If you had to trace the "Kenyan taste" back to its processing origins, the answer would most likely point to double washing. This method, known locally as K72, polishes the fruit acidity of Kenyan coffee until it is bright, solid, and yet still clean. Once you understand double washing, you understand where the signature juicy quality of Kenyan beans comes from. Double Washing [more…]

Anaerobic Fermentation has been very popular in the coffee world in recent years, mainly because Sasa Sestic, the Australian competitor who won the 2015 WBC, started this trend, and even in 2018 WB [more…]

Kenyan coffee is renowned worldwide for its bright, uplifting fruit acidity and full, berry-juice-like mouthfeel. The formation of this unique flavor is inseparable from the local high-altitude volcanic soil, the two major varieties SL-28 and SL-34, and the signature K72 double washed processing method. This article will systematically sort out the core characteristics of Kenyan coffee, from terroir and variety origins to processing techniques, roasting, and extraction, and introduce the flavor performance of several representative Kenyan beans available at Front Street Coffee shops. In addition, it will share three iced drink methods suitable for showcasing Kenya's acidity—ice hand pour, ice drip, and cold brew—to help coffee lovers who enjoy fruity acidity brew a refreshing and pleasant cup of Kenyan coffee at home. [more…]

Kenyan coffee is world-renowned for its bright and complex acidity, and the K72 washed processing method pushes this characteristic to the extreme. This article will take you deep into Kenya's coffee origins and variety composition, break down every step of the K72 double fermentation process in detail, and compare and taste the flavor differences brought by washed and natural processing methods. From the Asali Honey Processing Station in the Thika region to the French Mission Bourbon at Hania Estate, we will use two coffees of distinctly different styles as samples to analyze their aroma, acidity, sweetness, and aftertaste. Whether you are a beginner just getting to know Kenyan coffee or an experienced enthusiast looking for brewing inspiration, this article can provide you with valuable reference. [more…]

When it comes to acidic coffee, many people may only think of Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe, Huakui, or Panama's Geisha, but they don't know that Kenyan coffee also has a rich sweet-and-sour aroma and a juice-like mouthfeel. Kenyan coffee is usually processed using the double washed method, with varieties being SL28 and SL34. [more…]

In recent years, there have been more and more innovative coffee processing methods, and new types of processing such as anaerobic processing, enzyme processing, and carbon dioxide maceration processing have begun to carve out a small niche for themselves. The enzyme-washed processing method that this article will introduce was met with mixed reviews when it first appeared, and now, years later, Front Street will take everyone back to observe this [more…]

咖啡的风味千变万化，除了品种和烘焙，生豆处理环节中的发酵工艺起着决定性作用。日晒、水洗、蜜处理这三种常见方法，各自依托不同的发酵环境与微生物作用，塑造出截然不同的甜感、酸质与醇厚度。本文从发酵的科学原理讲起，系统梳理干发酵与湿发酵的差异，详解日晒、蜜处理、水洗及肯尼亚式、埃塞俄比亚式水洗的工艺要点，并附上前街咖啡的推荐与选购建议，帮助你更清晰地理解杯中风味从何而来。 [more…]

Anaerobic natural, lactic fermentation, barrel-aged, yeast inoculation—the vocabulary of specialty coffee processing methods has exploded in recent years, and coffee menus increasingly read like a brewery's process manual. These experimental processing methods are not marketing coinages; each one corresponds to a genuine technological innovation. This article maps out the mainstream lineage and examines "flavor alchemy." [more…]

When exploring the regions that produce floral and fruity coffee, Ethiopia and Kenya are two origins you simply cannot avoid. These two African regions have distinctly different floral and fruity styles, and once you understand their respective fruity codes, you can precisely match your own taste preferences when choosing beans. Ethiopia is the native birthplace of Arabica, and its floral and fruity notes are characterized by tropical [more…]

From the same estate, the same variety, and the same harvested batch of coffee cherries, the flavor in the cup can be as different as two distinct beans—simply because of a different processing method. This is the magic of coffee processing. In the microscopic world, it uses microorganisms and time to perform the alchemy of flavor. The washed method is the oldest mainstream technique, and its logic is "to do [more…]

The processing method of coffee has always been the key link in the refined processing of green coffee beans. With the development of market demand and the exploration of the industry, on the basis of the mainstream "three major processing methods", [more…]

“Huh? Why does this coffee smell kind of like soy sauce?” a customer asked cautiously, full of confusion, after sniffing the dry aroma of the coffee grounds Front Street had handed over. This was not actually the first time Front Street had received such a question. Besides “soy sauce,” there were also things like “ [more…]

The floral and fruity aromas of coffee are not magic conjured by the roaster, but genes written into the terroir of the producing region and the processing method. Flip through the origin records of the mainstream floral and fruity bean varieties on the market, and you will find that behind every fruity note lies a traceable origin story. The opening volume of the records is Ethiopia. As coffee's [more…]

SOE is short for Single Origin Espresso, which means using beans from a single origin to make espresso. Trying SOE on a home semi-automatic espresso machine is the starting point for many coffee enthusiasts moving from blends to single-origin coffees. SOE has a narrower extraction window than blends, and on a home machine you need to [more…]

Many people distinguish cold brew coffee from iced coffee, because what we understand as iced coffee is the traditional concept of extracting with hot water, then adding ice or chilling it, turning the coffee from hot to iced. The biggest difference with cold brew coffee is that it uses cold water throughout, extracting at low temperature to obtain the coffee liquid. [more…]

Stretching between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn lies a coffee belt. Every producing region along this belt tells its own coffee story through its unique altitude, soil, climate, and cultural traditions. For pour-over enthusiasts, understanding a region's terroir is like traveling the world with a flavor map in hand. The story begins with Ethiopia [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…]

Not long ago, a devoted fan of washed beans visited the Front Street shop. They had bought many washed coffees before, but just couldn't brew out any layering at home, so they asked Front Street if there were any tips or suggestions. So today, let's discuss brewing methods for washed coffee. What is washed coffee? Among coffees, [more…]

Not long ago, a devoted fan of washed beans visited the Front Street store. They had bought many washed coffees before, but just couldn't brew out the layers of flavor at home, so they asked Front Street if there were any tips or suggestions. So today, let's discuss brewing methods for washed coffee. What is washed coffee? In coffee [more…]

The most fascinating thing about cold brew is that it works like a slow-motion projector: the flavor release that hot extraction completes in a few dozen seconds is stretched out over more than ten hours, and the character of every flavor compound is amplified and put on display. Running a set of cold brew comparison experiments with beans processed in different ways lets you directly see how each processing method truly expresses itself at low temperatures. The experiment is set [more…]