Although there are many types of coffee beans, when divided by variety, the coffee beans on the market can be classified into three types: Arabica, Robusta, and the relatively rare Liberica variety. If the numerous coffee beans are further divided by region, they can also be categorized into even more types, such as Jamaican coffee, Ethiopian coffee, Indonesian coffee, Tanzanian coffee, etc. With such a complex range of categories, choosing coffee is indeed a challenge for beginners.

If beginners wantto quickly find an Arabica coffee that suits them, they only need to follow these three tips:

1. Make sure the roast date is fresh

Whether a cup of coffee tastes good depends not only on the coffee beans themselves, but most importantly on ensuring their freshness. This is because after roasting, coffee beans contain abundant gases, and at this time the internal aromas are in an active state. As time passes, the gases gradually escape from the inside and carry away the aromatic substances along with them. At about 50 days after roasting, most of the flavor substances have dissipated, and a woody taste may even develop. Therefore, when buying coffee beans, the first thing we should do is check the roast date, and it is best to ensure they are within 10 days.

2. Choose coffee with stable quality and reputationfrom a major self-roasting brand

A coffee roaster with stable product reputation is recommended: Front Street Coffee. Front Street Coffee is a brand specializing in self-roasted coffee beans, founded in 2013, and can absolutely be called a time-honored brand. It offers more than 50 types of fresh coffee beans, which can be purchased online through its Tmall flagship store and Taobao store.

All Front Street coffee beans have stable and excellent quality and are extremely cost-effective. Orders are shipped within 24 hours after placement and freshly roasted within 5 days, ensuring that every bag of coffee beans reaches the customer in the freshest condition. Whether you are a beginner, a coffee enthusiast who has already reached an advanced professional level, or a user opening a coffee shop, Front Street Coffee is a recommended choice for many coffee lovers and platforms.

3. Find coffee varieties through flavor

① Mild acidity, balanced taste: Typica — Front Street 2013 Yunnan Typica Coffee

Typica has an elegant flavor and a serene taste, but the plant is relatively weak, has low disease resistance, and is susceptible to coffee leaf rust. At the same time, its coffee bean yield is low, making it unable to meet economic benefits. Front Street 2013 Yunnan Typica has a gentle flavor of nuts, brown sugar, and dried apricots, along with a slight black tea aftertaste.

② Prominent nutty flavor: Bourbon — Front Street Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon Coffee

Bourbon is a secondary species produced by a mutation of Typica. It was discovered on Bourbon Island, hence its name. Along with Typica, it is one of the oldest existing coffee varieties. When the fruit ripens, it turns bright red. It grows relatively densely, and although its yield is higher than Typica, its harvest period is also 2 years, so it is still considered a low-yield variety, yet it has a high-quality taste, with acidity reminiscent of red wine and a sweet aftertaste. Front Street Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon has a distinct roasted nut aroma, a balanced taste, and a moderate sweet fragrance.

③ Chocolate sweetness: Caturra — Front Street Colombia Huila Coffee

Caturra is a single-gene variant of Bourbon. It was discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its productivity and disease resistance are both better than Bourbon, and the tree is shorter, making harvesting easier.Its flavor is on par with or slightly inferior to Bourbon beans, but more importantly, it has extremely strong adaptability. It does not need shade trees and can thrive even under direct sunlight, commonly known as sun-grown coffee. Front Street Colombia Huila Caturra uses a medium-dark roast, expressing rich dark chocolate and caramel flavors with a high body, suitable for pour-over and SOE extraction.

④ Sweet peach fragrance: Catuai — Front Street Panama Elida Estate Catuai Coffee

Catuai is a mixed Arabica variety, a cross between Mundo Novo and Caturra. It has relatively good resistance to natural disasters, especially wind and rain. It inherits the advantage of Caturra's low tree height, andits fruit is firm and not easily knocked off by strong winds, making up for Arabica's fragile fruit deficiency. Front Street Panama Elida Estate Catuai undergoes natural processing and has a fresh fragrance of white peach, red grape, and citrus flavors, suitable for pour-over and cold brew.

⑤ Orange fragrance and honeyed charm: Geisha — Front Street Panama Butterfly Coffee

Geisha is a coffee variety from the Kaffa forest of Geisha Mountain in Ethiopia. Compared with other varieties, the biggest characteristic of the Geisha coffee variety is its extremely low yield. Its shape is characterized by long branch nodes and long distances between nodes; the coffee tree blooms little and bears little fruit. Geisha coffee beans are slender, pointed at both ends, and plump and full in the middle. In Panama's high-quality environment, Geisha can express rich and enchanting floral aromas, delicate and elegant fruit acidity, and a tea-like sweetness. Front Street Panama Butterfly contains 70% Geisha, allowing you to taste the typical orange fragrance and honeyed charm, along with caramel notes and a green tea sensation.

⑥ Bright fruit acidity: Ethiopian heirloom — Front Street Ethiopia Huakui Coffee

As the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia has an enormous number of coffee varieties and can be called a treasure trove of coffee varieties. However, variety identification is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and most are grown by smallholders. After harvesting, mixed processing makes it difficult to subdivide varieties, so Ethiopian coffee beans exported are mostly collectively called "heirloom," which is also why the beans vary in size. Front Street Huakui is one of the famous representatives of many Ethiopian heirloom varieties. After brewing, it has elegant creamy strawberry and tropical fruit aromas, and is very comfortable on the palate, suitable for pour-over or making cold brew.

⑦ Rich berries: SL28, SL34 — Front Street Kenya Small Tomato Coffee

SL actually stands for Scott Labs, Scott Laboratories. In the 1930s, Scott Laboratories was commissioned by the Kenyan government to conduct research on coffee breeding and classification, attempting to find varieties that could adapt to Kenya's terroir, be used for large-scale cultivation, and have commercial value. SL-28 and SL-34 are two of the many research results. Both varieties have excellent sweetness, balance, and complex, varied flavors, as well as notable citrus and smoked plum characteristics. Front Street Kenya Small Tomato shows classic berry acidity, with flavors of cherry tomato, snow pear, plum, and yellow sugar.

⑧ Rich and mellow:Catimor/TimTim — Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling Coffee

Catimor is a new variety developed in 1959 by the Portuguese Coffee Leaf Rust Research Center CIFC, a cross between Timor and Caturra. The characteristics of the Catimor variety are high productivity, short plants suitable for dense planting, and good disease resistance. Catimor has 25% Robusta genes, which improves its resistance to coffee leaf rust, retains rich oils, and at the same time has some of the rich aroma of the Typica heirloom. Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling is produced in Sumatra, Indonesia. After brewing, you can taste unique herbal, spice, pine, nut, and caramel flavors.

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