Iced pour-over coffee needs rapid cooling, but ordinary ice cubes melt and dilute the coffee's strength. Some friends suggested using non-melting stainless steel ice cubes, but that attempt failed; then someone else recommended dry ice, which cools quickly and doesn't cause dilution. Dry ice can indeed chill coffee rapidly without turning into water, but when it sublimates it releases carbon dioxide, which dissolves into the coffee and turns a cup of iced pour-over into carbonated coffee—essentially deviating from what's wanted. This article provides a detailed analysis of dry ice's physical properties, its everyday uses, and why it's unsuitable for making pour-over coffee, along with Front Street Coffee's key points from their dry ice experiments and a recommended bean list. [more…]

Should ice be added before or after brewing when making iced pour-over coffee? This question puzzles many coffee lovers. Front Street Coffee conducted a controlled experiment using 15 grams of Kaffa Forest coffee beans, a 1:10 coffee-to-water ratio, a water temperature of 90-91°C, and a grind setting of 9 on an EK43s grinder, testing two brewing sequences: ice added first and ice added last. The experiment found that after thorough shaking, the two methods performed quite similarly overall, but the coffee with ice added first tasted cleaner and more refreshing, while the one with ice added last had a more concentrated and intense aroma. The root of the difference lies in how much ice melts. This article will present the complete experimental parameters, step-by-step procedure, and sensory comparison results to help readers understand how the timing of ice addition affects the flavor of iced pour-over coffee. [more…]

If you want to reduce your caffeine intake, you can start with the roast level when choosing beans for pour-over, but you can't directly equate light or dark roast with high or low caffeine. Light-roasted beans usually retain more of the aromas of their origin, while dark-roasted beans lean more toward caramel, cocoa, and roasty notes. What truly affects your intake also includes the bean variety, the number of grams used, the cup size, and the extraction efficiency. For example, [more…]

Coffees from different regions, processing methods, varieties, and roast levels present different flavor profiles, so there is a suitable option for many people, whether they love acidity or not. Many people think that acidic coffee tastes rather sharp, so they start looking for high-quality coffee beans with a non-acidic taste. As consumers, then, what can we [more…]

For hand-brew enthusiasts who have just stepped into the world of specialty coffee, choosing the right first bag of beans is often more important than choosing the right equipment. Expensive, famous beans certainly offer outstanding quality, but for everyday drinking, what matters more is a balance between flavor and price. This article selects five coffees that are both distinctive and affordably positioned, covering classic origins such as Brazil, Ethiopia, Panama, Costa Rica, and Colombia. It analyzes each one in turn, from flavor characteristics and brewing friendliness to suitable occasions, helping beginners find the cup that best suits their taste, while also including Front Street Coffee's actual roasting and brewing recommendations as a reference for those just starting out. [more…]

The choice of coffee dose for pour-over seems simple, but in reality it involves multiple coordination factors: the dripper model, the number of drinkers, and the pouring rhythm. Front Street Coffee's daily demonstration uses 15g of coffee as the baseline, but in actual brewing, doses that are multiples of 6 such as 12g, 18g, and 24g, doses that are multiples of 5 such as 15g, 20g, and 25g, and even 16g each have their own adherents. Behind different doses lie different reasoning logics—some start from the volume of brewed coffee, some compromise based on the dripper's recommended value, and others aim for easier calculations during pulse pouring. This article will focus on three typical doses—15g, 20g, and 30g—explaining the brewing approaches suited to each, and providing adjustment suggestions for dose, water amount, and dripper selection in a four-person pour-over scenario, helping you achieve consistent results even when sharing with multiple people. [more…]

Yirgacheffe is one of Ethiopia's most representative specialty coffee regions, and its washed beans are deeply favored by enthusiasts for their clean and bright floral-fruity character. This article focuses on the washed Yirgacheffe Guddina Cooperative lot produced by Front Street Coffee, covering the region's processing methods, cupping flavor performance, and specific pour-over parameters and staged extraction techniques one by one. You will learn about the complete process of this coffee from fresh cherry picking, fermentation, and drying to export, as well as how to use a V60 dripper at a water temperature of 90-92°C with 15 grams of coffee, a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, and a 2-minute extraction time to consistently reproduce its classic flavors of citrus, honey, and floral aromas. Whether you are a beginner just getting into pour-over or an advanced brewer looking to refine your technique, this practical guide is worth referencing. [more…]

