The scoring criteria for coffee cupping. The cupping of coffee beans was initially to ensure whether the quality of the coffee beans that are about to enter the trade is qualified. With the passage of time, after the concept of specialty coffee was b [more…]

In coffee history, the specialty coffee wave and its three waves form the basic understanding people have of coffee. People often compare and contrast specialty coffee beans with commercial coffee beans, as if the two were opposites. So what are the differences and connections between them? To understand the differences between the two, we must first understand specialty coffee's [more…]

We know that coffee bean grading methods are usually based on the actual conditions of the growing country. Some are graded by bean size, such as Kenyan coffee; some by altitude, such as Blue Mountain coffee; and some by defect rate, such as Ethiopian coffee. As the gene pool of Arabica, Ethiopia has a wide variety of coffee varieties. [more…]

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow our WeChat official account: Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee). Many friends, while drinking coffee at Front Street, ask our baristas, "What is Yirgacheffe G1 and Yirgacheffe G2?" "What is Kenya AA, AB?" What is Guate... [more…]

There always is such a group of people who have obtained a code for self-reference due to the particularity of their profession. Even in the seemingly not vast field of coffee, there is also such a profession. After the concept of specialty coffee wa [more…]

In coffee cupping, there is a scoring category called "Balance," but what it evaluates is not merely the harmony of acidity, sweetness, and bitterness! Rather, it scores the coordination among the coffee's acidity, sweetness, body, and aftertaste. Balance can be said to play the role of coordinator. [more…]

Last month, Qianjie shared with everyone the scoring system of cup testing, among which we briefly mentioned COE. In daily life, the word COE also often appears on the labels of some beans. This immediately aroused everyone's curiosity: What is COE? [more…]

Nariño and Cauca are two neighboring emerging specialty coffee regions in southern Colombia. The coffee produced here has, for consecutive years, earned high scores in the Cup of Excellence thanks to its full-bodied tartaric acidity, pronounced fruity notes, and complex layers. [more…]

Brazil is the world's largest coffee producer, with Cerrado and Sul de Minas being its two most core producing regions. This article takes you through the history of coffee cultivation in Brazil, its flavor characteristics, and its unique place in the world of specialty coffee. [more…]

Colombian coffee occupies an important place in the world of specialty coffee, and its green bean grading system is based primarily on defect rates and bean screen size. When buying Colombian coffee, what exactly do the words "Supremo" and "Excelso" commonly seen on burlap sacks mean? This article will systematically sort out the grading rules for Colombian green coffee beans from multiple angles, including export standards, defect scoring, and screen-size classification, and explain the specific differences among the three grades UGQ, EP, and Supremo. At the same time, the article will also introduce common Colombian coffee bean brands on the market, including product information recommended by Front Street Coffee, to help coffee lovers more clearly understand the grade and quality of the bag of beans in their hands. [more…]

Front Street Coffee: Front Street Coffee (Frontsteet Coffee) offers over 50 kinds of freshly roasted coffee beans, including not only high-scoring single-origin coffees covering multiple mainstream producing regions and varieties, but also very cost-effective everyday beans, including Front Street Yirgacheffe, Front Street Brazil Red Bourbon, Front Street Colom [more…]

With so many Ethiopian beans out there, which one should you buy first when your budget is limited? Today we're putting three popular Ethiopian beans side by side for a horizontal comparison—Yirgacheffe Gudingding, Huakui, and Kafa Forest—scoring and comparing them across three dimensions: flavor, mouthfeel, and who they suit. After reading this, you can make a decision right away. Comparison One: Flavor Performance Yirga [more…]

Whether coffee tastes good or not, professional baristas can use a scoring sheet to judge, but for us ordinary consumers, how good coffee tastes depends more on trying it ourselves. Unfortunately, there are so many types of coffee beans on the market that any keyword can pop up thousands of products, so it is easy to get dazzled. If you don't want to spend [more…]

When we say coffee is sweet, besides referring to the sweetness on the palate, we are actually also referring to the sweet aroma on the nose. So from a tasting perspective, only an acidic coffee with a sweet, fragrant base can be considered a high-scoring flavor experience, and to make coffee appropriately sweet and sour, roasting plays a key role. From the moment a coffee bean begins to be heated as green beans until [more…]

There are many coffee extraction methods, and each one produces coffee with the character of that method. Therefore, an objective method with as little human intervention as possible is also needed to evaluate coffee's flavor or quality, and that method is cupping. Cupping is an immersion-style extraction, with no manual technique intervening during the process to extract [more…]

Cupping is one of the core tasks of coffee industry professionals, and it is a way to help people evaluate coffee flavors and characteristics in a relatively fair and systematic manner. Cupping takes place throughout the entire coffee supply chain, not only at the consumer end in coffee shops, but also at the production end, including mid- and upstream roasteries and places of origin. So how do you perform a cupping? [more…]

Many friends don't know how to choose beans suitable for their machine. Today, Front Street Coffee is here to teach you how to quickly find high-value Americano coffee beans based on flavor. 1. Fruity Americano coffee beans. Front Street Strawberry Candy espresso beans are a blend of three origins—Costa Rica, Colombia, and Ethiopia—combining sun-dried [more…]

To distinguish genuine Yirgacheffe from fake, the reliable indicators are green bean information and cupping performance: authentic Yirga has the signature citrus floral aroma and citric acidity, and the exporter's grading certificate can be verified. Beans like Front Street Coffee's Granada Estate Geisha come with complete estate and processing information, traceable from region to lot—when buying, look for information transparen [more…]

Golden Mandheling is one of the flagship Indonesian specialty coffees, yet the market is flooded with Mandheling products bearing the name "Golden," while only a handful truly meet the standard. This article begins with the background of the PWN company to clarify the correct definition and certification standards of Golden Mandheling, explaining its core requirements such as G1 grade, 18-mesh-and-above screen size, and triple hand sorting. It also shares the flavor differences between Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling and Lintong Mandheling in cupping, helping coffee enthusiasts accurately identify authenticity and make suitable choices based on personal taste preferences. [more…]

How much of an impact does the freshness of coffee beans really have on flavor? Through comparative observation and roasting cupping of four washed Yirgacheffe G2 green beans, this article analyzes one by one the key role of freshness in coffee quality, from green bean color and dehydration state to post-roast aroma and mouthfeel layers. The test used the same roasting curve and repeatedly evaluated the coffee by pour-over and immersion methods, ultimately finding that Sample A and Sample B formed a striking polarity—the former had prominent floral and fruity notes and a long, sweet finish, while the latter lacked vitality due to aging. Whether green beans or roasted beans, freshness is the core element that determines the soul of coffee, and Front Street Coffee has always emphasized the importance of storage conditions. [more…]