Many people think that pour-over coffee has no crema. In fact, it is not entirely absent—it is just that most of it is blocked by the paper filter, and what remains exists in the form of mouthfeel. This article begins with the definition of coffee crema, explains why espresso can bring out a golden crema layer, and analyzes how bean variety and roast level affect the amount of crema. It then focuses on the pour-over scenario, explaining how paper filters intercept crema, the respective pros and cons of metal filters and cloth filters, and how to choose if you want to retain crema. The article retains several Front Street Coffee bean lists and blending suggestions to help enthusiasts choose as needed. [more…]

The siphon pot has become a rare piece of equipment in today's specialty coffee wave, with many cafés no longer offering siphon coffee, or keeping it only as a special featured item. For those who favor this brewing method, mastering a clear set of operating logic is more practical than relying on café output. Starting from Front Street's practice, this article systematically sorts out the siphon pot's construction principles, the trade-offs between cloth filters and paper filters, the choice of heat source, the divergence between adding coffee grounds first versus later, grind size and coffee-to-water ratio, stirring techniques, and the judgment of when to turn off the heat, and includes a complete reproducible brewing process to help coffee enthusiasts consistently recreate a cup of fragrant, rich, and mellow siphon coffee in their own kitchen. [more…]

The daily work life of milk tea shop employees has always been a hot topic on social media, but recently a post by a ChaPanda employee unexpectedly went viral because the kitchen scenes were too "creepy." Dark red mulberry juice covered the counter, blender, and filter bags, and combined with the scene of black gloves squeezing the juice, many netizens said it looked like a horror movie. It is understood that these scenes come from ChaPanda's daily operation of freshly squeezing mulberry juice when preparing ingredients for products such as "Wu Qi Ma Hei" and "Triple Berry Goodnight Cup." Because mulberries are high in anthocyanins and have a deep color, the juicing process is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also very likely to stain clothes and the work area. Employees have complained one after another on social media, and even turned these scenes into jokes such as the "ChaPanda Mulberry Man-Eating Incident" to share, triggering a lot of resonance. [more…]

Recently, a social media post in which a user brewed drip coffee using a face mask instead of filter paper sparked heated discussion. In the photo, the mask was hung over the rim of the cup to serve as a filtering tool, and the caption claimed it had a "unique taste." This move quickly drew a flood of criticism and concern. Some questioned whether the mask's water-resistant layer and adhesive layer might release toxic substances, while others joked that this was an attempt to compete with "Lianhua Qingwen coffee." In fact, this practice stemmed from a "clever trick" some netizens came up with to avoid wasting expired masks, but medical experts point out that the non-woven fabric in the inner layer of masks is made of polypropylene (PP), and although the amount of harmful substances released when heated is trace, it is still not recommended for contact with food. Front Street Coffee reminds everyone that coffee filter paper costs about the same as a mask, and choosing standard filter paper is the safe and reliable way to brew coffee. [more…]

Artistic cafés on social media are always enchanting, but are they really that beautiful in reality? Recently, a tourist traveled all the way to Dali, Yunnan, to visit a trendy café by the rice fields, only to be stunned by what they saw—a thatched roof and mottled white walls, mocked as looking like an outhouse at the village entrance. From lush green rice paddies to a withered yellow expanse after harvest, from carefully composed shots to filter-enhanced images, when natural scenery becomes a café's selling point, variables like season and weather can shatter the artistic fantasy at any moment. This article takes you behind the scenes of trendy cafés, and also reminds coffee lovers to do their homework before making a trip to check in, and not to be led astray by "photo scams." [more…]

Entering October, Luckin's pace of launching new products has noticeably accelerated, rolling out multiple new items in succession within two weeks. Among them, the upgraded and returning "Coconut Mango Pomelo Sago" quickly won over consumers and became the top repeat-purchase choice for many. However, making this drink at the store level has employees crying foul—numerous ingredients, lengthy steps, difficult cleanup, and even causing drain clogs. From the meltdown during order surges to the unclogging after closing, staff have taken to social media to call out: when will this "enemy of employees" finally be discontinued? [more…]

Cold brew coffee has become increasingly popular in China in recent years. With its refreshing taste and mild, balanced flavor, it has become the summer drink of choice for many coffee lovers. It actually originated in the United States and gradually spread around the world through social media, and Starbucks' official launch of it brought it to the masses. How is cold brew coffee different from regular iced coffee? Why does it taste sweeter and less sour or astringent? And how easy is it to make? This article will walk you through the origins and characteristics of cold brew coffee, compare it with iced coffee, and teach you step by step how to easily DIY a refreshing, delicious cold brew at home. All you need is the right coffee-to-water ratio, then let it steep in the fridge overnight and enjoy it the next day. At the end, there is also a cold brew test of Front Street Coffee's Huakui coffee beans, plus a creative milk-cap cold brew recipe, so don't miss it. [more…]

