What's the difference between black coffee beans and coffee powder? How to choose coffee beans?

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After deciding to make your own coffee, the first choice you face when buying coffee is to buy coffee beans (whole coffee beans) or ground coffee powder (ground coffee beans). Leaving aside other personal equipment and time factors, we have only one suggestion: buy coffee beans, just buy coffee beans.

Of course, there is a reason for such a firm recommendation. Remember what we said earlier? The aroma of coffee comes from the roasted oil, which is sealed in the holes in the coffee beans. after grinding, the aroma and oil begin to volatilize, and the flavor of the coffee is naturally greatly reduced.

In addition, the area of the powder in contact with the air increases and is vulnerable to moisture or deterioration. Under the same conditions, coffee beans can be preserved nearly twice as long as coffee powder.

The only advantage of coffee powder is its convenience, especially if you always oversleep in the morning and don't have time to grind your coffee slowly, or if you haven't bought tools to grind beans, coffee powder can help you enjoy a nice cup of coffee quickly. If you decide to buy coffee powder, then we have the following two suggestions: (1) buy about two weeks at a time, retain the flavor as much as possible, and (2) keep the coffee powder in a good sealed jar.

Is it troublesome to grind your own beans? In fact, it's fun and can maintain the flavor!

Coffee beans are the most complete form to preserve the flavor of coffee and ensure that the coffee is fresh and original. Some manufacturers will mix coffee from different sources in the same bag of coffee powder, so it is difficult for consumers to ensure the source of coffee.

Although grinding beans is also a great knowledge, believe us, once you start grinding your own beans, you will never go back to the days of coffee powder. It is definitely one of the pleasures of homemade coffee to try the different flavors brought about by brewing various powders.

The best time limit for coffee appreciation

There are quite a variety of coffee beans. How to choose them?

Are you still looking at the expiration date on the package before you buy the coffee? We want to tell you another important thing: the best taste period of coffee is not equal to the shelf life, you should pay attention to the baking time.

The roasting date of coffee beans represents freshness, and fresh coffee beans baked within 2-3 days are usually a good choice. However, baking and buying now is not actually the best time for beans to taste. In addition, coffee beans will continue to emit nitrogen dioxide (exhaust) for about 48 hours after baking, in addition to the smell of tobacco during baking and the smell of beans themselves. so freshly baked coffee beans will not taste good.

It is recommended that you buy coffee beans for about 2 weeks at a time and keep the coffee beans indoors. It is also recommended that the coffee beans should be used in 2 weeks when the flavor is the best.

Types of coffee beans

At present, there are more than 100 kinds of coffee in the world, of which two of the most common are Arabica and Robusta/Canephora. These two kinds of coffee are very different in taste, composition and growing conditions. We will compare the differences between them below.

Robusta-Arabica-bean Araby Karobsta

Arabica: expensive, supple taste, low caffeine

Coffee advertisements often emphasize that they use 100% Arabica coffee. Yes, in terms of price alone, Arabica is indeed more advanced, the average price of Arabica coffee beans is twice that of Robusta.

In terms of composition, Arabica has low caffeine (0.9-1.2%), 60% more fat and twice as much sugar, so taken together, Arabica tastes sweet and soft, with a plum-like sour taste.

In addition, Arabica has lower chlorogenic acid (5.5-8%), and chlorogenic acid is not only antioxidant, but also an important component of resistance to pests, so Arabica is more vulnerable to insects and climate, generally planted at higher elevations, bearing less fruit and slower. The fruit is oval.

At present, Brazil is the largest grower of Arabica, while Colombia produces only Arabica coffee.

Robusta: cheap, bitter, high caffeine

In contrast, Robusta, which is high in caffeine (1.6-2.4%) and low in fat and sugar, tastes bitter and strong, and some even say it tastes rubber.

Robusta has a high content of chlorogenic acid (7-10%), which is not easy to be affected by insects and climate. It is generally planted at a low altitude, bearing many fruits and fast. The fruit is round.

At present, the largest grower of Robusta is Vietnam, which is also produced in Africa and India.

Price is not equal to quality.

Because of its low price, Robusta is often mixed with coffee powder on the market to reduce costs. At present, most of the cheap instant coffee on the market is Robusta, but the price is not equal to quality. Good quality robusta beans are often used in espresso (espressos) because of its rich crema. Robusta with good quality tastes even better than Arabica beans with poor quality.

Therefore, the choice between the two kinds of coffee beans mainly depends on personal preferences. Some people may think that the aroma of Arabica is too strong, while others like Robusta's mellow bitterness. The only thing we want to remind you is that if you are sensitive to caffeine, pay special attention to the amount of caffeine. Robusta has twice as much caffeine as Arabica.

Of course, these are not the only two varieties of coffee, you can also try Java (Java), Kona (Kona), Sumatra (Sumatra) and other varieties to add new flavor to your coffee experience.

Although we can not see the real object before the purchase, can not see, smell, peel, chew and other selection steps, but online shopping can still be selected from the following aspects, of course, these aspects are also applicable to physical stores.

A, place of origin

Online, some stores may use coffee beans that do not come from the country of origin, such as some Blue Mountain coffee, but the origin is not Jamaica, and for example, there are only Colombia or Brazil on the bag, but there is no specific information about the manor. it is usually coffee beans from large producing areas, and the coffee of origin is also divided into commercial grade and boutique grade, so it is not only written that Ethiopia is a boutique bean. It is best to be specific to the producing area, traced back to the place of origin of beans, usually not too bad, if you are not very picky, it is OK to taste different places of origin.

How to understand the name of coffee like 'Ethiopian Solar G1 Xida Mohambela Sakui 2.0'?

Coffee beans themselves will have obvious regional characteristics, before buying, understand the flavor of coffee beans, coffee label is also like the red wine label, generally get a lot of information about coffee flavor from the label. We see the name of this coffee: Ethiopia Sunshine Sidamohanbela 2.0, we can get the following information: country: Ethiopia, producing area: Sidamohambela, grading: G1, processing method: sunbathing, the name is Sakui 2.0.

If you buy beans, only Ethiopia, no other information, usually beans from large producing areas.

B, packing date (baking date)

Pay attention to whether the packing date is recent. The shelf life of raw coffee beans is one to two years, and the shelf life of cooked beans after roasting is within 2 months, so choose freshly roasted coffee beans and use them up during the shelf life after purchase. only in this way can you enjoy the most charming aroma and rich taste of coffee.

Freshly roasted coffee beans, because the beans contain a lot of gas, strong respiration, in the extraction, the gas released from the beans, what we see is wonderful and plump bubbles, indifferent to some shallow baked beans, bubbles are not so obvious.

C, Store and Brand

Needless to say, some coffees may be mixed with other kinds of coffee in order to reduce costs. So be careful. For example, in the more expensive coffee beans mixed with cheap coffee beans, or in the good quality coffee beans mixed with the same variety but poor quality coffee beans, which will seriously affect the taste. Therefore, when buying coffee beans, we should try to choose guaranteed shops or brands. Domestic popular home-baked beans will be a little fresher than beans bought in supermarkets. Choose a trustworthy coffee shop.

Qianjie coffee: Guangzhou bakery, the store is small but a variety of beans, you can find a variety of unknown beans, but also provide online store services. Https://shop104210103.taobao.com