Coffee bean purchase strategy coffee bean grade division

Next talk about the varieties of coffee beans, coffee beans have many varieties, some sour, some sweet, some bitter, some have some special aroma. As I mentioned earlier, I personally believe that there is no uniform classification standard for coffee bean varieties. Different people have their own yardstick for judging good coffee according to their taste preferences for sour, sweet and bitter. In this article, I will share with you my classification of coffee beans according to my taste.

Grading based on origin

When choosing coffee beans, the information of origin is actually the most important. Because one side of the soil raises one side of coffee beans, the taste of coffee is closely related to the environment in which the beans grow, such as soil, humidity, and sunshine. When I buy coffee beans, in addition to looking at brand information, I pay special attention to its origin. First of all, let me introduce to you my idea of coffee beans based on different origins.

Figure: Classification of coffee beans based on different origins

The recommended first grade coffee bean is Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee bean.

Blue Mountain coffee beans win with popular taste and consistent quality. Blue Mountain coffee has a rich taste, flavor, aroma, concentration, sour and spicy degree are very average, is universally recognized as the best coffee, other coffee can not catch up. Blue Mountain Coffee lovers say: It is a coffee beauty that combines all the advantages of good coffee.

Blue Mountain coffee beans come in three grades: Blue Mountain coffee beans, Alpine coffee beans and Jamaica coffee beans.

Blue Mountain coffee beans and alpine coffee beans are divided into two grades. Therefore, from top to bottom in order of quality: Blue Mountain No. 1, Blue Mountain No. 2, High Mountain No. 1, High Mountain No. 2, Jamaica coffee beans.

Photo: Blue Mountains in Jamaica

Usually, coffee beans grown between 457 meters and 1524 meters above sea level are called alpine coffee beans; coffee grown between 274 meters and 457 meters above sea level is called Jamaica coffee beans; coffee grown only in the Blue Mountains above 1800 meters above sea level can be called Blue Mountain coffee beans, and Blue Mountain coffee beans are several times higher in price than alpine coffee beans.

99.9% of the Blue Mountain coffee beans that can be bought in China are only planted near the Blue Mountains, and are not really Blue Mountain coffee. Therefore, if you want to taste authentic Blue Mountain coffee, you may need foreign purchasing to achieve it. At the same time, you also need to prepare your wallet, because 0.5kg of Blue Mountain coffee beans cost nearly 1,000 yuan to buy. And now Taobao or domestic common brands marked as Blue Mountain coffee beans are mostly domestically produced, the price is cheaper, but the taste is relatively poor.

Secondly, in the second tier, most of them come from America and Africa. Here are the details:

A. Hawaii: Kona Coffee-Cinnamon

Photo: Hawaii Kona Coffee

Kona coffee is naturally expensive, second only to Blue Mountain in price. Kona coffee has a strong sour and sweet taste, moist and smooth taste. Moderate baking makes the beans sour, and deep baking makes both bitter and mellow. Kona coffee has a mixed aroma of wine, fruit and spice.

B. Costa Rica-High acidity, full grains

The aroma is attractive, but it is sour (even extremely sour). Personally, Costa Rica coffee belongs to the top products in sour coffee. If you like sour taste, please try it.

C. Ethiopia: Mocha Highland Coffee-Origin of Coffee

Ethiopia in Africa is said to be the first place to discover coffee, and the most famous is mocha highland coffee, which has a soft taste, fresh fruit flavor and a slight earthy taste. People who like it will love it very much, and people who don't like it will hate it very much, but the fragrance is special, so you can try it.

D. Colombia: Colombia premium coffee-nutty, high nutritional value

Colombia premium coffee is characterized by its aroma with a bitter walnut taste. But if you taste it, it is best not to add milk and sugar, because it will dilute its original taste.

E. Cuba: Coffee Juice-low acidity, just the right ratio of sour to bitter

Photo: Cuban Coffee

The coffee is designated by the Cuban Embassy as "unique Caribbean coffee" and "special coffee beans among island coffee beans." Some say Cuban coffee tastes great with cigars.

F. Guatemala: Antigua Coffee--intense, distinctive, charred

Antigua coffee tastes soft, aromatic alcohol with a slight charcoal flavor. Because of this unique charcoal-burning aroma, Antigua coffee is also known as "cigarette coffee". When tasting Antigua coffee, you can taste it with cocoa powder, which can make Antigua coffee taste smoother and softer.

G. Kenya: AA coffee

Kenyan coffee can be graded AA++, AA+, AA and AB. Kenya AA is the highest quality coffee in Kenya and the best Arabica coffee beans in the world. It has a slightly sour, thick aroma, but also with fruit aromas, hot or cold drink. Kenyan coffee became the most popular coffee in the UK.

H. Yemen-spicy, slightly aromatic

Yemeni mocha is characterized by its fruity aroma and distinct alcohol flavor. Some people say that Yemeni mocha has a blueberry aftertaste.

