Many first-time customers buying coffee beans at Front Street Coffee are often surprised by the affordable prices. But long-time fans of Front Street Coffee know that the best value coffees are the Front Street daily staple bean series. These staple beans are carefully selected by Front Street Coffee as representing the most classic flavors of major coffee regions worldwide. Front Street Coffee wants even coffee novices to experience the legendary coffee flavors, so the beans chosen all have very distinct characteristics. Those interested in staple beans will surely ask Front Street Coffee: which regions do the staple beans come from? Front Street Coffee will give a brief overview here. Currently, Front Street staple beans mainly come from Africa, Asia, and Central and South America. Aside from the most classic Front Street Yirgacheffe and the bold-flavor lovers' favorite Front Street Mandheling, today Front Street Coffee wants to focus on introducing this Front Street Guatemala Huehuetenango.As one of the world's three major coffee regions, Latin America has produced many coffee beans with classic and unique flavors, among which Guatemalan coffee is a well-known Latin American regional coffee. In the Front Street staple bean series, Front Street Coffee has a Front Street Guatemalan coffee that represents the region's most typical flavor—rich fruity notes with a full body, and a distinctive smoky finish."How does this special coffee flavor come about?"Front Street Coffee loves to get to the bottom of things. A coffee's flavor is related to many factors, such as human factors, processing methods, and the growing environment of the coffee trees... Based on certain standards for Front Street Coffee's offline offerings, let's first not consider the barista's influence on the coffee flavor during brewing. Mainly, let's look at the growing environment of coffee in Guatemala. Here is a world map of Guatemala. From this map, you can see: Guatemala borders Mexico to the north, Honduras and El Salvador to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. At the same time, Guatemala is located in the tropics. The northern and eastern coastal plains have a tropical rainforest climate, while the southern mountains have a subtropical climate. There are two seasons: the wet season from May to October and the dry season from November to April of the following year.The narrow, fertile plains along Guatemala's Pacific coast have a tropical climate. The central highlands are also Guatemala's cultural center, where at elevations of 1,300 to 1,800 meters, temperatures are mild year-round, with daily temperatures between 18 and 28°C; at higher elevations, January and February tend to be colder. Annual precipitation in the northeast is 2,000-3,000 mm, while in the south it is 500-1,000 mm. Guatemala has a high average elevation, with the coffee belt distributed above 1,500 meters, between 14 and 16 degrees north latitude, where it is easiest to grow extremely hard beans, all washed, of which 45% are specialty grade—a fairly high proportion—and a small amount of Robusta.
When Front Street Coffee looked up Guatemala's topographic map, it was truly startled: two-thirds of the country is mountains and plateaus. In the west are the Cuchumatanes Mountains, and in the south the Sierra Madre; the west and south belong to a volcanic belt with more than 30 volcanoes. Volcán Tajumulco, at 4,211 meters, is the highest peak in Central America. Earthquakes are frequent. In the north is the Petén lowlands. Along the Pacific coast is a narrow coastal plain. Major cities are mostly distributed in the southern intermontane basins. In the north, the lowland plain of Petén is tropical rainforest, and volcanoes in the central highlands can reach 4,200 meters. Guatemala's national emblem is circular, with an open scroll in the middle of the blue circular field. Front Street Coffee believes the above can be called uniquely favorable conditions for coffee cultivation: mountains and sea, tropical climate, and volcanic geology. And those who often read Front Street Coffee's educational articles surely know that high altitude is very important for producing high-quality coffee beans, while a wide range of elevations also means diverse microclimates. When Front Street Coffee cupped multiple coffee beans from the Guatemalan region, their smoky quality surprised everyone. If a smoky note appeared in coffee beans from other regions, Front Street Coffee would very likely identify it as a defect, because smokiness can create a throat-catching sensation when drinking the coffee. But the smoky flavor tasted in the Guatemalan region is a strong, rugged yet still comforting taste. According to Front Street Coffee's research, as early as 1747 Guatemala already knew how to grow and drink coffee. In 1750, Jesuit priests introduced coffee trees to Guatemala. In 1845, with the establishment of the Guatemalan Coffee Planting and Promotion Committee, coffee became an important cash crop in Guatemala. With strong government promotion, by 1880 coffee accounted for 90% of Guatemala's total exports. Guatemala is divided into several coffee regions, which you can briefly understand through the image below. Next, Front Street Coffee will use the two Guatemalan coffee beans currently available in stores as examples to introduce Guatemala's two famous coffee regions: Antigua and Huehuetenango.