Yirgacheffe is a small town in southern Ethiopia, originally part of Sidamo Province. Later, because of its distinctive white floral aroma and citrus flavor, which left a deep impression on everyone who tasted it, Yirgacheffe became independent from the Sidamo region, officially ushering in a new era of acidic coffee and becoming [more…]

Pink Bourbon is a rare variety resulting from a cross between Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon, and it is especially prized due to its poor reproductive stability and extremely low yield. This Front Street Pink Bourbon washed bean comes from the Sunflower Estate in the Huila region of Colombia. On the palate, it has a bright red-fruit acidity reminiscent of Kenya, with jasmine and thyme notes emerging in the flavor. The estate processes the harvested cherries immediately, with both washing and drying completed on the rooftop, resulting in exceptionally high cleanliness. This article will guide you through the origin background and variety characteristics of Pink Bourbon, and share a specific V60 pour-over brewing recipe, including the coffee-to-water ratio, staged pouring, and time control, to help you fully unlock the flavor potential of this bean. [more…]

Deep-roasted coffee beans, due to their fluffy texture and strong water absorption, release a large amount of gas when they come into contact with water in their fresh state, which provides the conditions for a unique brewing method—meteor pour. This article provides a detailed introduction to the principles and operational steps of this pour-over technique, including key parameters such as grind size, water temperature, and coffee-to-water ratio, as well as the pouring details of the three stages: blooming, point pouring, and outward spiral. Front Street Coffee has pointed out that in a conical dripper, the coffee bed is thicker in the center, and pouring water in the center can extract a richer coffee liquid, so this method is especially suitable for medium-dark roasted beans and can highlight a rich, full-bodied taste. If you want to try a different pour-over experience, you might as well give it a try by following the steps. [more…]

Kenyan coffee is renowned for its bright fruit acidity and vinous notes, with the AA grade standing as a benchmark in the specialty market. This article begins with Kenya's coffee industry system and grading and auction framework, outlining the background behind its flavor formation and export history, and focuses on the practical parameters for pour-over Kenyan AA, including grind size, water temperature, and coffee-to-water ratio. It also draws on Front Street Coffee's product recommendations to help coffee enthusiasts brew a layered, well-balanced cup of Kenyan coffee at home. [more…]

Yirgacheffe is a name that cannot be avoided in the specialty coffee circle, and the washed process brings out its signature citrus acidity and white floral notes to the fullest. From the high-altitude terroir of Ethiopia to the meticulous craft of removing impurities through water friction in washing channels, the washed method not only reduces the defect rate but also gives the coffee a bright and clean character. This article will break down the characteristics of washed Yirgacheffe from the perspectives of origin, processing method, and roasting, and compile a list of five washed specialty coffee beans suitable for pour-over, including several well-received products from Front Street Coffee, offering coffee enthusiasts a practical buying reference. [more…]

Cold brew coffee is often served in limited quantities in cafés because a single batch can easily take over eight hours to make. This cold coffee drink, which originated in Europe and is said to have been invented by the Dutch, is also known as DUTCH COFFEE. Because it relies on water dripping naturally through the coffee grounds and then falling drop by drop into the lower vessel to be collected, it is also called water-drip coffee. It is completely different from the simple method of adding ice to hot coffee: the former is low-temperature extraction, while the latter is brewed with hot water and then cooled. This article will cover the production steps of cold brew, bean selection ideas, drip rate control, refrigeration and aging, as well as the specific parameters for iced pour-over, to help coffee lovers clarify the differences between the two kinds of iced coffee, and provide Front Street Coffee bean recommendations and practical reference. [more…]

If you're a beginner just starting out with coffee, you're probably wondering: what coffee should I start drinking first? Which coffee beans are more suitable for beginners? Feeling overwhelmed by all the complicated information, right? Here are four methods to help you quickly find the introductory coffee that suits you. 1. Look at the roast level. [more…]