A pink cranberry milk green tea has once again made 1 Dian Dian a hot topic on social media. Thanks to its striking resemblance to a drink featured in a certain female celebrity's advertisement, this beverage was quickly tagged as a "celebrity favorite," attracting a large number of fans to place orders and check in. However, once the photo-taking frenzy subsided, the actual taste experience left many people openly disappointed, with reviews ranging from overly sweet and cloying to medicinal notes and a gritty jam texture. At the same time, 1 Dian Dian's loyal customers welcomed the return of this drink, believing its sweet-and-sour flavor profile has a unique charm of its own. Why would a single cup of milk tea trigger such dramatically different reactions among different consumer groups? This article will analyze the question from the perspectives of product formulation, consumer feedback, and the brand's fan base. [more…]

Cold brew coffee has rapidly risen in popularity in China in recent years, winning the hearts of many coffee enthusiasts with its refreshing taste and mild, balanced flavor. It originated in the United States, spread to Japan and Europe through social media, and became even more popular worldwide after Starbucks officially launched it. Many people wonder: What exactly is the difference between cold brew and regular iced coffee? Why is cold brew coffee more expensive? Can I make it at home myself? This article will address these five common questions, from the definition of cold brew and its essential difference from iced coffee, to specific homemade methods, the coffee-to-water ratio, and the cold brew performance of Front Street Elida coffee beans, answering them one by one. [more…]

Recently, a consumer in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, posted on social media claiming to have疑似 found fragments of an insect carcass in a takeaway milk tea from the well-known freshly made tea drink brand KOI. The consumer and the brand failed to reach an agreement after multiple communications over compensation and an apology, and the consumer has filed a complaint with 12315 and insists on pursuing legal proceedings. KOI responded that neither the store surveillance nor inspections by the market supervision department found any foreign object entering the drink, and that the strainer hole design of the shaker cup would also block such foreign objects, so it does not accept an apology on the platform but is willing to compensate in accordance with the law. The incident has attracted widespread attention, with both sides sticking to their own accounts, and there is currently no new progress. [more…]

Tea Baidao's classic mulberry fruit tea "Wu Qi Ma Hei" returns this year in an upgraded form, alongside the new release "Triple Berry Good Night Cup." The official promotion claims the new version focuses on freshly peeled and freshly squeezed same-day ingredients, with a stronger juicy pulp burst, and consumers are buying into it. However, for the workers in the store kitchens, this upgrade has turned into a nightmare—switching from frozen mulberry pieces to fresh mulberries turns one step into many, multiplying the prep difficulty and workload. Complaints flood social media, with employees exclaiming "peeling until crazy" and "prepping until insane." This article takes you behind the production changes and frontline employee feedback for this seasonal limited-edition drink. [more…]

Pour-over and siphon are two common specialty coffee brewing methods. Although both can express a coffee's terroir, their different extraction principles and filtration media mean the final cup emphasizes different aspects of taste. This article systematically compares siphon and pour-over brewers, from their historical origins and brewing principles to operating parameters and actual tasting. Pour-over uses paper filtration, giving a clean flavor with rich layers; siphon relies mainly on immersion and flannel filtration, producing a full-bodied, balanced taste. The article also uses Front Street Yemen Mocha brewed both ways, with specific parameters and flavor descriptions, to help coffee lovers more intuitively understand the differences between the two and find a brewing style that suits them. [more…]

Last spring, Heytea's guava series of fruit teas captured a large number of consumers with their refreshing taste, and their removal from the menu after the season became a regret for many. On the eve of this year's Valentine's Day, the guava series finally returned amid widespread calls for it, and as soon as the Refreshing Guava Grape Tea was launched, it flooded social media, with store orders packed. However, while fans were raising their cups for photos and check-ins, Heytea employees in the back kitchen were facing baskets of fresh guavas, wanting to cry but unable to shed tears. Manually squeezing fruit puree, peeling green grape flesh, and long hours of repetitive labor caused many staff members to develop health problems such as frozen shoulder, tenosynovitis, and hand allergies. Behind a cup of seemingly simple fruit tea, what exactly is hidden in terms of the production process and labor intensity? This article takes you to understand the real working conditions of milk tea workers. [more…]

