Last month, Qianjie shared with everyone the scoring system of cup testing, among which we briefly mentioned COE. In daily life, the word COE also often appears on the labels of some beans. This immediately aroused everyone's curiosity: What is COE? [more…]

The scoring criteria for coffee cupping. The cupping of coffee beans was initially to ensure whether the quality of the coffee beans that are about to enter the trade is qualified. With the passage of time, after the concept of specialty coffee was b [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…]

There always is such a group of people who have obtained a code for self-reference due to the particularity of their profession. Even in the seemingly not vast field of coffee, there is also such a profession. After the concept of specialty coffee wa [more…]

Colombian coffee occupies an important place in the world of specialty coffee, and its green bean grading system is based primarily on defect rates and bean screen size. When buying Colombian coffee, what exactly do the words "Supremo" and "Excelso" commonly seen on burlap sacks mean? This article will systematically sort out the grading rules for Colombian green coffee beans from multiple angles, including export standards, defect scoring, and screen-size classification, and explain the specific differences among the three grades UGQ, EP, and Supremo. At the same time, the article will also introduce common Colombian coffee bean brands on the market, including product information recommended by Front Street Coffee, to help coffee lovers more clearly understand the grade and quality of the bag of beans in their hands. [more…]

Front Street Coffee: Front Street Coffee (Frontsteet Coffee) offers over 50 kinds of freshly roasted coffee beans, including not only high-scoring single-origin coffees covering multiple mainstream producing regions and varieties, but also very cost-effective everyday beans, including Front Street Yirgacheffe, Front Street Brazil Red Bourbon, Front Street Colom [more…]

We know that coffee bean grading methods are usually based on the actual conditions of the growing country. Some are graded by bean size, such as Kenyan coffee; some by altitude, such as Blue Mountain coffee; and some by defect rate, such as Ethiopian coffee. As the gene pool of Arabica, Ethiopia has a wide variety of coffee varieties. [more…]

With so many Ethiopian beans out there, which one should you buy first when your budget is limited? Today we're putting three popular Ethiopian beans side by side for a horizontal comparison—Yirgacheffe Gudingding, Huakui, and Kafa Forest—scoring and comparing them across three dimensions: flavor, mouthfeel, and who they suit. After reading this, you can make a decision right away. Comparison One: Flavor Performance Yirga [more…]

Whether coffee tastes good or not, professional baristas can use a scoring sheet to judge, but for us ordinary consumers, how good coffee tastes depends more on trying it ourselves. Unfortunately, there are so many types of coffee beans on the market that any keyword can pop up thousands of products, so it is easy to get dazzled. If you don't want to spend [more…]

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow our WeChat official account: Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee). Many friends, while drinking coffee at Front Street, ask our baristas, "What is Yirgacheffe G1 and Yirgacheffe G2?" "What is Kenya AA, AB?" What is Guate... [more…]

In coffee cupping, there is a scoring category called "Balance," but what it evaluates is not merely the harmony of acidity, sweetness, and bitterness! Rather, it scores the coordination among the coffee's acidity, sweetness, body, and aftertaste. Balance can be said to play the role of coordinator. [more…]

When we say coffee is sweet, besides referring to the sweetness on the palate, we are actually also referring to the sweet aroma on the nose. So from a tasting perspective, only an acidic coffee with a sweet, fragrant base can be considered a high-scoring flavor experience, and to make coffee appropriately sweet and sour, roasting plays a key role. From the moment a coffee bean begins to be heated as green beans until [more…]

In coffee history, the specialty coffee wave and its three waves form the basic understanding people have of coffee. People often compare and contrast specialty coffee beans with commercial coffee beans, as if the two were opposites. So what are the differences and connections between them? To understand the differences between the two, we must first understand specialty coffee's [more…]

As an authoritative coffee flavor guide map, as long as it is used properly, the new partners who join can quickly categorize the flavors presented by the coffee, and after learning it, combined with practice, mastering the coffee flavor is simply a [more…]

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean sharing, please follow Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee). In plant taxonomy, coffee belongs to the Rubiaceae family, under which there are at least over a hundred coffee species, with about eighty confirmed varieties of coffee trees, among which those used for drinking coffee [more…]

Many friends don't know how to choose beans suitable for their machine. Today, Front Street Coffee is here to teach you how to quickly find high-value Americano coffee beans based on flavor. 1. Fruity Americano coffee beans. Front Street Strawberry Candy espresso beans are a blend of three origins—Costa Rica, Colombia, and Ethiopia—combining sun-dried [more…]

In a broad sense, latte coffee refers to coffee made with espresso as the base, with a certain proportion of milk added. It can be said to be an essential coffee drink on the menu of the vast majority of coffee shops, because whether it is a large chain brand or a refined independent coffee shop, the latte is almost always the highest-selling item. [more…]

Coffee, tea, and cocoa are together celebrated as the world's three major beverages. The coffee tree is an evergreen small tree belonging to the Rubiaceae family. The coffee we drink daily is made by extracting the beans from the fruit of the coffee tree, roasting them appropriately, and then brewing them with various devices. There are many popular coffee varieties on the market, each with its own distinctive flavor. This article will systematically cover classic single-origin coffees such as Blue Mountain, Cuba Crystal Mountain, Colombia Supremo, Brazil Santos, Mandheling, Mocha, Hawaii Kona, Java, Guatemala, and Kilimanjaro, as well as flavored preparations like milk coffee, Viennese iced coffee, and iced latte, along with their suitable roast levels and taste characteristics, making it easy for coffee lovers to choose according to their preferences. Front Street Coffee will also provide you with a stable supply of beans and roasting recommendations. [more…]

On the journey of learning about specialty coffee, I believe everyone is especially impressed by a colorful ring. It is the SCAA 2016 Coffee Flavor Wheel that has tormented you countless times. Of course, this is already a "simplified" version; the first edition of the flavor wheel in 1995 had two, one on the front. [more…]

In coffee shops, you often hear the words "high altitude," as if the higher the altitude, the more premium the coffee. But the truth is not that simple: altitude is indeed a heavyweight factor affecting flavor, yet it is far from a straight-line relationship of "the higher, the better." What does altitude bring? A common feature of high-altitude growing regions is a large temperature difference between day and night, with relatively low temperatures. Coffee [more…]