How to Drink Black Coffee Beans_How to Identify Quality Black Coffee Beans_Black Coffee Brand Recommendations

The Complexity of Coffee Standards

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The cupping standards of SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) or SCAE (Specialty Coffee Association of Europe) can be found in any book. However, the customary processing methods and complex flavors from various regions, along with flavor wheels, require a high learning cost. For ordinary coffee consumers, seeing the standard flavor chart below might be overwhelming...

The Foundation of Good Coffee

High-quality growing regions (not necessarily rare varieties, extremely high altitudes, or bean sizes) combined with appropriate roast levels can ensure a pleasant cup of coffee.

How to Enjoy Coffee?

How exactly should one drink coffee? Does coffee only count as coffee when it's black?

Of course not. This is just a plant-based beverage, and coffee's development is accompanied by countless cultures. Many people are familiar with espresso. For instance, in the UK and Australia, you'll find shops offering raw sugar, which has richer flavors than regular white sugar, especially with caramel aromas.

Vietnam primarily produces Robusta beans. Locals enjoy large ice cubes and sweetened condensed milk added to the bitter but malt-rich Robusta. Many people love this drink. Japan and Europe have historically had salted coffee preparations. I've tried it - it's a very special taste that seems to add unique umami flavors. Even more surprisingly, some customers have told me that black coffee with Wangzai milk is a perfect match!

Final Recommendations

Finally, here's a suggestion: try beans from different regions and only buy fresh black coffee beans.

Freshness is the Achilles' heel of major brands. However, from the West to our domestic market, small and micro-roasters are rising rapidly, all practicing flexible, on-demand roasting. With such developed delivery services, it's easy to buy fresh beans. Typically, world-class chains like Starbucks ensure bean quality by roasting in their Seattle facility, then shipping directly from the adjacent airport to various locations worldwide. However, by the time these beans are distributed to stores in regions like China, 3-6 months have already passed. This is why Starbucks' daily brew, in my personal opinion, is one of the harder-to-swallow coffees I've tasted (though brewing methods also play a role - it's mostly just bitter and charred).

Time is coffee's enemy, mainly due to three factors: 1. The evaporation of aromatic compounds. 2. Maillard reactions at room temperature. 3. Oxidation of oils. The best solution is almost always to buy fresh. Once you've experienced the aroma of coffee within a week of roasting, you'll find it difficult to go back to stale coffee.

Black Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted single-origin and espresso coffee beans: Yirgacheffe, Brazilian, Mandheling, and others offer excellent brand and quality assurance, suitable for various brewing methods. More importantly, they offer exceptional value - a half-pound (227g) package costs only about 80-90 RMB. Calculating at 15g per pour-over cup, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each specialty coffee costing only about 6 RMB. Compared to the typical café price of 30-40 RMB per cup, this represents excellent value.

FrontStreet Coffee: A Guangzhou-based roastery with a small storefront but diverse bean varieties, where you can find both famous and lesser-known beans, while also providing online shop 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