Faced with a dazzling array of coffee beans, how do you choose the one that suits your taste? Front Street Coffee uses the world's three major coffee regions as a thread, from Africa and Latin America to Asia, to sort through the origins, terroir, varietal characteristics, processing methods, and cupping flavors of ten representative specialty coffee beans one by one. Whether you prefer the bright fruit acidity of Yirgacheffe or the mellow nutty notes of Golden Mandheling, this article provides detailed reference information to help coffee lovers build a systematic understanding of bean selection and find the cup that truly matches their personal preferences.

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Faced with all kinds of coffee brand rankings on the market, friends who are new to coffee often judge quality based on rankings. FrontStreet Coffee holds a different view: whether it is single-origin beans or espresso blends, the core requirement is freshness. Single-origin beans require attention to origin, altitude, and processing method, while espresso beans depend on the blend formula. Rankings are for reference only and are by no means an absolute standard. Everyone's taste preferences differ, so someone else's number one may not suit you, and brands that do not make the list do not mean their quality is poor. Only after establishing this basic understanding can you understand coffee more deeply.

Global coffee cultivation can be divided into three major regions: Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Many customers who visit FrontStreet Coffee stores often do not know where to start when faced with more than thirty kinds of coffee beans on display. The key to choosing coffee beans that suit your taste is understanding your own flavor preferences. FrontStreet Coffee normally offers more than fifty single-origin coffee beans, covering major producing regions around the world, and the bean list adjusts with the seasons. For example, the coffee beans currently used for drip bags are the seasonal Brazil Red Fruit coffee beans, which shows that coffee flavor is closely related to the season. If the three major producing regions are used as a framework for recommending coffee beans, it is an effective selection path. Today FrontStreet Coffee will use this approach to introduce ten coffee beans with different flavors, which are also the ten most popular in FrontStreet Coffee stores. Let's see what makes these coffee beans so good.

Front Street Top Ten Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations Africa Producing Region Coffee Bean Recommendations 1. Front Street Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Red Cherry

Ethiopia is located in the eastern part of the African continent. The "Gedeo Zone" to which Yirgacheffe belongs is located in the "Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region" in southwestern Ethiopia. Yirga Cheffe is a small town in Ethiopia at an altitude of 1,700-2,100 meters. It is one of the highest coffee-producing areas in the world and is also synonymous with Ethiopian specialty coffee. Lake Turkana, Lake Abaya, and Lake Chamo bring abundant moisture here.

[Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Coffee Grade] ECX (Ethiopian Commodity Exchange) has defined grades for coffee beans based on defect rate, namely G1 and G2. G1 means no more than 3 defective beans per 300g of green beans, and G2 means 4-12 defective beans per 300g of green beans. In addition to Red Cherry coffee, many G1-level Front Street Yirgacheffe coffee beans are on the FrontStreet Coffee bean list, such as Front Street Kochere, Front Street Gedeb, Front Street Konga, and so on. [Coffee Bean Variety] On the FrontStreet Coffee bean list label, the variety of this coffee bean is indicated as heirloom, which differs from the naming of coffee varieties in many producing regions. This is because Ethiopia has too many coffee varieties, like a natural gene bank of Arabica. On the one hand, the varieties are so numerous that identification and classification are difficult; on the other hand, the Ethiopian government, out of consideration for protection, is unwilling and unable to disclose this variety information. However, FrontStreet Coffee found that in this year's COE competition held in Ethiopia, Ethiopian beans also began to have different variety names, all named with numbers.

[Natural Processing Method] The natural processing method is also called the dry process. Hand-picked coffee cherries with high sugar content are placed on raised beds or open ground to sun-dry. During the drying process, they need to be turned and stirred at the right time to avoid uneven drying or excessive fermentation. After 2-4 weeks they are completely dried until the moisture content reaches 12%, and then the pulp and skin are removed with a huller. At present, there is also a Front Street Red Cherry coffee bean that uses the red honey processing method. After a period of bean selection, roasting, cupping, and other stages, FrontStreet Coffee selected a Front Street Red Honey Red Cherry coffee bean and put it on the shelves, and customer response has also been good. For this Front Street Red Honey Red Cherry coffee, the flavor FrontStreet Coffee cupped was citrus, lemon, and fruit candy, and the overall sweetness is slightly higher than that of the Front Street Yirgacheffe Red Cherry natural coffee bean.

