Can Blue Mountain Coffee beans make espresso? How to pull flowers when making lattes in Blue Mountain Coffee?

A friend asked Qianjie, "can blue mountain coffee beans be made into espresso with milk?" For this question, Qianjie said "of course", and then my friend asked the next question: why don't coffee shops use blue mountain beans to make espresso?

For the first time, espresso is only one of the ways to make coffee. In theory, any coffee bean can be made into espresso, so there is no question of "can it", but there is a question of "suitability". It includes the consideration of price, stability, flavor and other factors.

In the use of Italian coffee beans, the first point is that the flavor meets the requirements. Because Italian coffee is extracted under pressure, coffee beans are generally roasted deeper to prevent sharp and astringent tastes. Therefore, the difference between hand-made and Italian coffee beans on the market is mainly due to the difference in roasting degree.

The second point is the price, the use of individual coffee beans can also extract good espresso, this type of coffee beans are called SOE coffee beans, but need better coffee beans, otherwise the flavor will be less prominent. Choosing better coffee beans means the price needs to be more expensive. Some in order to fight for the price can only choose a few cost-effective coffee beans to combine to maintain a sense of balance.

The third point is stability, it's okay to use single beans, but if you find a good bean this year, it's good to make espresso, but the output is unstable and it may be gone next year, then the flavor will disappear next year. So blending coffee beans is also to combat this risk, for example, three coffee beans together, if there is no coffee bean next year, then similar substitutes can be found to maintain the flavor of the mixed beans.

So why don't coffee shops use blue mountain beans to make espresso? It's not its flavor. Qianjie thinks it's the price. Blue Mountain Coffee was sought after as the "king of coffee" in the 1970s and 1990s. Its price was very high, and it was one of the most expensive coffee beans at that time. To this day, the price is still not low. For example, the price of Lanshan No. 1 coffee beans in Qianjie is 158 yuan / 100 grams, and it takes 20 grams of coffee powder to make a cup of espresso, then the cost of a cup of espresso is 31.6 yuan, while the cost of ordinary espresso is only about 2 yuan.

The quality of blue mountain coffee beans is also very high. Jamaica is one of the few countries in the world that have directly set up departments to manage coffee production. The organization set up is CIB, which specially formulates the Jamaican coffee planting system and supervises coffee production. According to the system, only coffee beans produced in the blue mountain area above 910m above sea level can be called blue mountain coffee beans. Those that do not meet the requirements are sold in the name of Alpine Coffee or Jamaica preferred Coffee.

The variety of iron pickup is grown in Jamaica, and the nature of the isolated island makes the iron pickup here retain the ancient Arabica gene. In the 1970s, with the assistance of Japan, Jamaica introduced scientific planting methods and exquisite washing treatment equipment to treat coffee beans with very strict standards. Therefore, Blue Mountain coffee beans were praised as the highest quality and best coffee at that time.

As for conscious coffee beans, there is a famous blend of coffee beans called "Mamba blending", which uses Mantenin coffee beans in proportion to Brazilian coffee beans to imitate the flavor of Blue Mountain coffee beans, greatly reducing the cost.

Of course, if you have plenty of money, it is also possible to use Blue Mountain beans to extract conscious espresso. Blue Mountain beans are deeply roasted to meet the requirements of espresso. In terms of parameters, Qianjie recommends using a powder-liquid ratio of 1:2, which is generally 18-20 grams of coffee powder to extract 26-40 grams of espresso, and the time is controlled between 25-30 seconds. According to this parameter to adjust to the appropriate degree of grinding, if skilled, about 40 grams of blue mountain coffee beans can be debugged, if not skilled, a bag of blue mountain coffee beans will be put in.

As long as it is properly extracted, the espresso liquid extracted from Blue Mountain Coffee beans is the same as that extracted from other coffee beans, with a very rich golden Crema, the aroma of caramel chocolate is very rich, and the taste is very mellow. The flavor of chocolate cream wraps the mouth, although it is bitter, but the mouth is not bitter after swallowing.

Of course, you can also add appropriate milk to make a latte, as long as the 200ml milk is heated, poured directly into the espresso, and the blend is done. If you want to pull flowers, you need to get rid of the foam.

Pull flowers have high requirements for milk bubbles, mainly depending on the degree of delicacy and thickness. Generally, the more delicate and mobile the milk bubbles are, the easier it is to pull out the pattern.

The second point is fusion, good fusion will form a golden circle, good-looking and delicious, integration is not good, just like a scratched background board, no matter how perfect the main pattern, the overall perception will also be deducted points.

Generally speaking, the distance between the nozzle and the coffee level is about 5 to 10 centimeters. Everyone has different habits, so there is no completely fixed standard of height and distance.

The general method of fusion is to stir in one direction, holding the coffee cup in the left hand and pulling the flower jar in the right hand, and the two hands stagger half a circle to move in a relative circle. One high and one low stirring intensity can easily mix the coffee and milk fully. As for the size of the circle, Qianjie recommends the maximum circle without hitting the wall.

Finally, there is the drawing and the end, for example, the simple white heart pattern is merged into the 7 minutes of the cup, the figure is injected into the cup at 1 stroke, and the cup is slowly returned to the cup. at the same time, the injection points of the milk tank slowly return to the center, and the finishing touches are completed after the cup is almost full.