Beginner's Guide: How to Choose Coffee Beans for Pour-Over Coffee

How to Choose Beginner Coffee Beans?

If you like coffee but don't plan to spend too much money, learning how to select coffee beans is the first and most important step. To brew a great cup of coffee, besides your brewing technique, the most crucial aspects are how to select high-quality coffee beans and how to properly store them.

Here are a few suggestions: when purchasing coffee, it's best to buy whole coffee beans rather than pre-ground coffee powder. Although they are essentially the same, the reality is that pre-ground coffee powder oxidizes very easily and is difficult to store properly. Even those coffee powders that appear to have a long shelf life typically contain numerous preservatives, which will significantly affect the taste of the brewed coffee. Therefore, if you want to make a good cup of coffee, the best and most correct approach is to grind the coffee beans fresh before brewing. This maintains the coffee's aroma and flavor to the greatest extent possible. Generally, coffee beans can be stored for about a month, but coffee powder should not be kept for more than five days.

Tips for Selecting Beginner Coffee Beans

First, pay attention to the natural characteristics of coffee beans. Coffee beans should not be exposed to strong sunlight and should not be stored together with volatile substances. These two points indicate that coffee beans are best stored in sealed, opaque containers or jars.

Second, distinguish the beans you need by their color. Whether you're a beginner or have been in the coffee community for a long time, these fundamental concepts should be well understood. Coffee beans exhibit different colors depending on their roasting level, and the coffee's flavor profile changes accordingly. Lighter roasted coffee beans have a strong acidity, but as the roasting level increases, the acidity gradually diminishes while the bitterness intensifies. Generally, we divide coffee bean roasting levels into three main categories: light roast, medium roast, and dark roast. These three main categories can be further subdivided into eight levels, listed from lightest to darkest as follows: Light Roast, Cinnamon Roast, Medium Roast, Dark Roast, City Roast, Full City Roast, French Roast, and Italian Roast, with Italian Roast being the deepest level.

Third, learn to check the expiration date of coffee beans. Coffee beans begin to oxidize after roasting, similar to aluminum powder, though not as quickly. Additionally, coffee beans have the characteristic of absorbing moisture and odors, so try to select fresh coffee beans. However, regarding this characteristic of coffee beans, don't throw away spoiled beans - using them as a desiccant and deodorizer for refrigerators or closets is an excellent choice that's both environmentally friendly and pollution-free.

Fourth, learn to determine whether coffee beans can still be used or have deteriorated and must be discarded. Besides looking at color, you should trust your nose the most. Fresh coffee beans have a rich, original coffee aroma. Stale or overly oxidized coffee beans will have poor aroma or almost no smell, and in severe cases, may have musty, earthy, iodine-like, or even fermented odors.

Fifth, and most importantly, use your hands to press or taste the beans. When you squeeze good coffee beans, they should not only release an overflowing fragrance when they crack but also produce a crisp cracking sound. You can further place coffee beans in your mouth and bite them open. If the cracking sound is crisp and short, it indicates that the beans haven't absorbed moisture. Another purpose of this is to check whether the internal color of the beans is consistent with or close to their external appearance. Coffee beans that are consistent inside and out indicate good roasting quality and belong to high-quality beans. If the inside and outside of the coffee beans are inconsistent, it suggests that the roasting was too rapid or the heat wasn't properly controlled. The final coffee made from such beans will be significantly affected in taste.

Recommended Beginner Coffee Bean Brands

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted beginner coffee beans: Yirgacheffe Coffee, Panama Emerald Butterfly Coffee, and Indonesian Mandheling Coffee all offer excellent guarantees in terms of both brand and quality. More importantly, they provide exceptional value for money. A half-pound (227g) package costs only around 80-90 yuan. Calculating at 15g per pour-over coffee, one package can make about 15 cups, with each specialty coffee costing only about 6 yuan. Compared to coffee shops that often sell coffee for dozens of yuan per cup, this represents extremely high value for money.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small storefront but diverse bean varieties, where you can find both famous and lesser-known beans. They also provide online service at 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