It is now very easy to buy a cup of freshly ground coffee, whether it is Starbucks, Costa, Luckin Coffee, or fast food restaurants and convenience stores such as McDonald's, KFC, 7-11, and Lawson. You can buy freshly ground coffee.

However, there are still many friends who want to try making their own coffee, which is cheap and full of life.

However, when you first buy coffee and search on Taobao, your search results may look like this...

With so many dazzling search results, you will no longer be as elegant, free and calm as when ordering in a coffee shop; is it really that difficult to do it yourself?

So let’s take a look at how to avoid pitfalls and buy the coffee you like.

01 Classification of Coffee

First of all, we need to understand the classification of coffee products in the entire coffee market. According to the finished products of the goods, I divide them into three categories:

Below we will explain the differences between different categories based on the type of coffee products, giving you a reference to help you make decisions.

1. Instant

At present, the main force of coffee sales is still instant products. I have divided this type of product into three categories:

The first category: traditional three-in-one instant coffee, which is the most common Nestle three-in-one, Maxwell, G7 white coffee, etc.

Advantages: easy to carry, cheap, low production cost

Disadvantages: Many additives, poor quality of coffee ingredients

This type of coffee is made from relatively poor quality coffee beans. Due to the poor quality, the taste of black coffee is difficult for ordinary consumers to swallow. In order to make Chinese people who are not used to coffee accept the taste of coffee, a large amount of additives are added for blending. From an industrial perspective, the cost is very low, so its price is not high.

The second category: pure coffee made with the latest freeze-drying technology, that is, black coffee. The more mainstream ones are Nestle Gold, Santonban, Japan AGF MAXIM, Japan UCC, etc.

Advantages: no additives, easy to make, long shelf life

Disadvantages: slightly expensive, flavor is generally pure bitter or sour

First of all, the quality of coffee beans used in this type of product is better than that of the first type. Most of them have begun to use Arabica coffee beans. It is roughly guessed that most of them use coffee beans from Brazil, Colombia and other places.

Secondly, the advantage of this type of product is that individual coffee can be quickly dissolved in liquids, whether hot water, cold water (room temperature water) or milk, etc. This is more convenient than the first type that can only be dissolved in hot water.

Finally, this type of product is mainly black coffee, so if you like black coffee, then it's just right. If you like to drink it with milk and sugar, then you need to mix it yourself.

The third category: coffee liquid, which is the most popular type of portable coffee nowadays. The reason why it is called portable coffee is that it is already coffee liquid. If you have a strong taste, it is okay to drink it directly.

Advantages: small size, easy to carry, easy to make

Disadvantages: relatively simple flavor, large taste differences among brands, short shelf life, slightly expensive

This type of product uses industrial cold extraction or hot extraction to soak coffee powder into coffee liquid, and then concentrate the coffee liquid. Generally, the concentration can be concentrated from 20% to about 70%.

Because there are no preservatives or other additives added, the shelf life is shorter than that of the first and second categories.

The advantage of this type of product is that it can be directly mixed into liquids such as hot water, cold water, and milk.

They will use Arabica coffee beans of better quality than the second category, such as Ethiopia, Kenya, etc.

2. Freshly ground

After years of evolution, freshly ground coffee has become more popular among Chinese people.

Category 1: drip bags, cold brew bags, capsules

These products all have one characteristic: they are all packaged with coffee powder.

Advantages: High-quality coffee powder, easy to brew, and richer flavors to choose from

Disadvantages: The flavor of coffee powder is lost quickly, and the price is slightly higher than that of single bag instant coffee.

Theoretically, any variety of coffee beans in the world can be made in this way. Generally speaking, the quality of coffee beans is slightly better than that of instant products. Therefore, the prices are also different.

Except for capsules, which require a specific machine for extraction, all other coffees can be brewed directly with hot water. Cold brew coffee bags can be brewed not only with hot water, but also with cold water, milk and other liquids.

In addition, when buying this type of coffee product, you need to pay special attention to the production date and shelf life. It is recommended to buy products with a close production date and drink them within 1 month, so it is not recommended to buy in large quantities.

Category 2: Coffee beans

The reason why it is mentioned separately is that fresh and delicious coffee is obtained from freshly ground coffee beans. Therefore, this type of product is more recommended.

Advantages: variety, freshness, various preparation methods

Disadvantages: difficult to make, wide price range, chaotic coffee bean market

Coffee beans are the most difficult to choose, and many people don’t understand them. I won’t explain too many details here, but just remember the following points to help you avoid pitfalls:

• Coffee beans are divided into two categories based on usage: Italian blend and single origin. Italian blend is more used to make milk coffee. This type of coffee beans is mostly made from 2 or more coffee beans from different origins. It is suitable for making the most common Italian coffee and milk coffee in coffee shops.

• Single origin coffee is coffee beans from a single origin and a single variety. It is more suitable for making handmade coffee, such as hand brewing, French press, siphon coffee, etc. Coffee beans from different origins have different flavors, so you can find them yourself.
• You can often see "xx flavor" coffee beans on the market, such as Blue Mountain flavor coffee beans. These are not real Blue Mountain coffee beans, but a blend of many different coffees to create a coffee flavor that is close to Blue Mountain.

• Don’t buy coffee powder, because after the coffee beans are ground into powder, the aroma will evaporate quickly. No matter what technology is used to seal, the final aroma and oil will evaporate quickly, and you won’t be able to experience the good coffee flavor.

3. Coffee drinks

Coffee drinks are probably the most common coffee drinks on the market. After years of development, this type of drink has a relatively complete range of categories. Currently, it can be roughly divided into three categories:

Category 1: Coffee drinks

Coffee drinks, as the name suggests, are not pure coffee. Most of them have coffee flavor added and contain a certain amount of caffeine. In essence, they are still drinks.

Advantages: Available everywhere, easy to buy, coffee flavor

Cons: Not real coffee

Category 2: Ready-to-drink coffee

Black coffee and milk coffee drinks that are industrially packaged in large quantities. These are made from coffee beans as the main raw material, brewed black coffee or coffee made by adding ingredients such as milk powder.

Advantages: convenient and fast, available everywhere, with many brand flavors

Disadvantages: slightly expensive (not cost-effective), lack of coffee flavor

Summarize

I hope that this article can bring some help to more new friends so that you can avoid some pitfalls.

Finally, through the above analysis, let’s briefly summarize:

From a health perspective, the ranking of coffee products from high to low: second category > first category (except three-in-one instant) > third category

From the perspective of the second type of products, you need to find the flavor you like, and this can only be achieved by trying more.

Finally, I wish you all find the coffee you like.