What Separates Coffee Beans from Espresso Beans?

One of the most crucial steps in the daily ritual of brewing coffee is selecting the appropriate beans. The brew’s flavor, texture, and overall experience are all influenced by the beans. You may have seen espresso and coffee beans among the many varieties of coffee available on the market and asked yourself, “What is the difference between coffee beans vs. espresso beans?”

Coffee beans: What are they?

The treated, cleaned, dried, and roasted seeds of the coffee cherry are called coffee beans. Coffee beans differ significantly in terms of origin, processing, cultivation, and roast intensity. Flavors might be flowery, chocolatey, nutty, fruity, and more. Roasting intensities range from mild to exceptionally dark, highlighting distinct taste characteristics. Ground coffee beans can be used for a variety of brewing techniques, including pour-over, drip coffee, cold brew, and more.

What Are Beans for Espresso?

The seeds of the coffee cherry are called espresso beans, and they are roasted for a long period at a high temperature in order to extract oils and produce a flavor that is rich and concentrated. Espresso is made shot after shot using carefully chosen, processed, and roasted espresso beans.

Noteworthy Variations Between Coffee and Espresso Beans

Although the green coffee bean within a coffee cherry is the starting point for both coffee and espresso beans, they are not exactly the same. While all processed coffee cherry seeds are espresso beans, not all processed coffee cherry seeds are espresso beans. What you should know is as follows:

Level of Roasting

Coffee beans come in a variety of roast intensities, from light to very dark. Espresso beans are usually roasted to a dark or extra-dark degree, as was previously noted. Espresso’s full-bodied texture and rich, powerful flavor—which, depending on the type and growing region, might include notes of spice, berry, caramel, and smoke—come from the vigorous roasting.

Method of Brewing

Coffee beans can be ground to a wide variety of sizes and utilized in drip coffee, pour-over, cold brew, French press, and other brewing techniques. Espresso beans are processed and ground especially for the espresso preparation procedure, as their name suggests. To allow for maximum contact between the water driven through the grounds and the espresso machine, the grind is medium fine for stovetop espresso or fine for machine espresso.

Taste

Coffee beans come in a wide variety of tastes, from rich and robust to delicate and sophisticated, and everything in between. Contrarily, espresso beans are specially processed to provide a robust, consistent flavor.

Can Espresso Be Made With Coffee Beans?

To prepare an espresso-style beverage, whole coffee beans may easily be ground to a medium-fine or fine texture. But the flavor profile will probably be different than when you make espresso with espresso beans. The flavor may not be as strong and robust as it might be depending on the coffee beans. Furthermore, espresso beans may be more resilient to the high brewing pressure than normal coffee beans. Espresso beans will yield the most conventional results, but don’t be afraid to explore until you discover something you like!

Selecting Between Espresso and Coffee Beans

The decision between espresso and coffee beans ultimately comes down to personal taste. To help you decide, consider the following guidelines:

Select coffee beans in case:

• You’d want to brew coffee with a French press, drip coffee maker, pour-over, cold brew, or any method except espresso.

• The flavor of the coffee you wish to drink should be light, medium, dark, or extra-dark.

• You should try out some unconventional espresso tastes.

Select espresso beans in case:

• You adore strong, flavorful shots of espresso.

• You desire consistent shots of espresso from your machine.

• You wish to prepare drinks like lattes and cappuccinos that use espresso.