Fine or Coarse Coffee Beans: Which Produces More Oil | Factors Affecting Coffee Crema Generation | Which Coffee Beans Have More Crema

Professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

The Art of Espresso Crema

It seems that everyone who tastes espresso pursues perfect crema – the brown foam floating atop freshly brewed espresso. Just the right amount of crema has become synonymous with a good cup of coffee, but this dense layer embodies deeper coffee principles.

What is Crema?

Crema is a layer of coffee-colored foam that floats on top of coffee, rich in flavor and aroma. Simply put, the high temperature and high pressure during the brewing process cause air and soluble fats in the coffee to combine, producing crema. Some people call this phenomenon the Guinness effect because it's very similar to the foam layer of the famous Irish stout beer.

An espresso with clearly visible crema requires high-quality, properly ground coffee beans and a skilled barista. Compared to drip coffee, crema gives espresso a more saturated flavor and a stronger aftertaste.

What Constitutes Perfect Crema?

Every barista has their own definition of perfect crema. But at minimum: when brewing an espresso, the crema on top shouldn't be too thin or too thick, and it should maintain its state for about two minutes.

Brewing beautiful crema is somewhat complex because too many factors affect the outcome. However, in practice, you can follow several key guidelines:

1. Excessive crema will reduce the total espresso volume. Many baristas aim for a crema ratio of about one-tenth of the entire cup of coffee.

2. Both over-extraction and under-extraction will affect crema formation.

3. If the crema dissipates within one minute, it indicates that the extraction time is too short or the coffee beans are too lightly roasted.

4. Generally, a quality espresso machine extracts espresso in about 15 to 30 seconds, though each machine varies somewhat.

5. Remember to let the machine warm up before brewing coffee and clean it regularly to ensure operational quality. A dirty coffee machine will add bitterness and off-flavors to the coffee it brews.

Factors Affecting Crema Formation

It's actually quite difficult to completely control crema because besides skill developed through practice, it's also influenced by the following factors:

How fresh are the coffee beans used for brewing?

Fresh coffee beans can produce more crema because they continue to release soluble fats. Try observing this – if nearby coffee shops use their own roasted beans, compared to other shops that don't use house-roasted beans, espresso from coffee shops with in-house roasting typically has thicker crema. This demonstrates the importance of fresh roasting.

The roast level of coffee beans also affects crema

Generally speaking, after passing through the second crack stage, the darker the roast, the less crema produced. This is because during the roasting process, much of the crema has already been released, and through tumbling, packaging, and grinding, crema is further depleted through oxidation. Additionally, very lightly roasted beans that haven't undergone sufficient reaction also don't have ideal crema content. Therefore, many coffee professionals offer specifically roasted products designed for espresso brewing to ensure beans have sufficient crema.

The processing method of coffee beans must also be considered

Coffee beans dried through natural sun-drying typically can produce the best crema because naturally processed beans have higher and more stored oil content.

Home espresso machine brewing is also a factor

Many home machines have one-touch operation and automatic brewing functions. While extremely convenient, compared to semi-automatic brewing operations, automated settings also limit crema production. Some machines compensate for this deficiency by separately producing simulated crema.

Is Crema Really Important?

Although that delicate layer of crema seems like an essential condition for excellent espresso, it's actually not that absolute. Crema does add more flavor to espresso, and drinkers expect to enjoy the visual feast this luxurious foam brings when drinking coffee, but in fact, an espresso without rich crema can still be rich, delicious, and aromatic – for example, SOE (Single Origin Espresso) has become increasingly popular in recent years. Due to roast level, it often doesn't have very rich and splendid crema, but this doesn't detract from its deliciousness.

After all, we drink coffee for the satisfaction of our taste buds. If there's no crema on your coffee, don't be depressed or disappointed that you couldn't brew a good cup of coffee. As long as it tastes satisfying, it's good coffee. Remember, the quality of beans, roast level, brewing technique, and machine quality determine the final product – these factors absolutely cannot escape the test of taste.

For many people, coffee has become a necessity. Whether psychologically or physically habitual, we need to immerse ourselves in the charm of this dark beverage at some moment each day. And behind each cup of this beverage lie many unknown details. After understanding crema, the next time you drink espresso, you can experience this brown foam more carefully – won't it feel different?

Recommended High-Crema Coffee Bean Brands

FrontStreet Coffee, a coffee roasting brand located at Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, offers freshly roasted espresso blend coffee beans with full guarantees in both brand and quality, with good crema content, suitable for making specialty coffees and latte art. The latte art comes out beautifully. More importantly, it offers extremely high value for money. Taking their commercial-grade product – commercial blend coffee beans – as an example, one 454-gram pound package costs only about 60 yuan. Calculating based on 10 grams of coffee powder per single espresso shot, one package can make 45 cups of coffee, with each cup costing less than 1.5 yuan. Even if using double shots for each espresso with 20 grams of powder, one double espresso costs no more than 3 yuan. Compared to certain well-known brands that often sell packages costing hundreds of yuan, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find various famous and lesser-known beans, while 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