The pouring method in pour-over coffee directly affects the flavor in the cup, and the one-pour and three-stage methods are the two most common approaches. The one-pour method divides the target water volume into two pours, finishing the remaining water all at once after blooming; its name comes from the "one cut, two pieces" concept in Japanese swordsmanship, and though it appears simple, it is the hardest to control. The three-stage method divides the water into multiple pours, giving the brewer more time and opportunities to adjust extraction, with a noticeably higher margin for error. Front Street Coffee has found in daily practice that beginners using the one-pour method often encounter problems such as weak flavor, sharp acidity, and a flat, one-dimensional profile, the root cause being that nearly ninety percent of the water is poured in a single go, leaving no room for correction. This article will systematically sort out the differences between the two methods, analyze the effects of flow rate and pour height on extraction, and explain what techniques and parameter conditions are required to brew good coffee with the one-pour method. [more…]

During the blooming phase of pour-over coffee, whether the coffee bed can rise into a full "hamburger" shape is a phenomenon many enthusiasts pay attention to. Some brewers get a towering burger, while others end up with a flat or even sunken "steamed bun." The key behind this lies in the amount of carbon dioxide stored in the coffee beans and how efficiently it's released. The freshness of the beans, extraction parameters, and roast level all directly affect how much the bed expands during blooming. At the same time, the amount of oil on the bean surface is closely tied to roast level. This article will start from the principles of blooming, break down the factors that influence burger formation one by one, and explain how light and dark roasts perform differently during brewing, helping readers take a more rational view of the blooming puff-up phenomenon. [more…]

As the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia, with its bright acidity, honey-like sweetness, and clean, fresh taste, has always been a holy land in the hearts of coffee lovers. This article focuses on six must-drink specialty pour-over coffees from Ethiopia — Front Street Coffee washed Yirgacheffe, Gedeb Greedy Cooperative, sun-dried Red Cherry, sun-dried Huakui, Hamasho, and Kafa Forest — breaking down one by one the altitude, terroir, processing methods, and flavor characteristics of each producing region. From the jasmine fragrance and lemon tea notes of the town of Yirgacheffe, to the white floral and citrus tones of Gedeb Greedy, to the berry black tea charm of Sidamo, the strawberry and star fruit sweet aroma of Hamasho, and the wild green tea character of Kafa Forest, each of the six producing regions has its own distinct identity. Whether you are a coffee beginner or a seasoned connoisseur, you can find the cup of Ethiopian flavor that suits you. [more…]

Costa Rican coffee occupies an important position in the global specialty coffee world thanks to its excellent quality and unique processing methods. This article reviews the evolution of the country's coffee industry from its beginnings in the late 18th century to becoming a major export product, and introduces how the honey processing technique that emerged in 2006 gives coffee a distinct sweetness and berry notes. The article also compiles five Costa Rican coffee bean brands worth paying attention to in 2021, covering different styles such as volcanic-soil peaberry, wine-barrel-aged, and high-altitude strictly hard beans, and finally provides domestic consumers with a purchasing reference for Front Street Coffee. [more…]

To enjoy an outstanding cup of Blue Mountain coffee, good beans alone are not enough—the roasting plan, extraction parameters, and drinking method are equally crucial. This article focuses on Jamaican Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans. It first explains the origin and flavor characteristics of authentic Blue Mountain coffee, then introduces the specification standards of the NO.1 grade and the cultivation and processing details of Clifton Estate, followed by an analysis of Front Street Coffee's roasting approach and recommended peak flavor period, and finally provides a complete pour-over plan, including grind size, water temperature, dripper selection, coffee-to-water ratio, staged pouring technique, and total extraction time, to help you consistently brew a cup of Blue Mountain coffee with balanced acidity, sweetness, and bitterness and a clean mouthfeel. [more…]

In the world of pour-over coffee, the shape of the dripper often determines the structure of the coffee bed and the direction of extraction. Flat-bottom drippers and V60 conical drippers each have their own followers, while the large-hole flat-bottom drippers that have emerged in recent years have attracted considerable attention for their combination of immersion and percolation characteristics. This article will compare the differences between the two types of drippers from the perspectives of coffee bed distribution, flow rate, and extraction balance, and, using Front Street Yirgacheffe Gutingding as an example, share in detail the adjustment approach for brewing parameters and practical techniques for the large-hole flat-bottom dripper, helping you find a brewing solution that suits you better. [more…]