What Are Commercial Coffee Beans? - Characteristics and Roasting Performance of Commercial Beans, Espresso Making Process

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Coffee Market Classification

From the coffee market perspective, coffee beans are mainly divided into two categories: commercial beans and specialty coffee beans.

What are Specialty Coffee Beans?

They are "coffee beans cultivated with unique flavors under specific climatic and geographical conditions."

Why is Specialty Coffee Called "Specialty"?

We understand that the quality of specialty coffee is higher than general commercial coffee. From planting altitude to coffee bean varieties, there are close relationships. Through strict selection and grading, according to the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) standards, defective beans are identified. Therefore, it is crucial to pick out defective coffee beans. Coffee beans with defects or flaws will be manually sorted out, and these beans are called "Pasilla." Unfortunately, these "Pasilla" beans will still circulate in the market, and the buyers of these defective beans are precisely commercial coffee producers. Only by ensuring quality from the source can specialty coffee truly be called "specialty"!

What is Commercial Coffee?

Commercial beans generally refer to coffee beans that are not of high quality, with lower quality and high defect rates. In terms of price, specialty coffee beans are several times more expensive than commercial beans. From a cost perspective, choosing commercial beans naturally offers greater profit margins.

In terms of flavor from individual beans, the coffee taste from commercial beans is much inferior to that of specialty coffee beans. Generally, commercial beans are chosen for blending. After blending, they can also produce coffee with excellent taste, suitable for making lattes, cappuccinos, and other espresso-based drinks. Popular Science | Component Analysis of Common Coffee Drinks: Differences between Latte, Cappuccino, Flat White.

Commercial Coffee vs. Specialty Coffee

These commercial coffee beans are generally cheaper in price, and both the green beans and roasting techniques can only be said to follow mass-produced standards. The biggest difference between specialty and commercial coffee beans lies in quality and price. A pound of specialty coffee beans might cost 90 yuan, while commercial beans might reach a minimum price of 40-50 yuan per pound.

Overall, how to choose coffee beans depends on the coffee shop's own positioning. If your coffee shop pursues cost control and typically serves espresso-based drinks, commercial beans are generally used. If you're making specialty coffee and providing authentic freshly ground coffee for everyone, then specialty coffee beans will be the best choice. Common varieties usually include several popular options: Brazil, Colombia, Blue Mountain, Yirgacheffe, and Mandheling.

Blended Coffee: Commercial Coffee Beans for Blends

What is Blended Coffee?

Blended coffee refers to coffee made by mixing and combining coffee beans from various origins. Roasters will simultaneously roast two to four types of coffee beans, all coming from different origins and growing countries. This can be divided into raw blending and roasted blending. Raw blending means mixing green beans first and then roasting them together, while roasted blending means each type of coffee is roasted in different ways.

To provide your favorite coffee flavor, they are all mixed according to different ratios (roasting and blending). Coffee is a natural product from plants, so it is a living, constantly changing thing. Every time you roast coffee, you must also taste its flavor. Mixing 2-3 different coffee beans to achieve balanced and delicious flavors is truly a technical skill.

Regional Flavor Profiles:

Colombia, Nicaragua, Brazil — Almond, chocolate, nutty, caramel

Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda — Sweet, acidic, nutty, lemony, sometimes astringent

India, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea — Earthy, spicy, salty

Mexico, Peru, Yemen, Yunnan, Guatemala — Creamy, cocoa, nutty

The industry generally uses lower-acidity blended coffee, such as Vietnamese Robusta, Brazil, Yunnan, Mandheling, Guatemala, and other commercial-grade beans for blending. Espresso beans are typically dark or medium-dark roasted, which produces good crema and is suitable for espresso, lattes, and other milk-based coffees.

An ideal espresso should achieve balance among all elements, with distinct flavor characteristics, leaving a sweet and mellow aftertaste without bitterness.

