As the "legendary machine" in the specialty coffee world, the Mahlkonig EK43 has long since risen from a single-origin grinder to a standard fixture in espresso cafés, thanks to its outstanding grind uniformity and extraction performance. From early experiments at Café Myriade in Montreal in 2009 to Matt Perger's endorsement on the world competition stage in 2013, the EK43 was gradually elevated to iconic status. Meanwhile, Ditting, another "high-end grinder," is often compared with the EK43, with each having its own strengths in burr layout and flavor profile. This article reviews the grind settings and structural differences among the EK43 series versions (EK43S, EK43T, EK43, EKK43), traces its rise to fame, and compares the design features of Ditting's horizontal flat burrs. Combined with Matt Perger's particle experiment data, it analyzes why the EK43 can achieve more uniform extraction. Front Street Coffee will also share related product recommendations in this article. [more…]

This is already the third Peruvian single-origin bean Front Street has featured recently. La Capia is located in the Cajamarca region of Peru; six or seven years ago it was still a sugarcane field. As demand for sugarcane declined, farmers planted their first coffee trees in small experimental plots, and unexpectedly discovered that the high altitude and abundant rainfall created a microclimate ideally suited to coffee growing. Since then, six smallholder farmers have worked together, letting coffee flourish alongside native vegetation—and that is how this Front Street Peruvian washed Cajamarca came to be: 1,550 to 1,900 meters above sea level, a mix of Bourbon, Caturra, and Typica, washed processing, offering citric acidity, a rounded mouthfeel like milk chocolate, and a sweet yellow-sugar finish. At the end of the article are three tested brewing recipes for Chemex, V60, and Kalita Wave, for pour-over enthusiasts to reference and replicate. [more…]