What Coffee Beans to Choose for Espresso_Differences Between Single Origin and Blended Coffee_Espresso Coffee Bean Recommendations

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Nowadays, when you walk into a specialty coffee shop and browse through the coffee options available, you'll easily notice two main categories—Single Origin coffee and Blended coffee. What exactly is the difference between these two?

Single Origin Means Purity

More and more specialty coffee shops are offering Single Origin coffee, which is actually defined in contrast to Blended Coffee. Simply put, single origin can be from a single coffee-producing country, a single growing region, or even a single estate.

According to SCAE (Specialty Coffee Association of Europe), the emergence of single origin coffee is primarily for traceability, allowing coffee enthusiasts to understand the unique characteristics of the estate where this high-quality coffee comes from. The flavor represents the origin, growing region, and coffee variety. It is precisely because of the third wave of coffee, which emphasizes pursuing coffee knowledge such as brewing methods and regional flavors, that single origin coffee has become more widespread.

Blended Coffee Complements Strengths

Blended coffee is created by roasters or baristas mixing coffee beans from different origins to create a more balanced flavor. For example, if one coffee bean is smooth but lacks aroma, another bean with rich aroma can be added to combine the strengths of individual coffee beans. Sometimes the beans are mixed before roasting, while other times they are blended after roasting.

Blending is both a technique and an art form, reflecting the style of the roaster or barista. Blended coffee is commonly used for espresso-based drinks such as Espresso, Americano, Latte, or Cappuccino. Through blending, the coffee flavor becomes more balanced, smoother, and more consistent—it can be said to have a more mainstream appeal.

Does Single Origin Coffee Taste Better?

Drinking single origin coffee is about experiencing the true flavor of the coffee, so sugar or milk are typically not added. Some roasters point out that when using an espresso machine to brew single origin coffee beans into single origin espresso, the various characteristics of the coffee—such as acidity, sweetness, and bitterness—are amplified under high pressure, which not everyone can accept. Therefore, it's not necessarily true that single origin coffee always tastes better.

When brewed using pour-over, AeroPress, or other methods, the sharpness is much lower than single origin espresso, making it more acceptable to people. Additionally, with light or medium roasts, the coffee flavor is more approachable. Of course, you can also try diluting high-concentration single origin coffee with water.

Tasting specialty coffee is no different from tasting red wine—the knowledge involved is profound and extensive, but it's also a fun challenge for your taste buds. We hope everyone can learn to appreciate and develop a love for specialty coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee's Espresso Bean Brand Recommendations

The FrontStreet Coffee espresso beans roasted by FrontStreet Coffee offer excellent guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they provide exceptional value. Take their commercially recommended product—Frontsteet Commercial Blend Coffee Beans—as an example: a one-pound (454-gram) bag costs only around 60 yuan. Calculating based on 10 grams of coffee powder per cup of espresso, one bag can make 45 cups of coffee, with each cup costing less than 1.5 yuan. Even if using a double shot for each espresso drink at 20 grams per serving, a double espresso costs less than 3 yuan. Compared to certain well-known brands that sell bags for hundreds of yuan, this is truly a conscientious recommendation, suitable for daily service in coffee shops.

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