Nav: Home > Coffee News >

Can lightly roasted coffee beans be used to extract espresso? How finely should you grind high-quality coffee beans to make Italian latte?

Published: 2026-06-10 Author:

Last Updated: 2026/06/10, Usually, the coffee beans we use when making espresso are all medium-to-deep-roasted Italian blends. Because such coffee beans have a higher cost performance ratio and a more compatible taste, they can easily make delicious espresso. But occasionally there are friends who want to try unusual espresso, so before

Usually, the coffee beans we use when making espresso are all medium-to-deep-roasted Italian blends. Because such coffee beans have a higher cost performance ratio and a more compatible taste, they can easily make delicious espresso.

But occasionally friends would like to try unusual espresso, so Qianjie often encountered some friends who bought coffee beans in stores and asked Qianjie questions such as "Can xx shallow baked beans be used to make espresso?" and "Is it difficult to do?" "Of course! "This is Qianjie's answer all along. Although it will be a bit difficult to prepare and drink compared to medium and deep baked beans, it will not be too difficult. That's okay. Today, Qian Jie will come to share how we can make a good cup of espresso with lightly baked beans.

"Sharp","stimulating" and "sour" are the negative manifestations you can experience in rolling over lightly roasted espresso. Many friends immediately withdrew their curiosity for exploration after tasting such an experience and turned their heads back into the arms of deep-baked beans. But as Qian Jie said, this is the result of rolling over. Although lightly baked beans do retain rich acid because they are not roasted too deeply, the espresso extracted with them can also be brewed by hand, with a round and sweet taste similar to fruit juice.

If we want to extract such a cup of espresso, we first need to make sure that the coffee is extracted enough. Because the "sharp irritation" is not caused by the high concentration of coffee, but by insufficient extraction. Because the coffee is not fully extracted, there is not enough sweetness and bitterness in the coffee to balance the sour taste, which makes the sour taste "unique" in coffee and become sharp and exciting. Some friends did not adjust the parameters when using lightly roasted beans to extract espresso, just replaced the deep-roasted beans in the bean warehouse with lightly roasted beans. The consequence of this is that the extraction time of coffee is very short, and the substances that can be dissolved in hot water are very limited. Why? Because the texture of lightly baked beans is very different from that of deeply baked beans.

Deep-baked beans are characterized by high expansion rate and high crispness, so this makes them easy to produce more fine powder when grinding. The grains ground on the same scale are generally finer than lightly baked beans; on the other hand, lightly baked beans have high density and low crispness, so the grains ground under the same grinding scale are thicker than deep-baked beans. If we use the grinding scale of deep-baked beans to grind lightly baked beans, the ground coffee powder will be thicker, which will make the resistance of the powder cake relatively low, and hot water can easily penetrate through the gaps. Seep out. Because hot water can easily penetrate, the coffee maker does not apply too much pressure. Under the dual reduction of pressure and time, the extraction efficiency is greatly reduced, so hot water naturally cannot dissolve enough substances from the coffee. The extracted coffee is also sharp because it lacks enough sweetness and bitterness. It is very exciting.

Therefore, when using lightly roasted beans to make espresso, the first adjustment recommended by Qianjie is grinding, and adjust 2 to 3 grades on the original basis. Take Qianjie as an example. When Qianjie uses the medium-deep baked beans and Qianjie Italian classic blend in the bean list to make espresso, the grind degree used is Galileo's 1 scale. This grind degree uses 20g of powder to extract 40ml of coffee. The time for the liquid will be between 28 and 32 seconds. The taste is very balanced, and the flavor is also very clear, including chocolate, nuts, cream, and caramel.

When the coffee beans on the front street are replaced with the medium and light roasted front street Essi Huakui, the grinding degree used will be adjusted to Galileo's 0.6 grids, which will be reduced by 2 gears. Only by adjusting so much can the coffee maker apply enough pressure and have enough time to extract the coffee. Similarly, the amount of powder used in Qianjie is 20g, the weight of the extracted liquid is 40ml, and the extraction time is about 30 seconds. Although the concentrated flower extract in this way is still mainly sour in taste, because it has enough sweet substances to support it, it is not exciting to drink. The acid is very round. At the same time, we can also taste citrus and berries. Flavor performance.

If we add 160ml of water to the concentrate, we can make American coffee. Since the addition of water will dilute the concentration of the coffee and provide sufficient room for the flavor to be displayed, from this cup of coffee, in addition to berries and citrus, we can also taste the delicate flavors of flowers and strawberries. Sweet and sour, very good.

But if we want to make lattes, the extraction rate of espresso coffee can be slightly higher. Because sour taste conflicts with the taste of cattle, we need more sweet and bitter substances to balance the sour taste so that we can make lattes that don't taste strange. The specific method is also very simple, on the basis of the original increase in the amount of extracted coffee 3~5ml, so that the taste of coffee will tend to balance, acidity further reduced.

Here we need to pay attention to is, because the flavor of light roast coffee is not as strong as medium roast coffee, so in the production of milk coffee we can not add too much milk, to increase the proportion on the basis of the original, so as not to let the taste of milk cover the taste of coffee. For example, Front Street uses a ratio of 1:5 when making lattes with Front Street Italian Classic Blending, and a ratio of 1:4 when making lattes with Front Street Esther.

By reducing the amount of milk, the taste of coffee can be presented. Not only can you taste the berry and floral flavor, but also the silky and thick taste, which is very good. So the above is all the content shared by Qianjie this time. Everyone can try it at home based on this idea. It's really simple ~

- END -

FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou China, selling freshly roasted beans from its own farm in Yunnan as well as dozens of carefully selected single-origin beans from around the world for both pour-over and espresso. The products deliver consistently excellent quality and great value, with shipping within 24 hours. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers, and the beans are now available online at the Tmall 。