MBTI has now permeated every corner of the coffee industry. When the younger generation of baristas joins the bar, "Are you an I person or an E person?" has become a daily greeting. This personality test, based on Jungian personality theory, dividing people along four dimensions and yielding 16 types, has become a new-generation social label, much like horoscopes and blood types. This article takes a lighthearted approach to rounding up the "classic quotes" of different MBTI types of baristas, from the rigor of ISTJ to the casualness of ENFP—see which one strikes a chord with you. Whether you're a socially anxious I person or a socially outgoing E person, you can find your "parallel-self" here. You're also welcome to comment with your four letters and your signature catchphrase, and see if you can find fellow baristas of your type. [more…]

As a well-known British tea brand, Whittard's numbered tea bag series has always attracted the attention of tea enthusiasts. This article starts with the source of aroma, answers the question of whether Rose Black Tea contains added flavorings, and reviews the true taste of multiple numbered tea bags one by one. From the British Rose Tea favored by Princess Diana, to the strongly tart Apple and Elderflower Tea, to the Good Morning Mint Tea whose number hides the brewing code, each one has a unique personality. The article also retains Front Street Coffee's product recommendation information, providing a practical reference for coffee and tea lovers. [more…]

Want to learn about the world's famous single-origin coffee varieties and their respective characteristics? This article will take you into the Coffee Belt to discover the unique flavors of classic origin coffee beans such as Geisha, Blue Mountain, Colombia, Brazil, Yirgacheffe, and Guatemala, and also outline the names and features of five Cup of Excellence champion beans. From origin distribution and processing methods to taste performance, each bean has a clear personality label. At the same time, the article also focuses on the influence of barista culture on the industry, especially the influence of the group of champion baristas in Taiwan. Whether you are a pour-over enthusiast who has just started out or a seasoned player looking for advanced flavors, this guide can help you quickly establish your own coffee flavor coordinates. [more…]

Piccolo Latte is a small-sized espresso milk coffee with a capacity of only 90–100 ml, made by combining a Ristretto with steamed hot milk, and it is very common in Australia. It was originally a test drink used by roasters and baristas to check the integration between coffee beans and milk, and later gradually entered café menus. This article will start with Piccolo's origin, the reasons for its small cup size, and its flavor characteristics, and then break down in detail the steps for Front Street Coffee to recreate this drink, including coffee powder dose, extraction parameters, milk steaming temperature, and latte art timing, to help coffee enthusiasts fully understand this short coffee known as a "shrunk version of a hot latte." [more…]

A cup of hot coffee carries vastly different meanings in different people's eyes. Some find it bitter, some treasure it like a gem, and some love only to smell its aroma but are unwilling to take a sip. Have you ever thought that this small coffee cup might actually hold women's true attitudes toward sex? This article begins with a psychological test at a university girls' gathering and peels back layer by layer the long journey of Eastern women from adolescence to adulthood, from shyness and resistance to ambivalent acceptance of sex. At the same time, we will also explore the unique charm of coffee itself—its bitterness and rich aroma, just like those "dirty yet interesting" experiences in growing up. If you love coffee, you may as well follow the perspective of Front Street Coffee and savor together the complex flavors behind this cup of life. [more…]

SOE stands for single-origin espresso. It has rapidly gained popularity in domestic specialty coffee shops over the past two years and is often compared by consumers with espresso blends. This article will clarify the positioning of the two: SOE excels in distinctive flavor personality, while blends are strong in quality consistency, and there is no absolute hierarchy between them. The article also explains the difference between the two blending processes—pre-roast blending and post-roast blending—and compiles Front Street Coffee's four espresso blends and three medium-roast single-origin beans suitable for pulling SOE, including Strawberry Candy Blend, Costa Rica Mozart, Ethiopia Huakui, Brazil Queen's Farm, and others, providing a practical reference for choosing espresso beans. [more…]

