Where to Buy Coffee Beans: A Beginner's Guide to Avoiding Pitfalls When Buying Coffee Beans at Coffee Shops

Coffee as a Daily Necessity

Nowadays, coffee has become an essential daily item for many people. FrontStreet Coffee's physical stores attract a diverse crowd daily, including students who study late into the night, office workers on a 996 schedule, and retired grandparents. All these people share a common characteristic - they need or love coffee, which is why they frequently visit FrontStreet Coffee to enjoy their brews.

Where to Buy Coffee Beans

Reading the coffee brewing tips on FrontStreet Coffee's official account for an extended time naturally inspires people to try making pour-over coffee at home. At this point, they face a significant question: where should they purchase coffee beans? FrontStreet Coffee's physical stores have a shelf dedicated to pour-over coffee beans, but the quantity is limited. When customers living far away visit FrontStreet Coffee's stores, the coffee bean selection is often depleted, naturally preventing them from choosing their preferred beans. In such situations, FrontStreet Coffee recommends purchasing from their Taobao store.

Freshness Matters: Online vs. Offline Purchasing

Physical and online stores represent the main channels through which most people purchase coffee beans today. For beginners, selecting their ideal coffee requires some knowledge. When purchasing coffee beans from FrontStreet Coffee's online store, FrontStreet Coffee guarantees that all products are freshly roasted. The back of FrontStreet Coffee's packaging always includes the roasting date, and typically, the time from roasting to delivery to customers does not exceed five days.

How to Judge Coffee Bean Freshness

So how can you determine whether the coffee beans you've purchased are fresh? FrontStreet Coffee has summarized the following tips for everyone:

1. Oiliness: Light to medium roasted coffee beans will have a misty surface with almost no visible oil; dark roasted beans will have small particles of oil on their surface, and the darker the roast, the more oil they exude.
2. Aroma: Freshly roasted coffee beans will have a rich aroma; conversely, stale coffee beans appear oily and have a heavy rancid smell, indicating you've purchased non-fresh coffee beans.
3. Foam: Fresh coffee beans still contain some unreleased gases. Therefore, when hot water is poured over ground coffee, bubbles will form on the surface. The coffee beans seem to be breathing, producing subsequent bubbles and crema.

Best Consumption Period

Additionally, when purchasing coffee beans, one should never be tempted by cheap deals. It's best to buy an amount that can be consumed within one month from the roasting date. Although coffee has a long "shelf life," its optimal flavor period is quite short. Some major coffee companies use central roasting methods to mass-produce coffee beans, with expiration dates typically between 12 to 18 months. However, expiration dates and freshness are two different matters. What really matters for coffee beans is the optimal flavor period - the fresher the coffee beans, the better the brewed coffee tastes. Therefore, for those who pursue coffee quality, it's best to consume them within one month. Coffee bean freshness is calculated from the time of roasting. Freshly roasted coffee beans begin to release gases (mainly carbon dioxide) for about a week. When the gases are completely released (about two to three weeks), the coffee beans are no longer fresh.

The Importance of One-Way Degassing Valves

Speaking of degassing, many coffee brands now use sealed containers for coffee storage. However, FrontStreet Coffee believes that when selecting coffee, consumers should pay attention to products packaged with one-way degassing valves. Since coffee beans naturally produce carbon dioxide after roasting, direct packaging can easily cause package damage. The purpose of one-way degassing valves is to allow air to exit but not enter the packaging bag. Oxygen causes coffee beans to oxidize, and high temperatures and humidity accelerate this process, shortening the optimal flavor period. Prolonged exposure to air leads to loss of aroma and causes the oils and aromatic components in coffee to oxidize, resulting in deteriorated quality. Additionally, the carbon dioxide produced after coffee roasting creates a constant risk of sealed bags bursting. Therefore, the packaging material for coffee beans becomes particularly important.

Avoiding Counterfeit Coffee

Many coffee merchants in the market, due to price competition, have to purchase low-quality and cheap raw beans for roasting. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee believes that to correct this improper practice, consumers should choose coffee beans with "anti-counterfeit labels" when making purchases. For example, there are many Blue Mountain coffees on the market, but the Blue Mountain production area is small, and the quantity of exported coffee is very limited. So where does the abundance of Blue Mountain coffee in China come from? Be aware that the Blue Mountain coffee you've purchased might be counterfeit - those are not genuine Blue Mountain coffee. They are often "Blue Mountain flavored coffee" or "Blue Mountain blends," which typically contain a low percentage of actual Blue Mountain coffee beans or use high-quality Colombian coffee beans as the main component in the blend, basically just imitating the taste of Blue Mountain coffee.

Identifying Authentic Blue Mountain Coffee

Blue Mountain coffee has its own "identity card." The certification from the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Board serves as the identity card for Blue Mountain coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee beans come from Jamaica's Clifton Mountain Estate, which is the only estate in the Blue Mountain region with Rainforest Alliance certification. FrontStreet Coffee is also one of the officially certified distributors of Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee, therefore FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee has an export certificate. When purchasing Blue Mountain coffee online, everyone should pay attention to whether it has the exclusive Blue Mountain wooden barrel and certification from the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Board.

Finding Your Preferred Coffee Flavor

Drinking coffee is a very subjective experience, and everyone has their own preferred flavors. Some people like the herbal notes and low acidity of Indonesian coffee beans brought by the wet-hulling process, others prefer the fresh and natural taste of Ethiopian coffee, and still others appreciate the delicate floral notes of high-altitude Panama Geisha coffee. In summary, to find "delicious" coffee, the most important thing is to first understand your own preferences. If you're still not sure which type of coffee you prefer, FrontStreet Coffee recommends trying more varieties. To help numerous coffee beginners and enthusiasts experience the most classic coffee flavors, FrontStreet Coffee has launched a series of daily coffee beans. This is a group of high-cost-performance coffee beans. While their flavor may not match some well-known estate beans, they showcase the main flavor characteristics of various growing regions. Packaged in 100-gram bags, each is priced at 25 yuan. Most of these coffees use the washed processing method. Why is this? Because FrontStreet Coffee believes that washed processing best expresses the terroir characteristics. With washed coffee, what you taste is the inherent flavor of the coffee itself.

Final Tips for Coffee Bean Selection

Of course, you can also purchase coffee beans from other brands on Taobao. Combined with the avoidance methods FrontStreet Coffee previously shared, we believe everyone can find coffee beans they love. Finally, FrontStreet Coffee wants to share another tip for selecting coffee beans. When purchasing coffee beans on Taobao, be sure to read the product details carefully. If the coffee can trace its origins and tells stories about its original growing region, then this coffee is most likely worth purchasing.

Stay Connected

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style).

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473