The 2023 World Latte Art Championship (WLAC) concluded successfully in Taiwan, China, with Chinese competitor Liang Fan taking the championship in one fell swoop, becoming the first Chinese world champion in the history of the event. Lu Daoqiang and Lin Shaoxing won second and third places respectively, marking the first time Chinese competitors have swept the top three. Liang Fan integrated mathematical Boolean operations and photographic composition into his latte art creations, conquering the judges with three works featuring a rooster, a dinosaur, and a kangaroo. This article takes you through a review of this peak showdown, letting you feel the rise of China's latte art power, and includes an appreciation of the champion's daily works along with Front Street brand recommendations. [more…]

The coffee world has its own world-class competitive stage—from barista championships to brewing, latte art, roasting, cupping, mixology, and Turkish coffee, the seven major competitions under the World Coffee Championships (WCC) each have their own highlights, testing competitors' comprehensive skills while continuously leading the trends in specialty coffee. Today, Front Street Coffee takes you through these international competitions one by one to understand their content and rules, and to see what exactly the world's top coffee professionals compete in and how they compete. [more…]

In 2024, the Specialty Coffee Association announced that the Thermoplan Black&White4 CTS would become the designated fully automatic espresso machine for the World Latte Art Championship, marking the first time a fully automatic machine has appeared on the stage of this competition. As soon as the news broke, it quickly sparked heated discussion on social media: does a world latte art champion not need to know how to steam milk? Some netizens believed this undermined the artistry of baristas, while others felt that automation is already an irreversible trend. What kind of performance can a fully automatic machine actually deliver? And how will the role of the barista evolve? This article takes you through the whole story and the views of all sides, and explores the path to balance in the coffee industry amid the wave of automation. [more…]

The AeroPress was invented by the Aerobie company, yet unexpectedly became a darling of the specialty coffee world, even giving rise to its own world championship, the WAC. It uses manual pressure to quickly produce a full-bodied cup, and combines portability, easy cleaning, and high playability. This article walks you through the AeroPress's origins, how it differs from the French press, the growth of the WAC competition, and shares a complete inverted brewing method using Front Street Coffee's Kenya Little Tomato beans, including dose, grind size, water temperature, and timing parameters, so you too can easily recreate a cup full of juicy fruitiness at home. [more…]

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow our WeChat official account: Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee). The AeroPress is not just a passing fad; its appearance is quite unlike typical brewing equipment, and the company that invented this brewing device doesn't even have coffee equipment as its flagship product. [more…]

The AeroPress is a uniquely shaped coffee brewing device invented by Alan Adler, the owner of the Frisbee company. Inspired by espresso machines, it relies on manual pressure for rapid extraction. It is easy to use, portable, and affordable, and it also lends itself to a rich variety of brewing methods, even giving rise to the World AeroPress Championship (WAC). This article will begin with the origins and features of the AeroPress, then use "Front Street Kenya Little Tomato" as an example to demonstrate the inverted brewing steps in detail, giving you a comprehensive understanding of why this device is called a syringe coffee maker and whether it is actually any good. [more…]

The AeroPress, a brewing tool with a distinctive shape, has won the favor of many coffee enthusiasts since its launch in 2005 with its fast, full-bodied, and portable characteristics. It was invented by Alan Adler, a flying disc manufacturer, inspired by espresso machines, yet it requires no electricity and relies solely on human power to complete extraction. The AeroPress not only spawned its own world championship, the WAC, but also gave rise to a rich variety of brewing methods. This article will systematically introduce the origins of the AeroPress, its similarities and differences with the French press, and its competition culture, and will also include a practical inverted brewing guide using Front Street Kenya Little Tomato beans, taking you through a comprehensive understanding of this device's unique charm. [more…]

The AeroPress, a uniquely shaped brewing device, came from a company best known for flying discs, yet after its launch in 2005 it quickly took the specialty coffee world by storm, even spawning a dedicated World AeroPress Championship (WAC) and a documentary. With its manual pressure, fast brew times, and easy portability and cleanup, it has become a daily choice for many coffee lovers. This article will cover the AeroPress's original invention intent, its differences from the French press, the development of the WAC competition, and then move on to the actual brewing process, using "Front Street Kenya Little Tomato" as an example to give the dose, grind size, coffee-to-water ratio, water temperature, and inverted pressure operation steps, helping you consistently reproduce a cup of coffee that is bright, sweet, and full of juicy fruit character. [more…]