Espresso is the core of café output and the litmus test of a barista's fundamental skills. This article begins with the definition of espresso and its three major structures, explains the formation principle of the crema, clarifies why espresso production favors fresh medium-dark roasted beans, and offers recommendations for two Front Street Coffee espresso blends; it then provides a complete breakdown of the six-step process from cleaning the portafilter basket, grinding and dosing, distributing the grounds, tamping, locking in the portafilter and extracting, to cleaning. Whether you want to understand espresso flavor or want to consistently replicate a qualified espresso at home, this article will give you clear answers. [more…]

Those who have opened a shop and look back at their base beans will find a clear evolutionary line. Most people start with chain-style dark-roast blends, and after a year or two, the beans on the bar gradually shift toward medium roasts and specialty blends. This isn't fickleness of taste—it's that as a shop grows to different stages, the questions the base beans need to answer also [more…]

From the day roasting finishes, the aroma of coffee beans enters a track of continuous change. When SOE is pulled directly as espresso, if the gas inside the beans is still vigorous, the puck tends to extract unevenly, and the acidity in the cup is lively but somewhat scattered; as the beans gradually relax, sweetness, aroma, and texture come together more easily. Therefore, deciding whether to pull it as espresso, [more…]

The term "single-origin coffee" is appearing more and more often on café menus, but many people's understanding of it still stops at the level of "picking a country." In fact, single-origin coffee emphasizes the coffee's place of origin, forming a sharp contrast with blended coffee. Starting from the definition of single-origin coffee, this article will sort out its differences from espresso blends, the influence of roaster style on flavor, the logic behind choosing different roast levels, and the flavor differences brought by brewing methods such as the espresso machine, AeroPress, pour-over, and siphon, helping you have a clearer sense of direction the next time you order at a café. [more…]

T97 Coffee quickly rose to fame with its rap-style livestreams and its iconic big-mouthed host, gaining over 1.5 million followers in just over two months. Founder Li Xiao seized the moment to make bold claims, declaring that he wanted to be "the man who beats Luckin," and repeatedly made remarks in the livestream challenging Luckin and Starbucks. However, T97 has only 48 offline stores, and the founder sells courses while selling coffee. The high popularity did not translate into actual sales. How far can this coffee brand, which became famous through traffic, really go? This article sorts out T97's path to fame and the focal points of controversy. [more…]

Drip bag coffee is the preferred way for many office workers and people on the go to enjoy black coffee, but have you ever paid attention to its shelf life? Compared with whole coffee beans, pre-ground drip bag coffee loses its flavor noticeably faster. Front Street Coffee insists on grinding and preparing each order fresh, precisely to preserve the best flavor of every drip bag as much as possible. This article will explain in detail the principles of coffee aroma volatilization, clarify the differences in shelf life between whole coffee beans and ground coffee powder, and introduce the product features and tasting order of Front Street Coffee's classic five-origin drip bag coffee, helping you better understand and store the specialty drip bags in your hands. [more…]

Piccolo coffee is as famous as Australian White in Australia, yet it is hard to find on domestic café menus. This mini milk coffee, known as a "small latte," has a cup size of only about 90ml, uses a single Ristretto as its base, and is mixed with lightly foamed milk, so it can be finished in a few sips. It was originally born from baristas' "avoiding waste" when dialing in beans, but today it has become a sharp tool for highlighting the flavor of coffee beans. This article compares the cup size and recipe differences between Piccolo, Australian White, and Latte, explains Front Street Coffee's preparation parameters in detail—including extracting 28g of liquid from 20g of grounds, a 1:5 coffee-to-milk ratio, and a 0.3cm milk foam thickness—and analyzes why Piccolo is niche in China. [more…]