When coffee stocks run low, coffee lovers start finding every possible way to cherish each gram of coffee beans. From reducing the dose and widening the water-to-coffee ratio, to rinsing and reusing filter paper, even a single coffee bean gets a careful brewing. Drip bags, capsule shells, and cold brew containers have all been given new uses. This article rounds up these both hilarious and ingenious "use every last bit" tricks, while keeping the professional coffee knowledge intact, to show you just how far coffee people will go for one more cup. [more…]

Pour-over coffee is the most representative brewing method of the third wave of specialty coffee. It uses a dripper paired with a paper filter to filter out the coffee grounds, clearly presenting the flavors of the coffee's region of origin, while the entire brewing process is also quite visually appealing. This article will provide a systematic introduction to pour-over coffee: first, it will outline its historical origins and the cultural differences behind its various English names, then explain one by one the various pieces of equipment needed for brewing and their functions, and finally, using 15 grams of coffee and a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio as an example, it will break down in detail the complete process of three-stage pouring, helping coffee enthusiasts master the key parameters for consistently producing a delicious cup of pour-over coffee. [more…]

More and more coffee enthusiasts are being drawn to moka pots by the outdoor camping trend, but in practice they often run into problems of weak or bitter, burnt coffee. From the perspective of Front Street Coffee, this article systematically explains the moka pot's structure and working principles, the key conditions for producing crema, the suitable choice of coffee beans, and the complete process from grinding to heating. Key points include: why you should choose fresh dark-roasted beans, how to judge the water level in the lower chamber, how to control the pressure when filling and tamping the filter basket, and how to judge the heat level and the timing to turn off the stove, along with recommendations for two Front Street beans suited to moka pots, helping you consistently make a rich, full-bodied espresso at home or outdoors. [more…]

When drinking coffee, you often hear people say "this cup has a good Body," but what exactly does Body mean? Is it the same as richness? Is it the same as strength? In fact, Body describes the sense of weight and tactile viscosity that coffee presents in the mouth, similar to the completely different textures of water, milk, and yogurt when swirled. From the perspective of Front Street, this article systematically sorts out the meaning of Body, its influencing factors, and how to judge it, and further discusses variables such as oils, cellulose, quinic acid, and roasting degassing, and finally gives practical ideas for improving the richness of pour-over coffee, including changing filter materials and choosing suitable bean varieties, to help you more accurately understand and adjust the taste performance in everyday brewing. [more…]

When water can no longer satisfy coffee enthusiasts' desire for exploration, milk becomes a new extraction medium. Is it reliable to brew pour-over coffee with milk? The answer is no—milk has high saturation, weak extraction power, and proteins denature when heated above 70 degrees. But with a different approach, cold-brewing milk coffee by soaking coffee grounds in milk at low temperature is entirely feasible: low temperatures won't spoil the milk, and the extended soaking time exactly compensates for the lack of extraction efficiency. This time, Front Street Coffee selected the medium-dark roasted Sunflower Warm Sun blend, paired with Guangming Fresh Pasture fresh milk, using a 1:8 coffee-to-milk ratio and soaking at low temperature for 12 hours, ultimately obtaining a cup of milk-brewed coffee with sherry wine aroma and chocolate milk flavors. Let's take a look at the specific steps and key details below. [more…]

Cold brew coffee is usually made by soaking ground coffee in room-temperature water and then refrigerating it to extract, but if you replace the water with ice water, will the final cup taste better or worse? At Front Street, we made two batches of cold brew using room-temperature water and ice water respectively, comparing everything from grind size and coffee-to-water ratio to the actual flavor. The result showed that the ice water cold brew yielded less liquid, yet presented a clear sweetness reminiscent of grapes, pineapple, and oranges, with almost no bitterness. This article fully documents the parameters and steps of both methods and explains how temperature affects extraction efficiency and the release of flavor compounds, helping you find a cold brew solution that suits you. [more…]

You often see "pure Arabica coffee beans" printed on packaging, but what exactly is Arabica? Does it count as black coffee? In fact, Arabica is just one major category among coffee varieties, and about seventy-five percent of the world's coffee comes from it. The raw coffee beans we buy day to day and the coffee served in coffee shops are almost invariably Arabica. Grinding it and pouring hot water over it produces coffee liquid, which is black coffee. This article starts with the varietal characteristics of Arabica, then introduces one by one three ways of making black coffee—pour-over, French press, and cold brew—including practical parameters such as equipment pairing, water temperature, and coffee-to-water ratio, to help you consistently make a delicious cup of black coffee at home. [more…]