More specifically, it should have moderate acidity, bitterness, and sweetness, rich flavors, solid and mellow body, with a long-lasting aftertaste that feels refreshingly acidic like citrus notes.

Characteristics and Roasting Performance of Commercial Beans

For example, Espresso Blend #2: 70% Brazil blended with 30% Colombia. Roasted blending: Roasted blending means each type of coffee is roasted in different ways.

Commercial Brazil - South Minas Region: Green coffee beans have high moisture content and good quality.

Brazil's Flavor Characteristics: Comfortable bittersweet taste, extremely smooth entry; with a faint grassy aroma, fresh fragrance with a slight bitterness; sweet, smooth, and pleasant, with a refreshing aftertaste.

Brazil belongs to soft beans, while Ethiopia belongs to hard beans.

After understanding the flavor characteristics, how should a roaster handle this batch of Brazilian green beans?

Brazilian coffee generally grows at altitudes of 1000-1300 meters, so its density is relatively low. Moisture content: 11.7%. Bourbon varieties are mostly processed using natural or pulped natural methods. With moderate moisture content, the beans are relatively soft, and the thickness from the surface to the core is relatively thin, making them unsuitable for roasting at too high temperatures. The temperature of the roaster's inner wall would scorch the bean surface, resulting in burnt bitterness.

At the same time, to express nutty, milk chocolate, and good body characteristics as a blend base, we choose to use medium heat to start the beans, maintain heat until the dehydration stage, and make fine adjustments as temperature rises after the first crack begins, promoting more complete caramelization reactions, increasing temperature to near the second crack for discharge.

Commercial Brazil Roasting Curve

Commercial Brazil Roasting Curve

Colombia Huila

Flavor characteristics: Rich and solid mouthfeel, with pleasant acidity, aromatic aroma, moderate acidity, and rich sweetness that is intriguing. Due to low price, small beans, suitable for blending coffee. Coffee has strong flavor characteristics and heavy texture.

Its nutty, chocolate, and caramel aromas and suitable acidity are considered high-quality specialty coffee, suitable for single origin or espresso blend bases.

Product Name: Colombia Huila

How should a roaster handle this batch of Colombian green beans?

Colombian coffee plays many roles in the market and is suitable for espresso blending. Colombia generally grows at altitudes of 1500-1800 meters; mostly Caturra varieties, washed processing method, high density, uniform bean size, full-bodied beans (thicker from core to surface). Moisture content: 12.5%

Based on the green bean flavor characteristics, I want to express its nutty, chocolate, and caramel aromas.

Roasting method: Extend the roasting time longer, so adjust the heat once when dehydration is complete, open the air damper to maximum when reaching the first crack, and drop the beans when approaching the second crack.

Roasted Beans: Commercial Colombia and Commercial Brazil

The longer the roasting time, the acidity will decrease accordingly, while body and sweetness will increase. Therefore, the degree of roasting depends on your purpose. Of course, green beans from different origins and different processing methods have different performance approaches.

Seven days after roasting,

using this blend

extract a shot of espresso

▼

- Water temperature | 93-94°C

- Pressure | 9 bar

- Freshly ground coffee powder | 20 grams (using electronic scale)

- Total coffee weight | 40 grams (using electronic scale)

- Extraction time | 25-28 seconds (using timer)

Flavor Description:

Using the post-roasting blending method allows us to more thoroughly understand the performance of each bean. Not only can we adjust appropriate roasting degrees based on espresso performance after blending to achieve desired effects, but we can also reference cupping results of each bean to determine selection. This is the shop's Espresso Blend #2: Colombia + Brazil using medium-dark roast. Flavor description: dark dried fruit, toffee, nuts, caramel cream sweetness, slightly acidic but not stimulating, balanced, with good crema.

The crema spreads densely and viscously on the tongue, with sweetness just enough to balance the acidity, making the overall experience relatively smooth and balanced, while maintaining a long-lasting sweet aftertaste.

Image source: FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)

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