As far as I know, many coffee lovers who are new to the scene share one struggle:
"Which beans should I actually buy to make pour-over coffee?"
"Which bean suits me?"
"Which coffee beans are suitable for pour-over?"
For seasoned veterans, this is no problem at all. But for coffee newbies just getting started, it's a bit complicated!
Cafés carry a huge variety of coffee beans—different countries of origin, different coffee varieties, different processing methods, different roast levels, and so on.
How do you pick the one that best suits your taste?
Let's keep reading.
The world's three major beverages are cocoa, tea, and coffee. Among them, coffee was introduced to China only a little over a hundred years ago,
but only in recent years has coffee been developing better and better in China, and the number of coffee drinkers has been growing larger and larger.
Africa Ethiopia Yirgacheffe
Yirgacheffe coffee from the African growing region is familiar to many who are just getting into specialty coffee. Speaking ofFront Street Yirgacheffe coffee beans, these are very familiar Ethiopian coffee beans.
As everyone knows,Ethiopia is the birthplace of Arabica coffee.
Yirgacheffe was originally a sub-region under the Sidamo growing region. Because the coffee beans produced in the town of Yirgacheffe had such outstanding production methods and flavors that even Ethiopia took pride in it, other regions' beans were even branded with the name Yirgacheffe. As a result, Yirgacheffe was split off from the Sidamo growing region and became its own independent category.
There's no need to say much about Yirgacheffe's characteristics;Front Street Yirgacheffe coffee's bright fruity acidity, clean mouthfeel, and refined, elegant floral aroma.
InMr. Han Huaizong's "Specialty Coffee Studies", the description of Yirgacheffe,Front Street very much agrees with "coffee enters the mouth, a hundred flowers bloom."
Because Front Street Yirgacheffe Washed Gutingding is exactly like that.
FrontStreet Coffee · Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Washed Gutingding
Region: Ethiopia Yirgacheffe
Cooperative: Gutingding Cooperative
Altitude: 2000m - 2100m
Variety: Local heirloom varieties
Processing method: Washed
Flavor: Citrus, black tea, floral, cream, caramel, almond
This Front Street Washed Gutingding at Front Street's shopnot only lets you taste Yirgacheffe's main flavor profile, but also its tea-like quality; combined with its citrus acidity, it really feels like drinking lemon tea.
Africa Kenya Coffee
Kenya coffee is the god in the minds of many coffee connoisseurs, a pearl of Africa.
The varieties first introduced to Kenya coffee were Bourbon and India's Kent, and later Jamaica's Blue Mountain Typica variety was introduced and planted on Mount Elgon.
Today, Kenya's most famous coffee bean varieties are SL28 and SL34.
These two varieties were selected, researched, and bred at Kenya's National Agricultural Laboratories (formerly the Scott Coffee Research Institute).
The SL28 variety is drought- and pest-resistant and suitable for growing at medium to high altitudes. SL34 is suitable for growing in high-altitude areas with abundant rainfall.
In terms of flavor, SL28 and SL34 are very similar, but SL34 has richer acidity and a more intense mouthfeel.
The origin of Kenya coffee's characteristic flavor—its blackberry-like acidity and aroma—comes not only from the phosphate-rich composition of Kenya's local soil, but also from Kenya's most famous K72 washed processing method.
The K72 washed processing method: harvested coffee cherries are depulped and fermented; after 24 hours of fermentation, they are washed clean with water.
They are soaked and fermented for 24 hours, then washed clean with water again, repeating this 3 times. This achieves 72 hours of intense fermentation. 
Front Street Kenya Asaliya coffee beans use the K72 washed processing method, giving them a brighter, cleaner flavor.
FrontStreet Coffee · Kenya Asaliya Coffee
Region: Thika, Kenya
Processing station: Asali Processing Station
Altitude: 1550m - 1750m
Variety: SL28, SL34
Processing method: K72 washed processing
Flavor: Snow pear, smoked plum, yellow sugar, cherry tomato, plum
Brazil Coffee
Brazil ranks first in the world in coffee production. Coffee cultivation in Brazil began more than 300 years ago.
In the 1720s, a Portuguese captain from Brazil used his charms to win the heart of the wife of the governor of Cayenne in French Guiana, successfully bringing coffee seeds into Brazil.
Because Brazil's growing altitude is relatively low, between 400 and 1600 meters, and because Brazilian coffee is mostly grown with sun-exposed cultivation, allowing coffee cherries to absorb enough heat and ripen early, Brazilian coffee beans end up with low density and a soft bean character, giving a soft-bean flavor. This forms a very sharp contrast with African coffee beans in terms of flavor.
