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Millions of people start their do off with a fresh coffee beverage. Whether it’s a fancy cappuccino or a regular cup of coffee, we all need that extra boost to get us going. But great coffee starts with the best beans and no drink showcases that more than the ultimate coffee classic – espresso. Here is a full list of some of the best coffee bean blends for making a delicious espresso, so give it a try. You might like what you find.
If you are looking for a top of the line espresso at an amazing price, then the Lavazza Super Crema is a great choice. This company has been making authentic Italian coffee beans since 1895, and they are great at what they do. It’s an authentic Italian choice.
The Super Crema is a smooth and aromatic coffee bean with hints of honey and almonds. It’s a Medium and smooth roast blended from Arabica and Robusta beans. Best of all, the mix of aroma and taste makes for a top of the line espresso.
Kicking Horse perfected espresso coffee beans with their Cliff Hanger blend. The coffee has a smooth and silky taste with a hint of cocoa. The dark arabica beans make this a great choice for espresso drinks.
Cliff Hanger is roasted at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Canada by a company who knows their coffee. Also this coffee is aromatic, with scents of brown sugar, cocoa, and blackcurrant.
Stumptown Coffee has a great affordable espresso blend called Hair Bender. This blend of coffee beans can make an amazing espresso without breaking the bank. It has a great blend of citrus and dark chocolate notes that make it a perfect balance of acidic and sweet.
The blend of Arabica beans is from all over the world from Africa to Latin America. Hair Bender is a perfect choice for your daily espresso. It’s easily Stumptown’s most popular coffee bean blend since they started in 1999.
The Illy Classico Whole Bean Coffee blend is a classic medium roast that has wonderful hints of chocolate and caramel. The blend is from Italy and was named the world’s most ethical coffee.
It’s a pure 100 percent Arabica whole bean blend from 8 different locations all over the world. It has a smooth, consistent flavor that is never bitter. The packaging is pressurized and resealable to preserve flavor.
Here is another premium Lavazza coffee with their Caffe Espresso blend. As with all Lavazza coffee blends, it is highly aromatic with pleasant fruit and floral notes. It’s a smooth, rich, and flavorful blend made in Italy from beans from all over. This makes it perfect for your morning espresso.
Mayorga Organics Cafe Cubano is a Latin American blend of coffee beans. The company prides it’s direct path from farms to consumers with as little interrupts as possible. It is the best choice for a confirmed organic and non-GMO coffee blend. Cafe Cubano is a dark roast with a focus on sweetness and a smooth finish.
Next up is the Fresh Roasted Italian Roast. This is a strong dark roast coffee that is perfect for those who don’t shy away from a strong espresso. The taste is rich and bold with a unique tangy aftertaste.
The Italian Roast is an artisan blend roasted and blended in the United States from coffee beans sourced all over the world. The coffee beans are 100 percent Arabica beans. This makes for a seriously delicious and strong espresso.
Koffee Kult Coffee Beans Dark Roast is exactly that, a heavy bold dark roast. Dark roast is a blend of 100 percent pure Arabica beans sourced from Brazil, Columbia, and Sumatra. The roast itself is done in Florida.
It makes an espresso with a great kick. The aroma is heavy with cocoa and cinnamon, and it also translates to the taste. The best part is even though it’s a strong blend, no bitter hits come through.
You know Lavazza has to make a good espresso coffee blend since they have made the list three times. Their Qualita Oro Italian Coffee blend is made for you if you like your espresso as pure as can be. It’s a medium roast made of 100 percent Arabica coffee beans sourced from multiple locations around the globe. It is roasted right in Italy.
The flavor is pure and bold but not overly strong. It has a slight flora aroma signature giving you that great wake up smell. Qualita Oro makes for a great simple espresso.
Don’t let the name scare you away from this amazing coffee. Death Wish Organic Coffee is a dark roast that boasts to be the strongest coffee beans you can get. It’s a unique blend of Arabica and Robusta coffee beans sourced from organic, fair-trade coffee beans. It’s roasted in only 65-pound batches in New York, ensuring care is taken in every step.
The espresso taste is strong and bold, with hints of cherry and chocolate. It’s crafted to give you a high caffeine kick without bitterness or aftertaste. It’s a perfect espresso for those who like a crazy strong boost.
Allegro Coffee Organic Espresso is another great coffee bean blend for making an awesome espresso. Allegro Coffee has been making coffee bean blends since 1975 out of Boulder, Colorado. They pride themselves on being an ethical coffee company.
Their Organic Espresso blend is a medium-dark roast. It has subtle hints of dark chocolate and caramel in the taste. It is USDA certified organic and non-GMO, both a huge plus.
Organic Coffee Co is an American family-run company that has been making coffee for decades. Their Hurricane Espresso blend is made from pure Arabic coffee beans grown in Central America. It is USDA certified organic like all of the company’s coffee blends.