[Red Cherry Project] The so-called Red Cherry actually refers to the Red Cherry Project, jointly initiated by the Dutch trader Trabocca and local farmers, aiming to improve the quality of small-scale farms. When picking coffee fruit, not only must fully red, highly mature fruit be picked, but it must also be harvested entirely by hand, and there are corresponding requirements for coffee bean processing methods as well. However, FrontStreet Coffee believes that basically all coffee beans that can currently be called specialty coffee can also be called Red Cherry coffee beans, because the coffee beans from these producing regions are all picked and processed using the strategies of the Red Cherry Project.

[Aricha Estate] Each small coffee farmer at Aricha Estate owns an average planting area of about 0.6 hectares. It is composed of hundreds of coffee farmers, and its planting altitude is nearly 2,000 meters. The large temperature difference between day and night and the fertile soil provide an excellent growing environment. The green beans themselves give off a rich aroma of raisins and fermented wine. [Front Street Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Coffee Flavor Description] Lemon, licorice, citrus, berries, sweet orange. The overall sweetness is relatively high, the aftertaste has flavors of caramel and cream, and the finish carries black tea aroma. 2. Front Street Kenya Asalia

Kenya is also located in East Africa, adjacent to Ethiopia. Kenya did not introduce coffee until close to the twentieth century. Unlike Ethiopia, coffee was brought in at that time by the colonial power Britain. During the colonial period, the coffee economy developed, and the entire industry system leaned toward refined management. Kenya's level in coffee selection and breeding, grading, and processing methods was ahead of many coffee-producing countries at the time. It was not until several decades later, when other countries also realized the advantages of this kind of refined management and followed suit, that Kenya's unique prominence gradually faded.

[Kenya Coffee Grade] Kenya classifies grades by coffee bean size and cupping results. According to the size, shape, and hardness of the coffee beans, from high to low they are E, AA or AA+, AB, PB, C, TT, T. For AA and AB grade green coffee beans, an additional special grading based on cupping results was added (not officially recognized by the Kenyan government, but established by exporters), from high to low: TOP, PLUS (+), FAQ. It is obvious that in the coffee bean grading system, Kenya is more refined than Ethiopia. FrontStreet Coffee often explains to customers why Ethiopian coffee beans vary in size, and this becomes clear when looking at the grading system. However, FrontStreet Coffee believes that this is also the most distinctive feature of Ethiopian coffee beans. Basically, just by looking at the beans, one can quickly determine whether they are Ethiopian coffee beans.

[Coffee Bean Variety] In 1922, Kenya established Scott Labs to conduct coffee planting research. In the more than 10 years after its founding, the laboratory selected SL28 and SL34, which were suitable for cultivation in the producing region, from 42 kinds of coffee, providing a good start for the development of the coffee industry. SL28 belongs to the Bourbon genetic group and carries the bright tonality and rich acidity of the original Bourbon. SL34's lineage is closer to Typica genetics, and its acidity is milder than that of SL28. [K72 Washed Processing Method] Kenya's washed method is world-famous, but it is also different from ordinary washed methods. Kenya's K72 processing method refers to a washed fermentation time as long as 72 hours. Ordinary washed processing methods rarely exceed 36 hours. Such an extremely long fermentation time creates the unique acidity of Kenyan specialty coffee. The process is to first screen highly mature coffee fruit, remove the skin and pulp, then soak and ferment in a tank to remove pectin. This process takes 72 hours, after which it is taken to dry until the moisture content reaches 12%.