Flavor of Front Street Brazil coffee beans:Low acidity, strong nutty notes, good chocolate sweetness and body, but with a slight woody and earthy note; floral and citrus notes are not obvious.
Front Street's baristas often recommend Brazil coffee beans to those who don't like acidity, precisely because Brazilian coffee is relatively mild and it's hard to taste the wild, assertive bright acidity and citrus notes of African beans.
FrontStreet Coffee · Brazil Queen Farm Yellow Bourbon Coffee
Region: Mogiana Region, Brazil
Farm: Queen Farm
Altitude: 1400m - 1950m
Variety: Yellow Bourbon
Processing method: Natural
Flavor: Nuts, creamy peanut, cane sugar, fermented fruit
Indonesia
Indonesian coffee is very familiar to many coffee beginners. Among them, Indonesia's kopi luwak is famous for its scarcity and high price. But the Indonesian coffee most easily accessible to the public is none other than Mandheling.
Front Street Lintong Mandheling coffee is mainly produced in Indonesia's Sumatra region; Front Street Lintong Mandheling coffee has a rich, powerful mouthfeel and a distinctive character. This unique flavor is related to the local coffee bean processing method, because Indonesia is located in Southeast Asia with abundant rainfall year-round and shorter sunshine hours than Ethiopia and Brazil, usingthe natural processing method easily produces fermented or moldy beans; moreover, local economic conditions are limited, and washed processing requires wasting a large amount of water. Therefore, when locally processing Mandheling coffee beans in Indonesia, they mostly usea semi-washed method with local characteristics, namely the wet-hulling method.
The wet-hulling method is also called Wet Hulling
The processing steps of the wet-hulling method:Coffee cherries are depulped, put into water and soaked for 1-2 hours, then rubbed against each other to remove part of the mucilage and undergo the first drying; at this point the moisture content of the coffee beans drops to between 20% and 35%. The coffee beans, whose mucilage layer has not yet solidified, are collected and sent to the processing plant for a second drying; this step brings the moisture content down to about 18%. After the second drying is completed, the parchment layer is removed, and a final drying is carried out until the moisture content reaches 11%.
Mr. Han Huaizong once described the flavor characteristics of wet-hulled coffee beans in a book like this:
This is also a rare processing method in the world, one that accidentally created Mandheling's special low-acidity, thick, and mellow aroma flavor.
Through years of cupping different wet-hulled Indonesian coffee beans, Front Street has found that the coffee has relatively low acidity, a thick mouthfeel, and unique flavors such as herbal spices,but the downside is that the quality is relatively unstable. Of course, unstable quality cannot be entirely attributed to the wet-hulling method; in most cases it may be caused by the quality of some green coffee beans not being relatively good enough.
FrontStreet Coffee · Indonesia PWN Golden Mandheling
Region: Gayo Mountain, Aceh, North Sumatra, Indonesia
Altitude: 1100m - 1600m
Variety: Ateng
Processing method: Wet-hulled
Flavor: Spices, nuts, pine, caramel, herbs, chocolate
Panama Coffee
Today,Geisha coffeeis famous for its high price. The reason Geisha became famous is also because of Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda.Hacienda La Esmeralda is both the discoverer and promoter of Geisha. The Geisha variety entered Panama in the 1960s, but after more than 40 years of quietly building strength, it finally won first place in the BOP in 2004 and became world-famous, becoming the supreme treasure in the eyes of many specialty coffee lovers.
The refined and elegant flavor of the Geisha variety comes from a specific growing environment.
The Geisha variety is very picky about its growing environment: high growing altitude, shade cultivation, and fertile soil.
It is precisely these factors that give Geisha coffee its obvious floral aroma and refined, elegant fruity acidity. And such an elegant flavor is one of the reasons it has swept the globe.
On Front Street's coffee bean list, Front Street Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda Geisha coffee is also often available.
FrontStreet Coffee · Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha
Region: Boquete, Panama
Farm: Hacienda La Esmeralda
Altitude: 1700+m
Variety: Geisha
Processing method: Natural
Flavor: Citrus, jasmine, honey, berries
China Yunnan Coffee
In China, tea has a history more than a thousand years longer than coffee, and the earliest verifiable history of coffee circulation in China dates back to 1870.
The history of coffee cultivation in Yunnan, China, is disputed: one account says 1902; another says 1892; and yet another says 1904.