Huehuetenango is an important coffee region in Guatemala. The pronunciation of the region's name is also quite interesting. The name originates from Nahuatl, meaning "place of the ancients (or ancestors)."In Front Street's staple bean lineup, there is a coffee from the Huehuetenango region. This region is located in the northwestern highlands of Guatemala, with growing elevations reaching 1,800-2,100 meters, the highest coffee-growing region in the country, and is famous for producing excellent-quality beans. The Huehuetenango area is rich in mountains and water resources, with a dry climate but abundant water. At the same time, the region has complete water infrastructure, so the coffee is mostly washed. Harvest period: January to April.Front Street Coffee: Guatemala · Huehuetenango Coffee BeansAltitude: 1,500-2,000 metersVarieties: Bourbon, Caturra, CatuaiProcessing Method: WashedBrewing Flavor: Citrus and berry acidity, lemon peel, nutty aroma in the mid-palate, tea-like finish.During cupping, Front Street Coffee tasted a soft smokiness from this coffee bean, along with the fruity notes of citrus and berries, with a refreshing flavor. Due to the high altitude, the coffee beans are of excellent quality, with rich flavor and plump beans. The Antigua region is located in the entire area of the Guatemalan mountains dominated by the Madre Plateau. Due to the region's natural conditions, Antigua has become the most famous of Guatemala's eight major coffee regions. High altitude, unique volcanic soil, and shade cultivation give the coffee beans a distinctive regional flavor.Front Street Coffee: Guatemala · Antigua FloraAltitude: 1,200-1,600 metersVarieties: Bourbon, CaturraProcessing Method: WashedBrewing Flavor: At high temperature, the entry is a bright lemon-like acidity; as it gradually cools, a juicy mouthfeel interweaves with faint white floral notes; then cocoa and a slight smokiness add layers to this coffee; finally, a caramel-like finish puts a perfect end to this cup of coffee. Antigua has little rainfall in summer and sometimes frost in winter due to excessive cold, which is actually not very suitable for coffee tree growth, but fortunately it is located in an active volcanic belt. The pumice ejected by volcanoes falls into the soil, and because this pumice has many small pores, it is very good at retaining moisture. In addition, a large number of shade trees are planted on the estates, so the coffee trees do not suffer cold damage in winter. Combining these factors that overcome adverse conditions, plus the great temperature difference between day and night, Antigua has formed a unique microclimate, giving the coffee beans here a subtle smoky flavor and rich fruity aroma.
Here, Front Street Coffee needs to tell those just beginning to explore specialty coffee that the coffee processing method affects the coffee's flavor to a certain extent. Front Street Coffee is well aware of this, so most of its staple bean series are washed. Front Street Coffee's aim is to allow coffee beginners to develop the most basic sensory understanding of coffees from major regions around the world. Coffee bean grading often confuses many people as well. Coffee grading varies somewhat from one producing country to another. Just like Central American producing countries such as Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, and Honduras, Guatemala's grading is also based on altitude. Coffee produced at high altitudes is generally of higher quality than that produced at low altitudes, because as altitude increases, temperature decreases. The lower the temperature, the slower the coffee grows, which is beneficial for the accumulation of good substances. That is why altitude is used as a method for quality grading.HB (Strictly Hard Bean): grown at altitudes of 1,500-1,700 meters;HB (Hard Bean): grown at altitudes of 1,350-1,500 meters;SH (Semi-Hard Bean): grown at altitudes of 1,200-1,350 meters;Extra Prime (Extra Prime Washed Bean): grown at altitudes of 1,000-1,200 meters;Prime (Prime Washed Bean): grown at altitudes of 850-1,000 meters;Good Washed (Good Washed Bean): grown at altitudes of 700-850 meters. At the beginning of the article, Front Street Coffee told everyone that there are certain standards for coffee offerings at Front Street's offline stores. So what are those standards? Here are some coffee brewing parameters for reference only:Water Temperature: 90-91°CGrind Size: Medium-fine grind / No. 20 sieve, 80% passingCoffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15 Front Street's three-stage brewing method: First, preheat the dripper and server. Add 15 grams of coffee grounds and tap gently to level the surface. Then begin the first pour, starting from the center and spiraling outward to add 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom. The ideal state is that the coffee grounds are evenly saturated and a small "coffee burger" puffs up. After 30 seconds, begin the second pour. For this stage, the water stream height is 3-5 cm; pour 95 grams of water from the center outward in concentric circles. At this point, the total amount of water poured is 125 grams. Observe that the coffee surface should be entirely golden coffee foam. When the coffee bed is about to be exposed, begin the final pour: 100 grams of water, slowly circling in concentric circles, keeping the flow consistent. When all the coffee liquid in the dripper has flowed into the server, remove the dripper and end extraction. Total time: 2 minutes 8 seconds. The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