[Front Street Kenya Asalia Coffee Flavor Description] Cherry tomato and berry aroma, with obvious acidity on entry and a juicy feel, prominent sweetness in the middle, and a tea-like finish. 3. Front Street Rwanda Gaseke

Rwanda is currently one of the most closely watched coffee-producing countries. FrontStreet Coffee found that the coffee bean quality of this African country is no less than that of Ethiopian coffee beans, so recently it has repeatedly roasted and cupped, and finally settled on a Front Street Rwanda coffee bean with a prominent flavor. Rwanda is blessed with a very ideal coffee-growing environment, including high altitude, stable rainfall, volcanic soil, and an organic environment, while the bean variety is the very flourishing Bourbon. Rwandan coffee basically does not use chemical fertilizers or pesticides. The fertilizer in the soil comes from natural ground cover and traditional fertilization methods. The vast majority of Rwandan coffee is produced by smallholders, about 500,000 farming households, with individual farms often less than one hectare. Although Rwanda has a long history of coffee production, quality has only improved significantly recently.

[Gaseke Washing Station] Fidele Ndagijmana is a young trader in the Nyamasheke area. He saw the development potential of Rwandan specialty washed coffee and applied to the government to build the Gaseke washing station. In the first year, he successfully produced 170 tons of coffee cherries. He used the off-season to improve and expand production equipment, so that by the next harvest season he could provide better production machines and a better storage environment. This excellent trader also secured for himself more land near the processing plant for cultivation. [Coffee Bean Variety] The Bourbon coffee variety is a secondary species produced by mutation of the Typica coffee variety. Generally, when people speak of the Bourbon coffee variety, they default to the Red Bourbon coffee variety, named for the red color of its ripe fruit. Characteristics of the Bourbon coffee variety: all have obvious flavors of dark chocolate, cocoa, nuts, and caramel, smooth acidity, and low bitterness. FrontStreet Coffee has several Bourbon coffee beans, such as Front Street Brazil Red Bourbon, Front Street Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon, and so on. While maintaining the flavor characteristics of the Bourbon coffee variety, they also have regional flavor differences, which will be introduced below.

Caturra is a naturally mutated dwarf variety of Bourbon and has higher yield than Bourbon. It was first discovered in Brazil and began to be commercially planted there. 1,500-1,700m is the suitable planting altitude. Caturra's characteristics are bright acidity and low to medium body. It has less clarity and sweetness than its parent Bourbon. When FrontStreet Coffee conducts cupping, it feels that the flavor has lemon or citrus acidity, but in terms of sweetness it is inferior to Typica and Bourbon. Catuai is a cross between Mundo Novo and Caturra. It inherits the advantage of Caturra's low tree height and also compensates for the weakness of Arabica varieties in disease resistance. The fruit is firm and not easy to drop when strong winds blow. The greatest regret is that its overall flavor is slightly more monotonous than Caturra. [Washed Processing Method] Rwandan coffee beans mainly use the washed processing method. Every year during the harvest season, farmers pick ripe coffee cherries and gather them at the washing station for processing. First, they are manually sorted to ensure that no unripe or damaged fruit is mixed in. Then the skin is removed, and a 12-18 hour washed fermentation process is carried out in a cool, low-temperature environment, washing away the adhering pectin in channels. During the raised-bed drying process, members of the washing station turn the beans manually and take careful care to ensure that under sufficient sunlight the parchment beans do not lose moisture or dry unevenly, until the moisture content of the green beans steadily drops below 14%.

[Front Street Rwanda Gaseke Coffee Flavor Description] Aroma of cherry tomato and citrus. On entry there are obvious citrus, berries, and plum, with nuts in the middle, and a honey sweetness in the finish. Latin America Producing Region Coffee Bean Recommendations 4. Front Street Panama Butterfly

Panama is a Central American country, bordered by Costa Rica to the west and Colombia to the east. Panama coffee came to Panama with European immigrants in the 19th century. At that time Panama had already been independent from Spain for about 50 years, but as an agricultural product, Panama coffee did not truly gain a firm foothold until the past 20 years. In terms of climate, Panama is close to the equator and has a tropical maritime climate, humid during the day and cool at night, with an average annual temperature of 23-27°C. The year is divided into dry and rainy seasons, with an average annual rainfall of 1,500-2,500 millimeters.