Next, among the coffee beans ranked third, I recommend the following varieties:

A. China: Yunnan coffee--very cost-effective

This is the third most recommended coffee bean. This is a home-grown coffee bean, which has also received attention in recent years and has been rated as a first-class product in the London international market. Yunnan coffee nutritional value is very high, and it is excellent taste alcohol, not partial acid, personal feeling is relatively smooth, taste is acceptable, coffee aroma is also very obvious, and India and Indonesia coffee beans taste similar, but cheaper than these two domestic coffee beans, its cost performance is very high, but also worth buying.

Specific recommendation: Yunnan small coffee

Picture: Yunnan Arabica Coffee

There is no sour taste, but there is a clear burnt taste, which feels quite in line with the taste of Chinese people, and relatively cheap, worth trying.

B. Mexico: Aldumara Coffee--with wine aroma

Mexican coffee has a special aroma, and everyone who loves coffee should try this coffee, because this coffee has a unique aroma that others do not have. When you taste Mexican coffee, it's best to drink it hot. After an hour of hot coffee, all the aroma disappears.

Specific recommendation: Aldumara coffee

Aldumara coffee beans are Mexico's top coffee beans, which are large in size, with intense sweetness, acidity and good aroma.

C. Brazil: Brazilian Bourbon Santos Coffee-Good Quality, Popular Taste

Brazilian coffee acidity is low, the general domestic drink of coffee are produced in Brazil, feel in line with public taste. However, Brazilian coffee is the best ingredient for espresso and fancy coffee.

Specific recommendations: Bourbon Santos coffee

It forms a golden foam on the surface of espresso coffee and gives it a slightly sweet taste.

D. Tanzania: Kilimanjaro coffee--intense, less acidic than Kenyan coffee

Tanzania's main coffee-producing region is located at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, which has rich volcanic soils and coffee trees that are more than 100 years old. There are also several major coffee producing areas throughout Tanzania, such as Meru Mt. Arusha, Mbulu in Oldeani and Pare in the southern highlands of Nissa.

Specific recommendation: Kilimanjaro coffee

Photo: Kilimanjaro Coffee

Coffee beans produced at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro are hung for Kilimanjaro coffee exports. It has a strong aroma after medium or above roasting and is suitable for single-serve or iced coffee.

E. Honduras: Premium Highland Coffee-Perfect for Blending

Honduran coffee taste is not astringent acid, alcohol and aroma are very high. Honduran coffee can be roasted to varying degrees, resulting in multiple layers of flavor. Medium roasting brings out the sweetness of the beans to the extreme, while deep roasting enhances the bitterness. Personally, moderate baking tastes better and bitterness is moderate.

Specific recommendation: Special selection of highland coffee

Highland coffee stands for the highest grade in Honduras and is grown at altitudes of 1500 to 2000 meters. This coffee has a good flavor, rich and mellow, and is suitable for mixing.

F. Puerto Rico: Yocote Choice Coffee-Less Bitterness

Since the second half of the 19th century, Puerto Rico coffee has been the first choice of the Vatican and European royal families, and has also been selected by US President Roosevelt as the official coffee for the White House state banquet. The coffee beans produced here taste delicate and sweet, with a chocolate-like taste.

Specific recommendation: Yao Ke Te chooses coffee

The best coffee in Puerto Rico is Yallco Selecto, which means "select." Its acidity is very stable, full of particles, rich aroma.

G. India: Plantation A coffee-strong, smooth

The balance and cleanliness of Indian coffee beans are good, the acidity is moderately sweet, and not too sharp. It is acceptable to those who do not like strong acids, and it does not have to be baked so deeply that it burns off both the character and the acid.

Recommended: Grade A coffee

India's A-grade coffee beans are monsoon baptism, rich flavor, smooth and delicious, but there are strange spicy taste.

H. Indonesia: Mantenin from Sumatra--strong taste

The best growing areas in Indonesia are Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi. These three islands created three major coffee brands, namely Mantenin coffee produced in Sumatra, Indonesia, moderately sour, with a strong aroma; Java coffee produced in Java, Indonesia, belongs to Arabica coffee; Sulawesi coffee, full particles, rich aroma.

Specific recommendations: mantning coffee

Mantenine has a heavy, intense taste and a low acidity that is clearly palatable.

Special Introduction: Civet Coffee

In addition, here is a grand introduction to an alternative coffee bean, which is a traditional specialty of some Indonesian islands (such as Java, Sumatra, Bali, Sulawesi)-civet coffee beans made from civet feces, also known as cat feces coffee.

The official name of cat poop coffee is Kopi Luwak. Kopi means coffee in Indonesian, and Luwak is a wild Indonesian civet.

Photo: Civets

How is this coffee bean produced? It is said that after eating the local coffee cherry fruit, the civets ferment in the stomach of the civets, making the coffee beans taste unique and taste particularly fragrant. Its rich, round and sweet taste is unmatched by other coffee beans. The coffee grounds left behind by cat poop coffee are also very unique, smooth and without small holes, which ordinary coffee cannot do.

Although the quality of the coffee beans is unbeatable, local farmers in Indonesia do not just pursue profits without caring about the survival of the civet. They insist that civet cats live freely in the sun and rain of nature--eating and pooping themselves, not forcing them to eat, forcing them to poop.

