Beginner's Guide to Coffee Bean Types: How Beginners Should Choose Coffee Beans and Which Brand is Best?

Currently, the market is flooded with countless coffee bean options, making selection overwhelming. As a coffee novice, how do you choose beans that suit your taste? This article briefly covers the key points for selecting coffee beans.

First! Choose Freshly Roasted Coffee Beans with Roasting Dates

After roasting, coffee beans develop rich coffee aromas and flavors. These aromatic compounds typically remain sealed within the beans for about 30 days under dry, airtight conditions. When selecting coffee beans, we should therefore choose beans roasted within 20 days, and preferably within 5 days of roasting.

All coffee beans sold by FrontStreet Coffee are shipped within 5 days of roasting completion. The beans naturally release any smoky notes from the roasting process after about 4 days. When you receive your beans, check the roasting date. If they were roasted yesterday or the day before, let them rest in their original packaging for 3-4 days after the roasting date before enjoying them.

Next, Determine Coffee Flavor Profile Based on Roast Level

Generally, the lighter the roast, the more pronounced the acidity in the coffee. The darker the roast, the more prominent the bitterness. If you enjoy coffee with distinct fruit acidity, choose light to medium-light roasted beans. If you prefer less acidity but do not want pronounced bitterness, medium roasted beans are ideal. For those who enjoy rich, full-bodied coffee, medium-dark to dark roasted beans are the perfect choice.

Finally, Choose Coffee Flavor Based on Growing Regions

For those who enjoy bright acidity and refreshing, crisp coffee, choose beans from Ethiopia. FrontStreet Coffee, for example, offers "Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Gedeo Cooperative Washed Coffee Beans," featuring bright citrus-like acidity, honey-like sweetness, nutty aromas, and a green tea-like aftertaste.

If you prefer soft acidity with noticeable sweetness, choose beans from Panama. FrontStreet Coffee currently sells "Panama Boquete Washed Maragogype Coffee Beans," displaying soft citrus acidity, distinct nutty and caramel aromas, and a green tea-like sweetness.

For those who enjoy coffee that is neither acidic nor bitter but rich and full-bodied, choose beans from Brazil. FrontStreet Coffee currently offers "Brazil Queen Estate Semi-Dry Processed Coffee Beans," featuring rich roasted nut aromas, dark chocolate intensity, peanut butter-like smoothness, and sugarcane-like sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you follow the advice above and start from a medium roast, FrontStreet Coffee has four beans that make the choice easy. The Brazil Queen Estate is a Yellow Bourbon roasted medium, with creamy peanut, chocolate, toasted bread and sugarcane notes, and it works as pour-over, moka pot or espresso. The Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1, a Typica, is also roasted medium so that its acidity, bitterness, sweetness and body fuse into one balanced cup of chocolate, roasted nut, cream and caramel.

Two more medium roasts cover different tastes. The Strawberry Candy Geisha blend combines a Costa Rican honey-processed coffee with a washed Panama Geisha and, at a medium roast, shows the Geisha's orange-blossom honey alongside a rounded sweetness; it suits cold brew, pour-over and espresso. The 2013 Natural Typica, a Chinese Yunnan small-bean coffee, brings nut, brown sugar, black tea and dried apricot in a soft, balanced cup for pour-over, cold brew or a drip machine.

All four are a good way to test the point made above: because medium roast sits between brightness and bitterness, it is the easiest place for a beginner to find a cup that is neither too sharp nor too heavy.