[Panama Coffee Grade] SHG: full name Strictly High Grown, grown at an altitude above 1,200 meters HG: full name High Grown, grown at an altitude of 900-1,200 meters CS: full name Central Standard, grown at an altitude of 600-900 meters [Coffee Bean Variety] Front Street Panama Butterfly is composed of 70% Geisha coffee variety, made up of three varieties: Geisha, Caturra, and Catuai. Surprisingly, on the basis of very excellent quality, the very affordable price makes this coffee bean's value for money explosive.

[Washed Processing Method] After the coffee fruit is picked, floating beans are skimmed off, the skin and pulp are removed, and then the coffee beans are soaked in a fermentation tank. Enzymes in the water soften the pectin, and natural yeast decomposes the sugars in the mucilage. This process is called fermentation. After fermentation is complete, the coffee beans are moved to a drying yard to dry. During drying, the coffee beans need to be constantly turned to ensure even drying, until the moisture content reaches 12%. Many customers ask what the difference is between washed and natural. FrontStreet Coffee's answer is simple: washed highlights acidity, natural highlights sweetness, because the substantive difference between the two operations lies in whether the pulp is retained. Natural processing retains the flavor of the pulp, while washed does not. This can also be clearly judged from the appearance. FrontStreet Coffee has set up a display area in its stores specifically to distinguish coffee beans with different processing methods. Washed coffee beans have a silver line in the middle, which is residual silver skin, while natural coffee beans do not.

[Front Street Panama Butterfly Coffee Flavor Description]

Floral, black tea, berries, citrus, with a slight nutty finish, smooth mouthfeel, low bitterness, moderate acidity, and medium finish. 5. Front Street Brazil Queen Estate

Brazilian coffee beans were introduced from French Guiana (a country in northern South America) in 1720. Brazil was then a Portuguese colony, while many other South American countries were Spanish colonies. Therefore, most South American countries speak Spanish, while Brazil speaks Portuguese. A Portuguese military officer stationed in Brazil, in order to introduce Guiana's coffee beans to Brazil (at that time the outflow of coffee to other countries was strictly prohibited), captured the heart of the governor of Guiana's wife and successfully brought coffee seeds into Brazil. After that, coffee quickly adapted in Brazil and spread from the north to São Paulo state in the southeast. By 1845, Brazilian coffee beans already accounted for 45% of the world's total coffee beans and had become the main economic source of São Paulo state. Brazil Top Ten Coffee Brands

[Brazil Coffee Grade] Among the many coffee-growing countries in Central and South America, Brazil's altitude is relatively low. Therefore, unlike other countries such as Colombia, Brazil does not emphasize hard beans that can only grow at high altitudes, but instead classifies coffee bean grades by four items: bean size, defect rate, cupping score, and flavor. Flavor grading: from high to low, Strictly Soft, Soft, Softish, Hardish, Rioy. Defect rate grading: according to the number of defective beans, per 300g of green beans, 6 defective beans is NY.2. Only beans with no defects at all can become NY.1, and beans with no defects at all are rare and cannot maintain a certain supply, so among Brazilian green beans, the best is only NY.2.