The Hurricane Espresso blend is a dark roast made for making good espressos. It has a classic full-bodied flavor with a subdued aftertaste.
SF Bay Coffee Peet’s Espresso is a blend focused on sweetness even though it is a dark roast blend. This is sourced from beans grown and roasted in central and south America.
This coffee blend makes a very unique espresso with its chocolate and vanilla tastes. There are also hints of oranges. Every shot has a creamy finish that makes it perfect for those who like their blends dark but not bitter.
Cafe Don Pablo has been making coffee since 1989. They grow all their coffee beans in Columbia and roast them to perfection. The Gourmet Coffee blend has a rich and complex flavor with hints of dark chocolate and earthy flavors. It is a dark roast great for daily espressos.
Blackwelder Coffee’s Arabica Espresso blend is a medium-dark roast. These whole beans are grown in Latin America and roasted the day of shipping to make them as fresh as possible. It is a complex, rich flavor that has hints of caramel in the undertones. The aftertaste isn’t bitter for a dark roast, either.
We are sure you are familiar with at least one type of coffee beverage, but sometimes espresso can be misunderstood. Espresso, like most coffee beverages, differs in the way that it is made. The beans are the same; it’s just a different process. That process unlocks a world of difference in taste and experience.
Espresso is made by taking finely ground coffee beans and combining it with hot water under high pressure. This increases the flavor and thickens the liquid. It has a distinctive “crema” around the top of the espresso shot. By increasing the pressure, it causes the solids of the coffee to dissolve more and makes the extraction time shorter than standard coffee.
Espresso is usually served in shots of 1 to 2 ounces since it is so concentrated. Some people like to have just these shots to kick off their day. A Lot of people enjoy espresso served in a cup full of steamed milk. You can get espressos at just about any coffee shop served is shots, cappuccinos, or lattes.
It’s hard to get a good idea of what an espresso shot is supposed to taste like if you have only tried them at major chain coffee shops. A lot of these places use basic coffee blends to make espresso, and while you can do that, it leads to a rough tasting experience for the uninitiated. If you can find a place that takes their time in carefully making it from start to finish, you will experience a huge difference in taste.
A well-made espresso shot should never taste bitter or burnt. They will have complex, rich, and bold flavors with a bit of sweetness to them. Some espresso will even have hints of chocolate, fruit, or floral notes that come largely from where the beans are grown.
Just like other complex beverages, it can take some time to find what blend you like best to make espresso from. It’s an acquired taste, so don’t give it up if you don’t enjoy the first one you try.
Making the perfect espresso shot takes practice and patience, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t get it right the first try. You will have to experiment with your espresso maker a bit to get it right, but once you have it, you will be on your way to making the perfect espresso shots.
The first step is to read any instructions that came with your espresso maker. While they all work in a similar fashion, some may have small differences you need to know about. Now: you want to make sure you preheat your portafilter. You can do this by running a shot of just water through to heat everything up. This makes sure when you make your espresso; it has a consistent temperature all the way through.
The grind of your coffee is important as well. You don’t want it to be too coarse or too fine. It should be around the same consistency of sugar for a good espresso, but some differences in the grind will depend on the coffee blend used. A two-ounce shot of espresso should take twenty to thirty seconds to pull through.
Next step: the dose and tamping. The dose is the amount of coffee grounds used for a shot of espresso. This is usually around 14 grams for a two-ounce shot. You can adjust this depending on your preference and your espresso machine. Tamping allows you to get a uniform consistency, so your water is pulled through evenly. To get a good tamp, take your portafilter onto an even surface and apply pressure until the coffee grounds are smooth.
Now for the good part. The pour is the last step needed to make your first shot of espresso. Your machine’s instructions are very important here because each machine is different. If everything was done correctly, your espresso should start as a dark pour and slowly transition into a brown foam. This should be even from both spouts. Then you just enjoy your espresso in the manner you like.
The different roast levels vastly affect your coffee bean from taste to caffeine content. As the coffee beans are roasted and reach different temperatures, they crack. Each time this happens, it affects how the bean will taste and smell. Here are the three main roast levels for any coffee beans: Light, Medium, and Dark.
Light roast is the first roast level at between 356 to 401 degrees Fahrenheit. These are closer to the actual flavor of the coffee bean itself and hold more of the fruit or flora flavors from where the beans originated. These will also have the highest caffeine concentration.
Medium roast is after the first crack of the coffee beans. This happens between 410 and 428 degrees. This is what the majority of coffees are roasted at since it provides a good balance between the acidity of a light roast and the bitterness of a dark roast.
The last is a dark roast. People usually think a dark roast is a strong coffee, but according to the NCA (National Coffee Association), a dark roast coffee actually has less caffeine in it than a light roast. This roast usually starts after the second crack forms on the coffee beans at around 464 degrees. It leaves the coffee with a bitter taste and is commonly used in espresso blends.