The coffee varieties first grown in Yunnan were Typica, but with the opening-up policy, international giants such as Starbucks and Nestlé entered Yunnan and promoted the cultivation of the Catimor variety, which has strong disease resistance and high yield but poor flavor.
Over time,Yunnan small-bean coffee evolved from the former Typica variety into today's Catimor variety.
Yunnan coffeegrowing regions are mainly distributed in southwestern Yunnan Province: Lincang, Baoshan, Pu'er, and Dehong.
Lincang borders Pu'er to the east, Dali to the north, Baoshan to the west, and Myanmar to the southwest.
Lincang's average annual temperature is between 16.8 and 17.2°C. Dry and wet seasons are distinct, and sunshine is abundant.
In 2013, Front Street began its coffee cultivation business in Lincang, Yunnan. Unlike most varieties grown in Yunnan, Front Street grows Yunnan's ancient superior variety—Typica.
In 2021, FrontStreet Coffee launched its first self-produced Yunnan coffee bean—"Front Street 2013 Yunnan Typica."
FrontStreet Coffee · Yunnan Front Street 2013 Coffee Beans
Region: Lincang, Yunnan, China
Farm: Yunnan Front Street Coffee Estate
Altitude: 1300m
Variety: Typica
Processing method: Natural
Flavor: Berries, brown sugar, nuts, tea-like
Front Street has always believed thatpour-over coffee often looks easy to make, but even for the same person, the coffee brewed each time is not exactly the same taste.
To make a good cup of pour-over coffee, many details are extremely important.
| Water quality
In a cup of pour-over coffee, as much as 98.5% is water. To make a delicious cup of pour-over coffee, the first step is to manage water quality well.
In our daily pour-over brewing, try not to use tap water directly; instead, use water purified through a filter, or mineral water with an appropriate mineral content. Water temperature is also very important; depending on the characteristics of different coffee beans, the water temperature is generally 85-93°C.
| Grind size
Grinding coffee beans into coffee grounds is the first step in pour-over coffee and a crucial one. If it is ground too fine or too coarse, it will directly affect the flavor and mouthfeel of the brew.
The importance of grind size lies in its effect on coffee concentration and extraction rate; what shows most clearly in the mouthfeel is the change in body,
under the same conditions (same coffee-to-water ratio, same water temperature, same pouring method, same brewing time)
finely ground coffee has high concentration, high extraction rate, and high body;
coarsely ground coffee has low concentration, low extraction rate, and low body.
Front Street recommends a pour-over grind size of 70-80% passing through a No. 20 sieve.
| Coffee-to-water ratio
The coffee-to-water ratio is also a very key factor in pour-over coffee. Different coffee-to-water ratios will greatly affect the flavor expression of the coffee.During pour-over brewing, aromatic substances and acidity are extracted first, followed by sweetness and caramelized substances, and finally bitterness, astringency, and miscellaneous flavors. So we can control the coffee-to-water ratio to bring out the best flavor we want from the coffee.
Front Street recommends a coffee-to-water ratio of between 1:15 and 1:16 for pour-over coffee.
| Dripper
Finding a dripper that suits you is very important.
Traditional trapezoidal dripperhas a smaller opening and a relatively slow flow rate, so the pour-over coffee has a thicker mouthfeel, but the downside is that the flow rate may be too slow, causing pooling and easily producing a bitter taste.
Conical dripperhas a large hole and a relatively fast flow rate, but the flavor may be a bit lighter.
Wave dripperhas a flat bottom and, paired with wave filter paper, guides the water downward through the grooves in the filter paper; the flow is the smoothest, and the pour-over coffee it filters out also has the most even mouthfeel.
Through many brewing experiments and repeated tests, Front Street has found that different drippers differ very obviously in expressing coffee flavor, acidity and sweetness, body, and cleanliness.
If you are brewing light-roasted coffee beans, Front Street recommends using a V60 dripper; if you are brewing dark-roasted coffee beans, Front Street recommends using a Kono dripper.
Allcoffee beans can be used for pour-over? Yes, they can.
For brewing with different coffee beans, it is recommended to use different parameters; only through constant experimentation can you brew the coffee that best suits your personal taste.
Front Street believes that building your own flavor memory library is very important. Second, drink as much coffee as you can and experience as many tastes as possible.
In addition, you should also continuously collect information on different coffee beans,drink with your brain, and compare while drinking.
Professional coffee knowledge exchange For more coffee bean information please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account cafe_style )
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.