Cupping quality grading: from high to low, Fine Cup, Fine, Good Cup, Fair Cup, Poor Cup, Bad Cup. FC (Fine Cup) and GC (Good Cup) are more common. Bean size grading: the largest screen size for Brazilian coffee beans is 19 mesh, but the output is not large, so 17 mesh and 18 mesh are the highest grades. Brazil Top Ten Coffee Brands

Brazil Top Ten Coffee Brands

[Coffee Bean Variety] The Bourbon coffee variety is a secondary species produced by mutation of the Typica coffee variety. Generally, when people speak of the Bourbon coffee variety, they default to the Red Bourbon coffee variety, named for the red color of its ripe fruit. Yellow Bourbon does not refer to the unripe state of Red Bourbon, but is a cross between the Bourbon variety and a yellow-fruited Typica mutation. After ripening, the fruit is yellow. Because of its lower yield and weaker resistance to wind and rain, it has not been widely planted. [Semi-Washed Processing Method]

In the semi-washed processing method, after suitable coffee fruit is selected, the skin and pulp and part of the pectin are removed, and it is dried with a small amount of pectin remaining until the moisture content reaches 12%. [Front Street Brazil Queen Estate Coffee Flavor Description] Rich nutty and dark chocolate flavors, fermented fruit, obvious sweetness, with a faint lemon aroma, and an overall relatively rounded feel. Brazil Top Ten Coffee Brands 6. Front Street Honduras Sherry

Honduras is located in northern Central America, bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Gulf of Fonseca of the Pacific Ocean to the south, with Nicaragua and El Salvador to the east and south, and Guatemala to the west. It is mostly mountainous and plateau terrain and has a tropical climate, with mild temperatures and abundant rainfall, making it an ideal place for coffee to grow. Honduras has 280,000 hectares of coffee farms, mainly small coffee farms. Most of its coffee farms are smaller than 3.5 hectares, and these coffee plantations account for 60 percent of all Honduran coffee production.

Honduras mainly has 6 coffee-producing regions, namely Copán, El Paraiso, Comayagua, Opalaca, Montecillos, and Agalta. The average planting altitude is 1,000-1,600m, and the main planted varieties include Bourbon, Caturra, Typica, Catuai, and Pacas. Mocha Estate is not among these six major producing regions, but is located in Masaguara, a city in the Intibucá department in southwestern Honduras.

[Coffee Bean Variety] Sherry coffee beans are composed of three coffee bean varieties: Caturra, Catuai, and Pacas. When introducing Rwandan coffee beans earlier, Caturra and Catuai were already introduced, so FrontStreet Coffee will not explain them further here. Pacas is a natural Bourbon mutation discovered in El Salvador. In 1935, a Salvadoran coffee farmer planted selected San Ramon Bourbon on his estate. By 1956, a friend of Pacas discovered that a few coffee trees had higher yields than most coffee trees, so he invited Professor Gewehr from the University of Florida to identify them. They were confirmed to be a Bourbon genetic mutation and named after the coffee farmer Pacas. Pacas has high yield and good quality and is very popular in Central America. [Refined Washed Whisky Sherry Cask Fermentation] The cask fermentation method draws on winemaking techniques. Its greatest influence on wine lies in the fact that wine, through moderate oxidation, stabilizes its structure and integrates the aroma of the barrel into the wine. It plays a similar role in the coffee fermentation process.

This bean uses refined washed whisky sherry cask fermentation. First, freshly picked coffee fruit is refined-washed, then placed into casks that have previously aged sherry for low-temperature fermentation for 30-40 days (at a temperature of about 15-20°C), and then shade-dried. Sherry casks are casks used by sherry bodegas in the whisky industry for aging. The production of sherry goes through the Solera System maturation process. This process refers to the process of blending and aging sherries of different vintages after fortification, which is also the unique point that forms sherry flavor. This year, coffee beans with this special processing method are all very popular. Several cask-fermented coffee beans on the FrontStreet Coffee bean list are also very popular with customers, such as Front Street Lychee Orchid coffee beans with a flavor like brandy, Front Street Hartmann coffee beans with a red wine-like flavor, Front Street San Jose coffee beans with a rum-like flavor, and so on. [Front Street Honduras Sherry Coffee Flavor Description] Obvious vinous aroma, vanilla, cream, balanced, cocoa finish, moderate acidity. 7. Front Street Jamaica Blue Mountain