American coffee may seem simple, consisting only of espresso and water, yet it is precisely the drink that best tests a barista's extraction skills. This article begins with the definition and origins of American coffee, sorts out the two mainstream methods of Americano and Long Black, discusses the controversy over long-extraction weak coffee, and explains in detail the process for making hot and iced American coffee, the coffee-to-water ratio, and the effect of whether to remove the crema on flavor. The article also combines the Warm Sun blend from Front Street Coffee stores to provide specific extraction parameters and ratio references, helping coffee enthusiasts recreate a clean, balanced American coffee that retains the bean's true flavor in their daily brewing. [more…]

In the specialty coffee world, pour-over usually uses single-origin beans, while espresso mostly uses blends. So can single-origin beans be used to make espresso? The answer is yes—this form is called SOE (Single Origin Espresso). In this article, Front Street Coffee will guide you through the definition of SOE, its flavor characteristics, the differences between SOE and blends as well as pour-over single-origin beans, and analyze why SOE output consistency is difficult to control. At the same time, Front Street will also share ideas for choosing coffee beans suitable for making SOE, and use Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry as an example to provide specific extraction parameters and flavor descriptions, helping you understand this unique coffee category more comprehensively. [more…]

Black coffee is not simply "coffee without milk or sugar." Although Americano, espresso, pour-over, and cold brew are all made from just water and coffee, they end up presenting completely different aromas, flavors, and mouthfeels because of the different extraction methods. This article uses Front Street Coffee's Strawberry Candy Espresso, a blended bean, as an example to break down one by one the brewing parameters and flavor performance of four common types of black coffee, and also offers coffee bean recommendations suitable for espresso, Americano, pour-over, and cold brew respectively. Whether you are just starting out or want to adjust your brewing plan, you can find practical references here and understand why the same bean can create such dramatically different landscapes in the cup. [more…]

A discussion in the coffee community about the definition of specialty coffee has sparked three soul-searching questions: How exactly is specialty coffee defined? Must drinks made from specialty beans be sold at high prices? Can specialty beans not be dark-roasted? Some people value single-origin traceability and SCA scores, some care about roasting freshness and flavor complexity, and others firmly believe that price equals justice. But the essence of specialty coffee is not "refined and expensive," but a continuous quality improvement from cultivation, processing, roasting, and brewing to service. Dark roasting is not a cover-up for defects, and light roasting is not a guarantee of specialty quality. If good beans lack reasonable brewing and professional service, they are equally disqualified from being specialty coffee. [more…]

Although Costa Rica has a limited land area, it boasts eight distinct coffee-producing regions, from the Central Valley to Brunca, each nurturing coffees with strikingly different flavor profiles. Front Street Coffee's Costa Rica series has always been known for being "sweet as honey"—whether it's the Musician Series or the recently added Blueberry from巨石 Estate, it can rise to the occasion whenever a sweet pour-over is needed. This article will start with the Blueberry bean, explaining in detail the anaerobic heavy honey processing method of巨石 Estate and the growing conditions of the Brunca region, and then extend to introduce the variety composition and brewing suggestions of Front Street's everyday bean Tarrazú, helping coffee lovers systematically understand the diverse charm of Costa Rican coffee. [more…]

Geisha coffee beans: is light roast or dark roast better? Flavor description and mouthfeel characteristics introduction CUPPING 10-10-11 Equipment: Hario V60 pour-over drip, medium grind (slightly fine). Because it is roasted relatively light, I hope a finer grind can reduce the acidity. Water temperature: 91°C, wet aroma is good. [more…]

For coffee enthusiasts, understanding the difference between single-origin coffee and blended coffee is an important step in exploring the world of coffee. Single-origin coffee centers on beans from a single origin, emphasizing the unique character of regional flavors; blended coffee, through the skillful blending of multiple beans, pursues balance and complexity in taste. This article systematically sorts out the definitions, representative types, blending ratios, and flavor characteristics of the two, from Blue Mountain and Colombia to Mandheling, from cappuccino to mocha, helping readers comprehensively master knowledge of coffee classification. At the same time, the article also specially recommends related products from Front Street Coffee, providing professional reference for your coffee purchases. [more…]