How to Choose Coffee Beans That Suit Your Taste? What Are the Characteristics of Different Coffee Beans?

Introduction

When you visit FrontStreet Coffee, you might be overwhelmed by the extensive variety of coffee beans! With so many types available, how can you choose the right coffee beans for yourself?

Origin/Region

The first step is to determine the scope. Coffee is a plant, and coffee grown in different regions exhibits distinct flavor characteristics. Broadly, coffee can be divided into African beans, American beans, Asian beans, and island beans.

African beans are most notably characterized by lemon, citrus, berry, and floral notes. Representative countries include Ethiopia and Kenya.

American beans are distinguished by their clean taste, citrus or nutty flavors, chocolate notes, and excellent balance. Since coffee in the Americas was later cultivated through human intervention, its quality level tends to be higher with good balance. Representative countries include Brazil and Colombia.

Asian beans are characterized by black tea notes, chocolate, nuts, herbal flavors, and rich body. Representative countries include Indonesia.

Island beans refer to coffee grown on relatively small islands. Generally, the microclimate of island coffee creates flavors different from continental coffee. Additionally, some famous island coffees utilize advanced management and cultivation techniques, combined with limited production, resulting in unique and expensive coffees. Examples include Jamaica's Blue Mountain coffee, Hawaii's Kona coffee, and St. Helena coffee (famous due to Napoleon).

Processing Methods

Different coffee processing methods also result in different coffee flavors. Common coffee processing methods include natural processing, washed processing, and honey processing.

Natural processing can be simply understood as sun-drying the entire coffee cherry until it reaches a moisture content of 12%, after which the outer shell is removed for storage. Therefore, naturally processed coffee exhibits pronounced sweetness and rich layered complexity.

Washed processing involves removing the skin and pulp of the coffee cherry, leaving the mucilage to be soaked in still water for 12-48 hours, allowing microorganisms to break down the residual mucilage on the coffee bean (fermentation process), followed by drying until reaching 12% moisture content before hulling and storage. Washed processed coffee exhibits clean, fresh characteristics with pronounced acidity.

Honey processing involves removing the skin and pulp of the coffee cherry while retaining the mucilage for sun-drying. Throughout this process, no water is used. Since the outer skin is removed before sun-drying, the drying time is shorter than natural processing. Honey processed coffee beans exhibit very pronounced sweetness and softness.

In addition to these common processing methods, there are some special processing techniques, the most common being anaerobic processing and barrel fermentation processing. Anaerobically processed coffee typically exhibits highly distinctive berry and floral notes, such as Colombia's Rose Valley and Hangetsuyoru. Barrel fermented coffee typically shows barrel wine notes and chocolate flavors, such as Honduras's Sherry and Lychee Lan.

Roast Level

Finally, there's the coffee roast level. The lighter the roast, the more abundant the aroma and coffee flavor characteristics. As the coffee roast becomes darker, caramelization and Maillard reactions become more pronounced, resulting in more prominent caramel and bitter flavors.

Light Roast

(Highlighting fruit acidity and floral-fruity aromas)

Cinnamon Roast

Medium Roast

(Increasing sweetness, balanced)

Dark Roast

Medium-Dark Roast

(Maximizing sugar conversion, bitterness followed by sweetness)

City Roast

Full City Roast

Dark Roast

(Balancing bitterness and rich body)

French Roast

Italian Roast

Therefore, when it comes to roast level, if you want to experience more fruit and floral notes, you can choose light to medium roasted coffee. If you prefer rich body, fullness, and sweetness, you can select medium to dark roasted coffee.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473