Jamaica is an island in the Caribbean. Jamaica's Blue Mountain is the highest mountain in the western Caribbean (2,256 meters high). The unique flavor of Blue Mountain coffee is related to Blue Mountain's exceptional geographical location and climatic conditions. Blue Mountain is located in the coffee belt at 25 degrees north latitude, with fertile new volcanic soil, fresh air, no pollution, year-round rain, high humidity, and a large temperature difference between day and night. The soil here is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus, very suitable for coffee growth. Fertile volcanic soil, regular rainfall, and the hazy clouds on the island keep it away from the scorching sun. All these factors combined are what make Front Street Blue Mountain coffee.

[Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Grade] Coffee from Jamaica's Blue Mountain region has three grades: Blue Mountain Coffee, Jamaica High Mountain Supreme Coffee Beans, and Jamaica Prime Coffee Beans. Among them, Blue Mountain Coffee and High Mountain Coffee are each further divided into two grades. By quality from high to low, they are: Blue Mountain No.1, Blue Mountain No.2, High Mountain No.1, High Mountain No.2, Jamaica Coffee. The Blue Mountain coffee selected by FrontStreet Coffee is the highest grade, Blue Mountain No.1. By quality from high to low, they are: NO.1, NO.2, NO.3, and PB, where PB means peaberry. According to CIB standards, the basic standards for NO.1 Blue Mountain green beans are beans above 17 mesh, a defect rate below 3%, and a moisture content of about 13%.

[Coffee Bean Variety] Typica originated in Ethiopia and southeastern Sudan. It is one of the oldest varieties among the many Arabica species. Its top leaves are copper-red, so it is called red-top coffee, and it is also called old-variety small-bean coffee. Because of low yield and difficult cultivation, its price is much higher than ordinary small-bean coffee. However, its flavor performance is excellent, and it is recognized as a specialty coffee variety. [Washed Processing Method] After the coffee fruit is picked, floating beans are skimmed off, the skin and pulp are removed, and then the coffee beans are soaked in a fermentation tank to ferment and soften the pectin. They are continuously washed to remove the pectin, then moved to a drying yard to dry. During drying, the coffee beans need to be constantly turned to ensure even drying, until the moisture content reaches 12%. [Clifton Mount Estate]

The Blue Mountain region is a small place with only 6,000 hectares of planting area, and it is impossible for all coffee marked "Blue Mountain" to be grown there. Today's Clifton Mount Estate is the largest estate in this region. By international standards, it is still small-scale planting, and many of the estate owners are small landowners whose families have worked this land for two centuries. Clifton Mount is an ancient coffee-producing area in Jamaica that is still in normal operation today, and in Jamaica only Clifton Farm has the "Rainforest" mark. The mark can only be certified if it meets the "sustainable agricultural system standards," and its barrels bear the rainforest certification mark. As early as the mid-eighteenth century (roughly around 1750), Clifton Mount Estate began to plant and produce coffee. The coffee planting and processing areas here are located at an average of 4,300 feet (1,310.64 meters). Sufficient altitude, mild afternoon cloud cover shading the mountain forest, ample sunlight, and mineral-rich planting soil provide good growing conditions for coffee trees and also extend the ripening of coffee cherries.

[Front Street Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Flavor Description] Rich and aromatic in the mouth, with a perfect balance of sweetness, acidity, and bitterness, and a very strong body. Asia Producing Region Coffee Bean Recommendations 8. Front Street Indonesia Golden Mandheling

Indonesia is located in southeastern Asia. Its coffee history dates back to 1696, when Dutch coffee farm owners tried to find broader coffee planting land. After extensive searching, they finally settled on Indonesia's Java Island. After 30 years, Indonesia had already laid a sufficient foundation in the coffee market. However, today Indonesia's coffee representative is Mandheling, and this is actually not an unexpected result, because from the beginning most of the Java coffee sold to Europe came from the Sumatra region, and Mandheling comes from Sumatra. So Sumatra can be said to be an important coffee-producing area in Indonesia. [Indonesia Coffee Grade] Indonesian coffee beans use a grading method based on the proportion of defective beans. Indonesian beans are mainly divided into 6 grades, namely G1-G6. Fewer than 3 defective beans (in a 300g green bean sample) belongs to the highest grade, G1.

