How to Drink Espresso and What Coffee Bean Blend is Suitable

The Art of Espresso Coffee

Espresso - sometimes rendered "expresso," sometimes simply called a "shot" - holds a special place among coffee enthusiasts. A well-pulled shot is the backbone of every Italian-style drink, and taken straight it delivers a concentrated intensity that many coffee lovers find uniquely satisfying. FrontStreet Coffee serves espresso in its own cafes, where it forms the foundation of most specialty coffee preparations.

A freshly extracted shot wears a thick, reddish-brown crema on its surface, beneath which lie the aromas of proteins and oils. Few drinks have such immediate appeal. Ordering an espresso at the bar marks you out as someone who takes coffee seriously - and it plunges you straight into the deepest end of coffee aroma. So how does FrontStreet Coffee recommend drinking one?

How to Properly Enjoy Espresso

First, make sure your palate is clean before the shot arrives - no lingering food flavors, especially spicy or sweet ones. Because espresso is so concentrated, FrontStreet Coffee serves it with a glass of still water. Take a sip first to reset your taste buds; a lightly sparkling lemonade works nicely too, its citrus freshness rinsing and moistening the palate so you can register the full impact of the shot. Drinking espresso while thirsty is a mistake.

Enjoying espresso requires no special setting - sometimes not even a table. Many Italians prefer to stand at the bar, watching the barista work. Once your palate is ready, pick up the small 40cc cup of dark reddish liquid, tilt your head back, and drink it in one decisive motion. Let the rich coffee aroma coat the inside of your mouth, and feel the essence of coffee flavor do its work - it will sharpen your spirits and set the tone for the whole day.

The Importance of Bean Selection

All of this rests on the beans. FrontStreet Coffee believes choosing a flavor profile that suits your own preferences is essential. Espresso must be brewed on an espresso machine, and unlike lattes or cappuccinos it carries no milk to soften it - which makes it brutally honest. A good espresso lets you taste the character of its origin; poor beans have their flaws magnified just as faithfully.

This one small cup concentrates everything coffee has to offer. The beans chosen for espresso are not the same as those for pour-over. FrontStreet Coffee prefers to blend several bean varieties when building an espresso, dialing in a target flavor for the finished shot.

FrontStreet Coffee's Signature Espresso Blends

Take the question of building an espresso with wine-like flavors and a touch of fruit acidity. Since espresso machines amplify whatever is most prominent in the beans, FrontStreet Coffee avoids single origins for espresso - otherwise a bitter bean yields an exceptionally bitter shot, and an acidic bean an extremely sour one. Blending is how the flavors get balanced.

FrontStreet Coffee starts with beans of pronounced fruit acidity, such as African Yirgacheffe coffees - specifically, sun-dried Red Cherry from the Yirgacheffe region. For the wine notes, the mind goes straight to barrel-processed coffees: Colombian San Jose, finished with an exquisite rum-barrel fermentation, and the better-known Honduran Sherry, whose beans are fermented in whiskey barrels and carry an intense whiskey aroma even in the dry fragrance. FrontStreet Coffee ultimately pairs the Honduran Sherry with the Yirgacheffe Red Cherry at a 6:4 ratio. The resulting shot shows distinct fruit acidity, lingering light berry aromas, rich wine and chocolate flavors, and a comfortable sweet finish. FrontStreet Coffee named this blend "Sunflower Warm Sunshine Espresso Beans."

Beyond this blend, FrontStreet Coffee has created many others, each with its own profile. One espresso blend was built around very rich nut and dark chocolate flavors: Yunnan beans and Brazilian beans, both naturally nut-forward, blended at a 3:7 ratio. The shot shows soft fruit acidity, caramel sweetness, nut and dark chocolate flavors, and a smooth, thick body. If nut and chocolate are what you want most from espresso, these beans are an excellent choice.

When blending, FrontStreet Coffee also adds a proportion of Robusta where appropriate - Robusta is exceptionally rich in oils. FrontStreet Coffee named this blend "Commercial Blend Espresso Beans."

Its recipe is Colombian : Brazilian : Robusta at 3:6:1. The flavor profile offers caramel sweetness, nut and cocoa notes, dark chocolate, balanced acidity with slight bitterness, and a persistent aftertaste.

To FrontStreet Coffee, this is exactly what blending is for. A quality blend not only balances sour, sweet, and bitter but also builds better body while avoiding or minimizing defective flavors. Know each component bean's character, combine them thoughtfully, and you can compose an entirely new flavor profile.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

For espresso at home or behind the bar, FrontStreet Coffee's blend lineup covers every style. The FrontStreet Coffee Classic Blend is designed specifically for espresso machines and moka pots, built on the traditional "Mandheling-Brazil" formula with a touch of Robusta for a dense, golden crema - expect butter, nut, spice, dark chocolate, and toast aromas with a thick, velvety body that even a beginner can extract successfully on a home machine. It is the go-to choice for lattes, cappuccinos, and Dirty drinks alike.

The FrontStreet Coffee Premium Blend, the house blend served longest in FrontStreet Coffee's own stores, pairs Brazil Cerrado with Colombia Huila - the classic, familiar Italian coffee flavor, with the nut, chocolate, and caramel aromatics of Colombian coffee alongside comfortable sweetness and balanced acidity. The FrontStreet Coffee Black Cocoa Blend uses 100% Arabica beans with generous crema and a mellow body, plus the ripe-plum acidity of Yunnan small-bean coffee and a cream-chocolate fragrance - a budget-friendly workhorse for cafes. For SOE lovers, the natural-process Huakui SOE from Guji Hambela, Ethiopia (grown at up to 2300 m, medium roast) brings cream, cocoa, berries, delicate florals, and black tea; the honey-processed Costa Rica Blackberry SOE offers cranberry-cookie, raisin, and nut notes with milk; and the Brazil Fazenda Rainha SOE, a Yellow Bourbon at medium-dark roast, delivers butter-cookie, macadamia, and toast flavors.