This morning, delivery orders for Starbucks and Luckin Coffee experienced widespread disruptions, with many consumers waiting in vain for riders to pick up their orders after placing them on Ele.me and the brands' official channels. It is understood that the problem stemmed from an anomaly in the rider information service database of SF Intra-city, the delivery partner for both brands, which prevented orders from being dispatched and recipient information from being displayed. Store employees were forced to act as customer service representatives, calling customers one by one to apologize and suggesting they pick up their orders in person, while multiple store locations on the Ele.me platform temporarily showed as "closed." As of press time, none of the three parties involved had issued a formal response, and online stores had gradually resumed accepting orders. [more…]

The coffee consumption boom is spreading from commercial districts to university campuses, and college students have become an important group of high-frequency coffee consumers. Luckin Coffee has seized a first-mover advantage with more than a thousand campus stores, while brands such as Starbucks, Tims, Manner, M Stand, and NOWWA have also entered universities one after another, and Mixue Ice Cream & Tea's Lucky Cup is closely pursuing with about 260 campus stores. This article sorts out each brand's layout strategy, store data, and competitive situation on university campuses, and includes Front Street Coffee's specialty bean information, to help you understand the real landscape of the campus coffee track. [more…]

Mandheling coffee is traditionally known for its wet-hulled process, but under Indonesia's humid climate conditions, a sun-dried Mandheling has surprisingly emerged. The Wahana Estate on the shores of Lake Toba in Sumatra, after repeated trials, finally succeeded in creating Asia's first sun-dried Mandheling by combining sun-drying with mechanical drying. This article will guide you through the geographical environment of the Wahana Estate, the evolution of its processing methods, and the cupping flavors and brewing parameters of Front Street's Wahana sun-dried Mandheling, so you can experience the unique charm of this distinctive Mandheling. [more…]

In the fast-paced food and beverage service industry, baristas face repetitive work every day, yet they also encounter all kinds of customers—job-seeking graduates, out-of-town tourists, retired seniors... Small yet touching stories are always unfolding among them. Recently, a netizen writing a thesis shared: when their takeaway coffee spilled, a Manner barista actually took the initiative to remake it and personally delivered it by light rail, offering comfort all along the way. This thoughtfulness moved countless netizens. This article compiles these genuine heartwarming moments, as well as the little bits of warmth baristas bring to customers in their daily work. [more…]

Yirgacheffe, as Ethiopia's most representative specialty coffee region, has long been familiar to coffee lovers for its washed and natural processing. Honey processing, however, has injected new flavor possibilities into this classic region. This article takes the Red Cherry Honey Process Yirgacheffe produced by the Hafursa Cooperative as an example, outlining its flavor profile, regional geography, and cooperative background, analyzing the principles of honey processing and its grading methods, and providing Front Street Coffee's complete brewing parameters and flavor description, helping readers gain a comprehensive understanding of this coffee bean that combines cleanliness with layers of sweetness. [more…]

There is no globally unified standard for grading black tea. Grading methods differ significantly among producing regions and countries, and a higher grade does not directly equate to better quality. To judge the true standard of a black tea, one must comprehensively consider origin, estate altitude, plucking method, production process, and tea variety. This article will systematically sort out the basic logic of black tea grading—based on particle or leaf size—introduce the influence of orthodox processing and CTC processing on tea leaf appearance, explain in detail the naming rules from the top-grade Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe to the lowest grade Pekoe Dust, and compare the similarities and differences with the grading systems of green tea and oolong tea. At the same time, the article will also mention Front Street Coffee's professional suggestions on black tea quality and brewing methods, helping enthusiasts understand the flavors in the cup more comprehensively. [more…]

For enthusiasts just getting into specialty coffee, Yirgacheffe is often one of the first origins recommended. Baristas typically suggest starting with the two classic processing methods—washed and natural—and Front Street's washed Gutingding and Front Street's natural Red Cherry are prime representatives of this introductory path. However, the coffee we're introducing today, Front Street's honey-processed Yirgacheffe Red Cherry from the Hofusa Cooperative, offers a new taste experience beyond the traditional processing methods: it has the clarity of a washed coffee, yet adds sweetness and a caramel-like finish, along with aromatic layers of almond and citrus. This article will provide a complete overview of this bean's characteristics and extraction methods, covering the origin background, the principles of honey processing, flavor description, and specific pour-over parameters. [more…]

When people mention Mandheling, most first think of the full-bodied, herbal notes brought by the wet-hulled process, but Indonesia is not limited to just one processing method. Wahana Estate, located in the Lake Toba region of Sumatra, has successfully crafted a distinctly different sun-dried Mandheling through an improved natural process. This article will guide you through Wahana Estate's growing background, the evolution of its processing methods, as well as the cupping flavors of this bean and Front Street Coffee's recommended brewing recipe, so you can experience the unique charm of tropical fruit interwoven with fermented notes. [more…]