How to match espresso beans with espresso beans recommended for Espresso

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The main reason is that I'm not sure if you want me to recommend (1) coffee beans that are more suitable for Espresso or (2) my favorite boutique coffee beans. So just give a comprehensive answer.

I confirm that "most boutique coffee does not apply to Espresso", and it is almost certain that this sentence will drive many coffee players who are obsessed with Espresso crazy, or at least very unconvinced (I have argued with a lot of coffee over the years). However, my point of view does not mean to belittle Espresso. On the contrary, I actually like Espresso very much and often serve beans and baking specially for the Espresso machine at home. The main reason for holding this argument is that what boutique coffee and Espresso pursue are two very different kinds of coffee enjoyment. Try a brief explanation to see if you agree with it.

Boutique coffee attaches importance to meticulous and unique aroma and flavor, including special sour, flower or fruit aroma and so on. These characteristics are not resistant to deep roasting. Once the baked beans enter the "second explosion" stage, such as French Roast or Italian Roast, most of these qualities that they want to retain will disappear. So when dealing with boutique coffee, the beans are usually roasted only until they are lightly roasted to medium baking, and then go up to a pity.

What Espresso pursues is the smooth taste like silk, and the rich and lasting aroma (slightly different from the aroma of flowers and fruits, which tends to be roasted), which must be supported by a thick layer of Crema (mainly emulsified by coffee oil and air), while for beans that have not reached the deep-baking stage, the oil is not easy to extract, so sacrifice the fineness of the fine coffee to make the deep-roasted Espresso. It's always rare. In addition, to make a beautiful Crema, there is a public opinion: washed beans are not as good as sun beans, and Arabica beans are not as good as robasta beans, which explains why sun beans and robasta beans are often found in Espresso's mixed bean formula.

Now back to your question.

(1) Coffee beans which are suitable for Espresso

Espresso rarely uses a single bean, mostly a mixture of two or three (or more) beans (Blending), and each coffee shop has its own "unique recipe", which is not easy to explain. Provide a feasible solution: I have a coffee friend, Mr. Wu Zongxin, who teaches coffee courses in Chiayi and runs a bourbon coffee shop in Baojian Street. He has made several successful works in mixed beans over the years (a small part of which I am involved in)

(2) my favorite boutique coffee beans

This is also a difficult question to answer. The main reason is that it changes from season to season, and even beans produced by different estates in the same area often have very different flavors; what's worse, you may be glad that a certain type of beans on a certain manor is very palatable, but when you want to buy it again, you find that you can no longer buy it. For my part, I usually keep 50 or 60 kinds of raw beans on hand, because even if some of my favorite beans are out of stock, there are at least five or six kinds of beans I like very much to choose from. Below, I list several types of high-quality coffee beans obtained through fixed channels for reference. If you have any doubts about "how to get them", you can also call Mr. Wu to ask, Mr. Wu's contact with me is very frequent:

Gesha (or Geisha, so-called geisha) coffee from Central America. Gesha is a variety of coffee, originated from Isopia, but became famous in Hacienda La Esmeralda in Panama. At the beginning of its fame, it even won the reputation of "coffee kissed by God". Due to the high price that can be sold, the number of Gesha estates in Central America has greatly increased, and most of them have achieved good results. Of course, the Emerald Manor still enjoys the highest reputation. Every May, the Jade Manor opens its global auction with the Gesha of a single manor, and there are many bean sellers in Taiwan, but even if the bid is small, it is sometimes not easy to buy it without first ordering it from the bean merchant. In 2013, for example, there are nine different Gesha groups for auction items from ES01 to ES09. I tried my best to buy eight groups to share with our members of the May 4th Coffee Club, but I still regret the lack of the second highest bid of ES01. Gesha is not cheap, but it is a must for coffee lovers. Also, if you can't buy bid beans from Jade Manor, as long as they are Gesha, I think most of them are worth a try.

Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee, which is the earliest "coffee aristocrat" to become famous, is really worth tasting, but it is a pity that the product level of some estates has declined in recent years, often giving people the impression that the "price" is not in line with "value", but there are still a few trusted estates (or manor groups), such as Old Tavern, RSW, Wallenford and so on. Of the three Blue Mountain coffees mentioned here, I personally like Old Tavern best, but I don't have them in Taiwan (they can be bought from foreign websites). The other two are imported every year.

Kona Extra Fancy of Hawaii, which is also the traditional "coffee aristocrat", and Blue Mountain Coffee are called the "double B" of the coffee world, which is a bit like the "double B" in Taiwan's automobile industry (for example: if Blue Mountain and Kona are the double B of the car industry, relatively speaking, the high-end Gesha of the Emerald Manor or the champion beans in some coffee competitions in recent years are like cars such as Ferrari and Lamborghini). This grade of beans, few people who have drunk will be dissatisfied, and it is also a favorite coffee for every member of our May 4th Coffee Club. However, what is quite frustrating is that the production of Kona coffee has been greatly reduced for two years in a row, and there has been almost no sign of it in Taiwan recently. occasionally, the price of Kona Fancy is one grade lower than that of Blue Mountain Coffee No1, which is more than many people can bear.

Kenyan AA coffee, but the tree species must be SL28 or SL34 (or a mixture of both), as for the manor or cooperative is not so important. You know, Kenya classifies coffee beans by sieve size, but if the tree species are not good (such as Ruiru 11), even the AA grade Kenyan coffee may still be disappointing, so it is most important to ask about the tree species when buying Kenyan coffee. My personal feeling is that when I drink really good Kenyan coffee, there will be a sense of satisfaction that "good value for money" will rise in my heart.

Of the above four categories, except for Kenyan AA, which is a medium-priced coffee, the other three are all high-priced beans, which can be regarded as a kind of helplessness in the food industry: everyone scrambles for good food and drink.

Let me make another supplementary explanation. In fact, there are still a lot of recommended coffee, but the channels and sources are not stable, so I omitted them. Of course, there are some coffee recommended by the so-called "coffee talent", but they have not been well received in our club, and I do not want to mention that, on the one hand, avoid hurting people, on the other hand, respect personal preferences, if you have read my previous essays, I should still remember that I have quoted a sentence: The best coffee is the one you like best!

My reply is very long, far beyond what I had intended to explain in a few simple sentences. The reason is that when writing, it inevitably touches some controversial issues, and by the way, it brings out some of the views that have always been in mind. I hope that there will be a little bit of information for reference in the lengthy reply.