What Kind of Coffee Do Coffee Experts Drink? Do True Coffee Aficionados Prefer Espresso or Pour-Over Coffee?

What Do Coffee Experts Drink Every Day?

What do coffee experts drink every day? This is a question FrontStreet Coffee has been asked recently. There's no standard answer to this question. Based on the coffee habits of FrontStreet Coffee's baristas, some have a daily latte, some choose pour-over coffee in the morning, and some even prefer tea. Actually, FrontStreet Coffee understands that customers asking this question want to know which coffee to drink to appear knowledgeable about coffee and not feel intimidated by professional baristas, or they want to imitate the coffee habits of professional coffee experts. FrontStreet Coffee believes there's no need for this, because people who truly understand coffee drink all types of coffee and appreciate every variety.

Starting Your Coffee Journey

In the eyes of some consumers, coffee experts must drink a cup of pour-over black coffee every day, but this is not actually the case. FrontStreet Coffee believes you don't need to start with black coffee either. If you appreciate the elegant flavors hidden in black coffee, then stay true to yourself and continue exploring the terroir characteristics of more coffee beans. However, many consumers actually have resistance to the strong taste of black coffee, so FrontStreet Coffee suggests you can first try cappuccinos, mochas, or flavored lattes—these coffee beverages that have added cream and flavored syrups—because the bitterness of coffee has been masked by these added ingredients, making it much smoother to drink.

From Beginner to Connoisseur

Coffee beginners who are just starting to explore coffee might envy coffee experts who can identify coffee regions and processing methods through their senses. But in reality, everyone needs to spend a long time transforming from a coffee novice into an excellent coffee connoisseur. Drinking black coffee is the best way to taste its texture and flavor, but the bitterness and slightly burnt taste will make most beginners completely reject coffee. Fortunately, we introduced some coffee beverages earlier that are very suitable for coffee beginners.

Even Americano is diluted espresso with water, allowing the overall coffee to stretch out. And unlike lattes and other coffee beverages, Americano has no additional ingredients that can mask the flavor of espresso, so you can still taste the differences between coffee beans.

Common Espresso Drinks Ranked by Intensity

Here, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce some common espresso beverages in coffee shops and rank them by coffee intensity from mild to strong. If you are usually very sensitive to bitterness, then FrontStreet Coffee suggests you can try mocha coffee first. This is a beverage that adds chocolate to milk coffee. It's precisely because of the addition of chocolate that the coffee taste is minimal—basically a cup of rich chocolate milk. When you can accept this coffee, you can try latte. With chocolate syrup removed, the sweetness basically comes from the natural sweetness of milk. Once you get used to the taste of milk coffee, you can try cappuccino.

Both cappuccino and latte are milk coffees, and the difference between them actually lies in the ratio of coffee liquid to milk. Taking FrontStreet Coffee as an example, FrontStreet Coffee's standard for espresso extraction is using 20 grams of coffee grounds to extract about 36 grams of coffee liquid in about 28 seconds. Latte uses two shots of espresso as a base and then adds about 200 milliliters of milk for integration, while cappuccino uses a single shot, which is about 18 grams of coffee liquid, and then adds milk for integration.

Therefore, cappuccino's "coffee flavor" is more prominent. Besides this, the degree of milk frothing is also different between the two. Generally speaking, cappuccino's foam is much thicker than latte's. Here, let me introduce another type of coffee—Flat White. Flat White has been very popular in China in recent years. This coffee has almost no foam, and what you drink is the fusion of milk and coffee liquid, and the cup size is also relatively small.

When you can accept even cappuccino, it's time to try Americano. The correct way to drink Americano is actually to dilute espresso with water. Generally, the ratio of coffee liquid to water is controlled between 1:4-1:8, and different coffee shops have their own recipes. The flavor of Americano often depends on the espresso beans used by the coffee shop. Still taking FrontStreet Coffee as an example, FrontStreet Coffee has four espresso bean recipes. Interested students can check the Taobao store: FrontStreet Coffee or the WeChat Mini Program: Coffee Review.

FrontStreet Coffee's Signature Blends

Today I'll mainly talk about the Warm Sun Blend that FrontStreet Coffee stores are still using. Everyone knows that general coffee shops use espresso blends with nutty flavors to save costs and ensure harmony with milk coffee, but FrontStreet Coffee uses the Warm Sun Blend with fermented wine aroma to highlight uniqueness. To increase the overall sweetness, Ethiopian Red Cherry coffee was also added. Although the cost of blended coffee has increased, due to its unique taste, it has gained a large number of loyal fans. Not only is it good for making milk coffee, but Americano can better taste the flavor and texture of Warm Sun Blend coffee beans: chocolate, cream, vanilla, and fermented wine aroma.

Exploring Pour-Over Coffee

When you're used to all the above coffees, you can try pour-over coffee. Actually, pour-over coffee is black coffee. The difference from Americano is that their extraction methods are different. Pour-over coffee is drip coffee. Generally, the selection of coffee beans for pour-over coffee is much larger than for espresso. For example, FrontStreet Coffee has about 50 varieties of pour-over coffee beans, with many choices from each region. FrontStreet Coffee believes that understanding coffee beans from different regions requires you to first establish your own database, whether in terms of sensory or flavor. In terms of sensory perception, it's about forcing yourself to connect with common food ingredients from daily life during the coffee drinking process. Here, let me introduce the Coffee Flavor Wheel to everyone. The Coffee Flavor Wheel was first published in 1995 and is one of the most iconic resources in the coffee industry. It is the product of cooperation between WCR and SCA by dozens of professional sensory panelists, scientists, and green coffee merchants. On this chart, experts have corresponded all the flavors of coffee with food ingredients.

Learning to Appreciate Coffee

Drinking pour-over coffee isn't just about drinking; you need to learn to appreciate coffee. Comparing with the Flavor Wheel is the most direct learning method. However, because the Flavor Wheel originated abroad, some ingredients are relatively hard to find in China. Another method to accelerate learning pour-over coffee is to first learn the basic knowledge of pour-over coffee. For example, by reading books to understand what kind of flavor profile coffee beans from each region generally have, such as Central American coffee beans having nutty flavors, Asian coffee beans having low acidity, etc. The books explain very clearly why there are such flavor characteristics.

As for some confusions about coffee, such as how to brew coffee and how to adjust grind size, you can also learn related knowledge through books. If you don't want to search randomly, you can follow FrontStreet Coffee's official account: FrontStreet Coffee. On the official account, FrontStreet Coffee also shares coffee knowledge for free, from understanding coffee beans to coffee brewing, brewing equipment, and even coffee bean roasting methods. FrontStreet Coffee shares detailed knowledge on everything.

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 the private WeChat of FrontStreet Coffee, WeChat ID: 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