[Coffee Bean Variety] Typica originated in Ethiopia and southeastern Sudan. It is one of the oldest varieties among the many Arabica species. Its top leaves are copper-red, so it is called red-top coffee, and it is also called old-variety small-bean coffee. Because of low yield and difficult cultivation, its price is much higher than ordinary small-bean coffee. However, its flavor performance is excellent, and it is recognized as a specialty coffee variety. [Wet-Hulled Processing Method] Mandheling mostly uses Sumatra's unique coffee bean processing method, the wet-hulled method. Because the local weather is often rainy and typhoons are constant, it cannot achieve the good weather required for natural processing, and the local economy is not good either, so it also cannot use the more expensive washed method. This gave rise to the highly local wet-hulled method.

In the first stage, the skin and pulp are removed with a wooden pulper. After 3 hours of fermentation, it is dried until the moisture content drops to 30-50%, half-dry and half-wet.

In the second stage, the pectin and parchment layer are removed, and drying continues in the later stage. The drying process takes 2-4 days, and the moisture content drops to 12-13%. On this basis, Front Street Golden Mandheling has additional screening steps, with more than three rounds of manual screening, giving Front Street Golden Mandheling the characteristics of uniform size and low defect rate. [PWN] PWN (Pwani Coffee Company) registered Golden Mandheling, while a Japanese company registered "Gold Top Mandheling," that is, Gold Top Golden Mandheling. In terms of flavor performance, the two are actually not very different, but due to different brands and different merchant marketing strategies, it is possible that public opinion changed as a result, so which of the two Golden Mandhelings is better is a matter of opinion. PWN was the first company to export Golden Mandheling to Japan, and FrontStreet Coffee also purchases PWN's Golden Mandheling.

[Front Street Indonesia Golden Mandheling Coffee Flavor Description] Layered and changeable, mellow and clean, highly balanced, with rich nutty and caramel aroma, chocolate notes, and a lasting finish. 9. Front Street China Yunnan Small Bean

Coffee cultivation in Yunnan is mainly distributed in Lincang, Baoshan, Pu'er, and Dehong. These places have the natural resources of low latitude, high altitude, and large temperature differences between day and night. Yunnan has no four seasons, only a dry season and a rainy season. Most coffee-producing regions have similar conditions, which is also the fundamental reason why some producing regions use the natural method. Entering June marks the beginning of the rainy season in the producing regions. The next three or four months will be rainy, and it is the most favorable period for planting coffee. Only when seedlings are planted at this time can they, nourished by rain for several months, grow a developed root system and survive the first dry season, which lasts half a year. [Coffee Bean Variety] Baoshan City introduced Typica and Bourbon as early as the 1950s. Locals call them "old varieties." Because old varieties have relatively low disease and pest resistance and yield, and require more labor in management, and because the market purchase price offers little advantage, in recent years coffee farmers have switched to planting the new variety Catimor.

