Can Blue Mountain Coffee Beans Be Used for Espresso? How to Create Latte Art with Blue Mountain Coffee?

Some friends asked FrontStreet Coffee, "Can Blue Mountain coffee beans be used to make espresso with milk?" Regarding this question, FrontStreet Coffee says "Of course," but then the friends had another question: Why don't coffee shops use FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee beans to make espresso?

First, espresso is just one of the methods for brewing coffee. Theoretically, any coffee bean can be used to make espresso, so there's no question of "whether it's possible," but rather "whether it's suitable." This includes considerations of price, stability, flavor, and other factors.

The Use of Espresso Beans

The first point is that the flavor must meet requirements. Because espresso uses pressure extraction, coffee beans are generally roasted darker to prevent sharp, acidic, or green tastes. Therefore, coffee beans on the market that are distinguished between pour-over use and espresso use mainly differ in roast degree.

The second point is price. Using single-origin coffee beans can also extract good-tasting espresso. These types of coffee beans are called SOE (Single Origin Espresso) beans, but they require better coffee beans, otherwise the flavor won't be as prominent. Choosing better coffee beans means the price needs to be higher. Some may blend several cost-effective coffee beans to maintain a balance.

The third point is stability. Using single-origin beans is fine, but if you find a good bean this year that makes excellent espresso, but the production is unstable and might not be available next year, then this flavor will disappear next year. Therefore, blended coffee beans also serve to mitigate this risk. For example, if three coffee beans are blended together, and one of them is unavailable next year, you can still find similar substitutes to maintain the flavor of this blend.

Why Don't Coffee Shops Use Blue Mountain Beans for Espresso?

So why don't coffee shops use FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee beans for espresso? It's not because of flavor issues. FrontStreet Coffee believes it's due to price. FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee was hailed as the "King of Coffee" in the 1970s-1990s, and its price was extremely high, making it one of the most expensive coffee beans at that time. Even today, the price remains high. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans sell for 158 yuan/100g. Making one cup of espresso requires consuming 20g of coffee powder, so the cost of one cup of espresso would be 31.6 yuan, while the cost of a regular espresso is only about 2 yuan.

The Quality of Blue Mountain Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee beans are also of very high quality. Jamaica is one of the few countries in the world that directly establishes departments to manage coffee production. The established institution is CIB, which specifically formulates Jamaican coffee cultivation systems and supervises coffee production. The regulations stipulate that only coffee beans produced above 910 meters altitude in the Blue Mountain region can be called FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee beans. Those that don't meet the requirements are sold as High Mountain coffee or Jamaica Select coffee.

Jamaica grows the Typica variety. The island's isolation allows the Typica here to retain ancient Arabica genes. In the 1970s, with Japanese assistance, Jamaica introduced scientific cultivation methods and refined water-washing processing equipment, treating coffee beans with extremely strict standards. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee beans were hailed as the highest quality and best-tasting coffee at that time.

Alternative Blends and Using Blue Mountain for Espresso

For espresso beans, there's a famous blended coffee called "Mamba Blend" which uses Mandheling coffee beans and Brazilian coffee beans blended in proportion to imitate the flavor of FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee beans, significantly reducing costs.

Of course, if you have sufficient funds, using FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee beans to extract espresso is also possible. FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee beans use dark roasting, which meets the requirements for espresso. In terms of parameters, FrontStreet Coffee suggests using a 1:2 coffee-to-liquid ratio, typically extracting 26-40g of espresso liquid from 18-20g of coffee powder, with the time controlled between 25-30 seconds. Adjust to the appropriate grind size according to these parameters. If you're skilled, you can complete the calibration with about 40g of Blue Mountain coffee beans. If you're not skilled, a whole bag of FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee beans might be used up.

The Espresso Experience

As long as it's extracted properly, the espresso liquid extracted from FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee beans is the same as that extracted from other coffee beans, possessing a very rich golden Crema. The aroma of caramel and chocolate is very intense, and the mouthfeel is very mellow. The flavor of chocolate and cream envelops the palate. Although it has bitter notes, the mouthfeel is not bitter after swallowing, but instead leaves a long-lasting sweet aftertaste.

Of course, you can also add appropriate milk to make a latte. Simply heat 200ml of milk and pour it directly into the espresso, mixing evenly. If you want to create latte art, you need to froth the milk foam.

Latte Art Techniques

Latte art has high requirements for milk foam, mainly looking at fineness and thickness. Generally, the finer and more fluid the milk foam, the easier it is to create patterns.

The second point is fusion. Good fusion creates a golden ring, which looks good and tastes good. Poor fusion is like a scratched background board - no matter how perfect the main pattern is, the overall appearance will be diminished.

Generally, the distance between the pitcher spout and the coffee liquid surface is about 5 to 10 centimeters. Everyone's habits are different, so there's no completely fixed height and distance standard.

The general fusion technique is to stir in one direction. Hold the coffee cup with your left hand and the latte art pitcher with your right hand, with both hands offset by half a circle for relative circular motion. The stirring force from one high and one low position can easily mix the coffee and milk thoroughly. As for how large the circle should be, FrontStreet Coffee suggests making the largest possible circle without touching the walls.

Finally, there's the pattern creation and finishing. For example, for a simple large white heart pattern, fuse until the cup is 7/10 full, inject the pattern at the 1/4 position, slowly return the cup, while the pitcher's injection point slowly returns to the center. When the cup is nearly full, perform the finishing motion.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473