What Coffee Beans Does Starbucks Use? How to Select and Roast Coffee Beans

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With the increase in new coffee brands, it has become more difficult for ordinary coffee drinkers to choose their coffee. Buying coffee has become a tricky matter, and the question of what kind of coffee beans to choose for pour-over coffee has also arisen.

The first essential factor for coffee flavor to win people's hearts is the quality of the coffee beans. Only high-quality coffee has the chance to brew a delicious cup of coffee. There are currently two categories of coffee on the market: commercial beans, which are of lower quality and have high defect rates, and specialty beans, which are several times more expensive than commercial beans. So, how to choose coffee beans that suit you? FrontStreet Coffee can offer some suggestions.

Understand Your Flavor Preferences

Arabica and Robusta coffee are easily distinguishable by appearance. Additionally, Arabica coffee grows in high-altitude areas and is known for its smooth, slightly acidic taste, while Robusta coffee grows in low-altitude areas and is known for its stronger, more bitter flavor.

Determine Which Type of Coffee You Prefer

There is a significant price difference between Arabica and Robusta coffee beans. Arabica coffee is a higher grade of coffee bean, but depending on how it's grown and roasted, it doesn't necessarily guarantee that Arabica coffee is always high-quality. Robusta beans are often found in affordable blended coffees.

Caffeine Content Intake

Contrary to common belief, dark roast coffee actually contains less caffeine than medium or light roast coffee. Light roast has the highest caffeine content, while espresso beans are typically medium-roasted with moderate caffeine content.

Ground Coffee vs. Coffee Beans

The only advantage of ground coffee is convenience, especially if you always oversleep in the morning and don't have time to grind coffee slowly, or you haven't purchased coffee grinding tools yet. Ground coffee allows you to quickly enjoy a decent cup of coffee. If you decide to buy ground coffee, we have the following two suggestions: (1) Buy about two weeks' worth at a time to preserve flavor as much as possible, and (2) Store ground coffee in a good airtight container. But without a doubt, the freshest coffee comes from buying whole coffee beans, which are ground only before use. Therefore, we strongly recommend buying coffee beans. Is grinding your own beans troublesome? Actually, it's quite enjoyable and helps maintain flavor!

Coffee beans are the best form to preserve the complete flavor of coffee, ensuring its freshness and original taste. Although grinding beans is a significant skill in itself, trust us, once you start grinding your own beans, you'll never go back to pre-ground coffee. Experimenting with different flavors produced by various grind sizes is definitely one of the great joys of pour-over coffee.

The Impact of Coffee Roast Level on Flavor

The roast level of coffee also significantly affects its flavor, but generally, it can be divided into three types:

Light Roast: High coffee acidity, smooth taste, preserves the coffee's original variety and regional flavors, tastes more like fruit tea.

Medium Roast: Balanced sweet and sour, retains coffee fruit flavors while bringing caramel, nut, and cocoa notes, making it the preferred taste for most people.

Dark Roast: Like a mellow whiskey, rich in layers, suitable for drinking both straight and with milk. If someone tells you that only light roast is third-wave specialty coffee and dark roast is outdated and bad, you can roll your eyes and tell them: this concept is completely wrong. There is no good or bad in roast levels - flavor determines everything. The flavor you like is the best for you.

Finally, FrontStreet Coffee recommends a flavor classification table for coffee beans, where you can choose coffee from different regions according to your taste preferences:

Acidity: Mocha, Hawaiian Acid Coffee, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica High Altitude, Kilimanjaro, Colombia, Zimbabwe, El Salvador, Western Hemisphere Washed Premium New Beans

Bitterness: Java, Mandheling, Bogotá, Angola, Congo, Uganda's various old beans

Sweetness: Colombia Mandheling, Venezuela's old beans, Blue Mountain, Kilimanjaro, Mocha, Guatemala, Mexico, Kenya, Santos, Haiti

Neutral Flavor: Brazil, El Salvador, Low-altitude Costa Rica, Venezuela, Honduras, Cuba

Mellow: Colombia, Mandheling, Mocha, Blue Mountain, Guatemala, Costa Rica

Generally speaking, acidic coffee beans, especially high-quality new beans, are best roasted lightly. Bitter beans should be roasted lightly as well. Sweet beans are mostly high-altitude washed specialty beans, and roasting often determines whether they can blend into a smooth bitterness that people can taste. Neutral-flavored beans, even if not from high-altitude regions, require stable processing to ensure consistent quality.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473