Catimor is a hybrid of the Timor variety and the Caturra variety. In 1959, it was developed by the Portuguese Coffee Leaf Rust Research Center CIFC, with research aimed at disease resistance and high yield. Catimor inherited the advantages of Robusta (the Timor variety is a hybrid of Arabica and Robusta), enabling Catimor to better resist coffee berry disease and coffee leaf rust, while also having stronger resistance to pests and diseases. However, because of this, its performance in the cup is often criticized. In observing Yunnan coffee beans' performance in recent years, FrontStreet Coffee has found that it is more often reflected in the processing method, and there have even appeared Yunnan coffee beans whose flavor is very much like Yirgacheffe. Of course, this changes with the market, but FrontStreet Coffee believes that using various titles to label the Yunnan Catimor variety is ridiculous. The variety has already determined a large part of the flavor components, and in this year's Yunnan Green Bean Competition, the results did not even mention the variety. [Washed Processing Method] The harvested cherries are put through a depulper to separate most of the pulp from the coffee beans, and then the parchment beans are placed in a clean tank and soaked in water for fermentation to completely remove the remaining pulp layer. Through washed processing, unripe beans and defective beans are selected out due to buoyancy, and the fermentation process is also easier to control. Therefore, in terms of flavor, it is less likely than natural beans to develop off-flavors, instead presenting obvious fruit acidity, slightly stronger complexity, and cleaner cupping characteristics.

[Front Street Yunnan Small Bean Coffee Flavor Description] It smells very nutty, with herbal, chocolate, and caramel notes on entry, and a slight faint fruit acidity in the finish. 10. Front Street Papua New Guinea Bird of Paradise

Papua New Guinea (Independent State of Papua New Guinea, abbreviated PNG) is composed of two parts, New Guinea in the north and Papua in the south, and is located east of Indonesia. Southern Papua New Guinea consists of plains and lowlands, the southeastern coastal area, the central mountain system in the middle, and several separate mountain ranges in the north. Most coffee in Papua New Guinea is grown in highland areas. The highland region of Papua New Guinea is divided into two main provinces, including the Eastern Highlands Province and the Western Highlands Province.

[Papua New Guinea Coffee Grade] It is named by country + planting type + grading name. In Papua New Guinea there are three planting types: plantations, large estates, and small to medium-sized farms. Plantation and Large Estates account for 25% of national output; small to medium-sized farms (Holdings or Blocks) of 10-20 hectares account for 10%. The grade divisions are as follows:

FrontStreet Coffee will use the specialty-grade AA and A that everyone pays most attention to as examples: AA and A grade coffee belongs to the specialty coffee grade and mainly comes from larger estates. For AA, the bean size is larger than 18 mesh, and the bean shape is oval flat beans. Defect count: at most 10 defects per kilogram. The appearance of the green beans is green with a slight blue tint. The green bean smell must be clean, and the roasted smell must be clean and smooth. The cupping taste must be Fine Cup.

Grade A is larger than 17 mesh, and cupping must at least reach GTF (Good to Fine), that is, a good to fine taste. Other defect counts and green bean conditions are the same as AA. [Coffee Bean Variety] Typica originated in Ethiopia and southeastern Sudan. It is one of the oldest varieties among the many Arabica species. Its top leaves are copper-red, so it is called red-top coffee, and it is also called old-variety small-bean coffee. Because of low yield and difficult cultivation, its price is much higher than ordinary small-bean coffee. However, its flavor performance is excellent, and it is recognized as a specialty coffee variety.

In 1931, Typica was introduced from Jamaica to Papua New Guinea. At that time Britain had already occupied Jamaica for nearly 300 years, and Jamaica's most representative coffee was Typica-variety Blue Mountain coffee. Because Australia and Britain had friendly relations, it was also very reasonable for Papua New Guinea to be able to introduce Typica. FrontStreet Coffee often uses the name Little Blue Mountain to introduce Papua New Guinea coffee to customers. After all, the historical reasons are there, well-founded, and the name Little Blue Mountain is indeed much easier to remember than Papua New Guinea. [Front Street Papua New Guinea Bird of Paradise Coffee Flavor Description] Layered and changeable, mellow and clean, highly balanced, with rich nutty and caramel aroma, chocolate notes, and a lasting finish.

The above are the ten Front Street coffee bean recommendations. The world's three major coffee-producing regions each have three to four coffee beans listed. The top ten coffee bean brands are not ranked in any particular order. Coffee lovers are recommended to choose coffee beans that suit their own taste according to personal preference.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat FrontStreet Coffee, WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.