistent with the coffee beans. Aroma intensity relates to coffee freshness.

3. Acidity

Coffee beans are fruits and naturally have fruit acidity. Coffee's fruit acidity varies in strength depending on coffee variety and origin, but roast level primarily determines coffee acidity strength. Darker roasts have less acidity, while lighter roasts have more. Acidity also has good and bad qualities. Fresh fruity acidity indicates fresh coffee, while vinegar-like acidity suggests it's been stored too long and isn't fresh. If coffee isn't roasted properly, it will have astringent acidity like eating unripe fruit.

4. Bitterness

Coffee is a bitter fruit, similar to cocoa beans. Very pure chocolate also has bitterness. Therefore, bitterness in coffee is normal. The key factor affecting bitterness strength is still roasting. Darker roasts complete caramelization more thoroughly, so roasting affects not only acidity and bitterness but also increases sweetness as roast level increases. However, during the caramelization process, if the limit is exceeded, caramel becomes carbon—essentially burnt. Burnt bitterness isn't a flavor that should be present in coffee.

5. Body

Explore the coffee liquid's mouthfeel. Gently slide your tongue over the roof of your mouth. Oils in coffee create a smooth sensation. Proteins express thickness. Coffee concentration and body consist of these two sensations, similar to the body variation between pure water and yogurt. Creamy, rich coffee doesn't necessarily represent the best body, and lighter coffee isn't necessarily insufficient body. The optimal coffee body still interacts with other coffee flavors.

6. Flavor

Coffee flavor mainly comes from the inherent qualities of green beans from different growing regions. A truly good cup of coffee can express its original intended flavor. For example, Mocha's wine-like and fermented flavors, Mandheling's grassy notes, Central American beans' nutty flavors, and Yirgacheffe's jasmine flower and lemon peel acidity—these special flavors are what we pursue in coffee tasting. This is the true meaning of drinking "specialty coffee." Whether a cup of coffee can truly express the flavor characteristics of its growing region can be measured by this item. This flavor information can provide feedback on roasting process compatibility. Aromatic coffee beans are suitable for light roasting, while grassy and fermented flavors are suitable for darker roasting.

7. Aftertaste

When drinking brewed coffee, hold it in your mouth for a few seconds, then forcefully swallow a small amount, causing vapor to rapidly pass through the upper palate into the nasal cavity. This can leave chocolate-like sweetness or even campfire or tobacco aromas. Aftertaste might have clove-like stimulation or pine resin flavors, or even combinations of these aromas. When coffee beans aren't fresh, unpleasant flavors emerge during aftertaste. Fresh, clean coffee presents endless回味 in aftertaste expression. Have you ever experienced an aftertaste that lingers for days and nights, unforgettable? This is the aftertaste item in coffee cupping.

8. Correction

When we drink a cup of coffee, it should at least score 60 points. If there are slight mistakes, we might taste "bad" coffee. Therefore, when we taste coffee, we start from 50 points and add the previous 1-7 items totaling 50 points, finally obtaining the coffee's tasting score. Whether you're a coffee roasting professional or coffee enthusiast, record all the coffees you usually drink... let yourself understand that coffee tasting is also so profound!

How to Drink Ground Coffee?

1. Water Temperature Issues for Brewing Coffee

Before brewing coffee—you need good water. Mountain spring water is best.

Fresh water after boiling contains appropriate carbon dioxide that can enhance coffee aroma, but continuous boiling reduces carbon dioxide evaporation. The optimal water temperature is 95°C. Water temperature too low prevents coffee flavors from fully extracting, while water temperature too high alters coffee components. Both extremes are undesirable.

2. Filter Brewing

Starbucks recommends that you can use the simplest French press instead of buying expensive coffee makers.

French Press Brewing Method

Coffee Bean Amount: Use 20g of coffee beans for 180cc-200cc of hot water. Adjust coffee bean amount according to preferred strength.

1. First, remove the lid and filter from the French press and pour the freshly ground coffee powder into the pot.

2. Pour in the appropriate amount of hot water according to the ratio and start timing.

3. Let it sit for one minute. Then stir slightly with a spoon to ensure all coffee powder is evenly moistened.

4. Cover with the lid but don't press down, and let it sit for another minute.

5. Slowly press the filter to the bottom.

6. Complete. Pour out the coffee and drink! (Note: When pouring coffee, don't remove the filter, otherwise coffee grounds will float up.)

What Are Peaberries and Flat Beans?

Actually, coffee beans have no male-female distinction—many people call peaberries "male beans" and flat beans "female beans." From a botanical perspective, this is an extremely absurd statement. In the plant kingdom, some species truly have male-female distinctions, known as "dioecious," such as Barringtonia and Ficus awkeotsang. Male plants don't flower and bear fruit. Some are "monoecious" requiring cross-pollination for female flowers to fruit, such as most gourd plants.

However, coffee plants (Rubiaceae family) can "self-pollinate"—a single flower contains both male and female parts, with no distinction between male/female plants or male/female flowers. Coffee flower ovaries have two ovules and are self-pollinating, so pollination rates are extremely high. Usually both ovules successfully pollinate and develop into coffee cherries containing two seeds ("flat beans"). Very few coffee cherries have only one ovule pollinate, developing into a single round seed called "peaberry"—this is the correct term.

Only 5% of beans from the same coffee tree are peaberries, with the rest being flat beans. Peaberries aren't particularly precious or variant beans—they're just rare, comprising only about 5% of total volume, requiring special selection. Due to small quantities and additional labor, prices naturally become higher than beans of the same grade. Generally, people believe peaberries have more concentrated flavor because nutrients are completely contained in a single bean, with no astringency or bitterness and optimal flavor, making them the best among coffee beans.

Whether flat beans or peaberries, since they're seeds, they are all "female." How absurd is "male seeds"! The coffee "male bean-female bean" theory originated in Indonesia as a sensational gimmick to fool foreign tourists. Knowledgeable people shouldn't be deceived. It's understandable for ordinary people to follow this说法, but coffee industry professionals should spread correct knowledge.

Coffee Brewing Methods

Siphon Method: Uses siphon principles to cause heated water to rise through the siphon tube and mix with coffee powder, then flow back to the lower cup after complete extraction. The entire process is full of performance enjoyment, allowing guests to taste coffee in an atmosphere of appreciation and enjoyment.

Paper Filter Method: The paper filter coffee maker was invented by a German housewife in 1908. Paper filters can remove fine coffee grounds, maintaining good coffee texture. Additionally, paper filters are single-use and very hygienic. The paper filter method has specific requirements for coffee grind—too fine powder clogs filter holes, while too coarse particles cause water to flow too quickly, resulting in insufficiently rich coffee flavor.

Drip Method: Uses extremely fine coffee powder with cold or ice water, extracting slowly at 40 drops per minute. Drip-brewed coffee contains extremely low caffeine and has exceptionally refreshing taste. Its price is 3 times that of regular iced coffee and requires advance reservation.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find various famous and lesser-known beans, also providing online store services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473