Can Dark Roast Espresso Beans Be Used for Pour-Over? What's the Difference Between Single-Origin and Blend Coffee Beans?

Although there are numerous ways to prepare coffee, currently all coffee can be broadly divided into two categories: one is espresso coffee with diverse preparation methods, and the other is single-origin coffee that primarily showcases flavor characteristics. Therefore, the coffee beans sold on the market are mainly divided into two types: espresso beans specially blended for espresso coffee, and single-origin beans that can fully showcase flavors, which are mainly used for extraction methods such as pour-over and siphon.

FrontStreet Coffee believes everyone will have some rather "rebellious" ideas, such as the previously mentioned question of "whether single-origin beans can be used for espresso extraction," or "whether espresso beans can be used for pour-over coffee brewing," and other similar thoughts. Experiments with single-origin coffee beans for espresso have already proven that this is feasible, so using espresso beans for single-origin coffee production... of course, it's also possible! The reason for distinguishing them is that different extraction methods lead to different focuses. Therefore, to allow coffee beans to demonstrate more advantages under a certain extraction method, it's necessary to create specialized characteristics based on different extraction methods. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will share the differences between espresso beans and single-origin beans!

What are Single-Origin Beans?

Let's first talk about single-origin beans, which refer to coffee beans from a single origin/variety/batch. Since Ms. Erna Knutsen introduced the concept of specialty coffee in 1978, the coffee industry has begun to focus on coffee quality. Since then, the quality of produced coffee beans has improved, with more prominent flavors and cleaner taste. These coffee beans from a single origin are what we call "single-origin coffee beans," or single-origin beans for short.

We can clearly trace the source information of single-origin beans from their packaging: variety, growing region, processing method, altitude, and so on. These beans are mainly used for making single-origin coffee, such as pour-over, siphon, AeroPress, and so on, because these methods can better showcase the inherent flavors of the beans. At the same time, to better demonstrate the flavor attributes of the beans, single-origin beans used for single-origin coffee generally undergo lighter roasting (compared to espresso), allowing floral and fruity notes to have better expression. (With the exception of some more classic beans like Blue Mountain and Mandheling.)

What are Espresso Beans?

Now let's talk about espresso beans, which are predominantly blends. So-called blending involves combining several coffee beans from different regions, using their respective strengths to compensate for each other's weaknesses (there are other blending requirements as well, for details you can refer to "The Underlying Logic of Blended Coffee"), resulting in coffee with stable taste, mouthfeel, and aroma. Espresso blends can also vary in the quality of coffee beans used depending on the pursued direction. (For example, blends pursuing higher cost-effectiveness will use commodity beans for blending; while those focusing on quality will use excellent single-origin beans for blending, making them even better.)

Generally speaking, espresso beans are roasted to medium or medium-dark levels and beyond, because espresso coffee is not only used for making black coffee but also for fancy coffee drinks like lattes, flat whites, and mochas. If the roast level is too light, not only will the oils be scarce, but the coffee's flavor will also be easily masked by the taste of milk. Therefore, espresso beans generally need to be roasted to a darker level. Even SOE (Single Origin Espresso) is no exception. Although it's a single-origin bean, when it's designated for espresso coffee, the roaster will roast it slightly darker to give it better performance under espresso machine extraction.

Due to the higher consumption rate of espresso coffee, espresso beans are generally sold in large specifications such as 1-pound or 1-kilogram packages (single-origin beans are usually under half a pound). And because of the larger quantity, the price is much more affordable compared to single-origin beans. However, it's important to note that due to the different roast levels between the two, when we decide to use them for the same brewing method, we cannot use the same parameters. For example, when single-origin beans originally intended for pour-over are used for espresso extraction, the grind setting needs to be adjusted finer, because their structure is denser and requires increasing the surface area to be better extracted by the espresso machine. Similarly, when loosely structured espresso beans are used for pour-over, the same principle applies - their dark roast requires a coarser grind to reduce the surface area, making it less likely for hot water to extract undesirable compounds.

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