The raw materials of this coffee are difficult to obtain, the production process is also very complicated, and it must go through strict sanitary procedures, such as drying, roasting, brewing and other complex procedures. As a result, this rare coffee produces only 500 pounds a year.

Photo: Cat poop coffee

As the so-called rare coffee is expensive, cat feces coffee is almost the most expensive coffee in the world-50 grams of civet coffee beans worth up to 1500 yuan, except for the best blue mountain coffee can match, other coffee prices are far less than this coffee.

Since I had only heard of it by name and never tasted it, I did not include it in my ranking list. If you have ever seen it, you are welcome to share it with me!

Ranking based on common brands

Here are a few coffee brands that are common in the market and I drink often for your reference. These brands of coffee are basically roasted and blended, so the taste will be very fragrant when brewed directly.

I've divided the recommended brands into two categories.

Level 1, with the following brands:

Lavazza

Lavazza was originally a grocery store. Lavazza was the first to use vacuum packaging technology to preserve the freshness of ground coffee in the early 1960s; Lavazza launched a very successful advertising campaign in the late 1970s with the catchy slogan " The more you drink it down ,the more it pick you up" to allow Lavazza to enter the European market; in 1996, Lavazza developed Espresso Point, which increased Lavazza's turnover by 35%. Lavazza has become synonymous with Italian coffee, with 75% of Italian people fascinated by him and 45% of the world market.

Recommended coffee beans: Grand Espresso

Photo by Grand Espresso

Classic Italian coffee, the original beans are Arabica beans, with a few Indonesian and Brazilian coffee beans added to make it taste smoother.

Illy

Illy was founded in 1933 in Trieste, a port city in northeastern Italy, and was the first brand used by restaurants, restaurants and bars in Italy. Illy Coffee Company produces over 11 million kilograms of premium coffee beans per year and is a leader in high quality coffee. Illy is also the first coffee company in the world to receive ISO9001 certification.

Recommended coffee beans: medium roast coffee beans

Photo: illy medium roast coffee

Moderate taste, can better reflect the aroma of coffee, and not strong not light, suitable for most people's taste. However, the price is also higher.

Julius Meinl coffee

Julius Meinl is a world famous coffee brand in Vienna. Founded in 1862, Julius Meinl has always been highly respected by European upper class society and once became a coffee brand exclusive to European celebrities.

Julius Meinl, still found throughout Europe and the Americas, pioneered the development of cafe culture with the slogan "Roast the best coffee in the world for European celebrities."

Recommended coffee beans: court special selection wiener espresso

Photo: court special selection wiener espresso

Although there were quite a lot of takeaways from abroad, there were very few sold in China. Court special wiener espresso is composed of 60% Arabica beans and 40% Robusta beans, there is no sour taste, mild taste, there is a clear coffee aroma.

Costa

Costa was founded in 1971 by two Italian brothers who started their coffee wholesale business, supplying roasted coffee beans to restaurants and Italian coffee specialty shops. After that, the Costa brothers gradually established their unique style of roasting coffee beans. Today Costa has more than 300 coffee shops throughout the UK.

The coffee beans at their home are a blend of Arabica coffee and Robusta coffee, similar in quality to Starbucks, but lighter in taste.

Starbucks Starbucks

Starbucks is the name of a chain of coffee companies in the United States, founded in 1971, is the world's largest coffee chain, its headquarters is located in Seattle, Washington, USA. Besides coffee, Starbucks also has tea, pie and cake. Starbucks has nearly 12,000 stores worldwide in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific.

Recommended coffee beans: Starbucks preferred

Starbucks coffee includes single-serve coffee and mixed coffee. The former is made from a single coffee bean from different origins and the price is relatively high; the latter is made from a mixture of different coffee beans. If it is selected in a comprehensive coffee, the individual prefers Starbucks.

Here are my recommended second-grade coffee beans:

Nestle

Coffee originated in 1930. When Brazil's government began to approach Nestle, coffee authority Max? Morgentel and his team immediately set out to find a way to brew coffee with water and still keep the coffee original. After seven years of research in Swiss laboratories, they finally found the answer. Nescafe has become a world-renowned brand.

Recommended coffee beans: Nespresso capsules

Photo: Nescafe Capsule Coffee

The quality is general, but there are many varieties of coffee capsules, and they are all single bean varieties, which is more convenient, but they should be equipped with special coffee machines.

Maxwell

Maxwell belongs to Kraft, one of the famous food giants. The coffee was developed by Joe Cheek, a gourmet, and sold mainly at Maxwell's Restaurant, a popular venue. Maxwell first entered China in 1985, and in 1997, the name was changed from "Maxwell" to "Maxwell". Its advertising slogan,"Drips of fragrance, still unfinished," originated in 1907 when US President Theodore Trump was elected president. Roosevelt's comment on this brand of coffee.

Recommended coffee beans: Maxwell Roast Coffee (Burnt)

Picture: Burning

It's ground coffee. You just need to brew it in a coffee pot. Personally feel better than Nestle, there is a kind of coke flavor, coffee flavor is also very strong.

The classification of coffee beans will be introduced here first. In the next issue, we will share some details to pay attention to when purchasing coffee beans. Welcome to continue to pay attention!