In the world of pour-over coffee, the technique of "flow cutoff" is regarded by many beginners as a clever trick to avoid over-extraction—by simply removing the dripper early during the extraction, it seems you can shut bitterness out. However, Front Street Coffee has found that this seemingly smart approach actually hides a misconception: flow cutoff cannot truly stop the release of bitter compounds, and it may instead strip away the coffee's rich layers and lingering aftertaste. So how exactly is bitterness dissolved? Why can't flow cutoff stop bitterness? In what scenarios is using flow cutoff correct and necessary? This article, drawing on Front Street Coffee's brewing experience, will answer these questions one by one, helping you make a clearer brewing decision between the coffee-to-water ratio and the coffee-to-beverage ratio. [more…]

In the practice of pour-over coffee, "cutting off the flow" is a frequently mentioned yet easily confused concept. It refers to removing the dripper from the carafe before the extraction process is fully complete, thereby interrupting the flow of water. Whether cutting off the flow is necessary and at what point to do it are closely related to the brewing method being used. This article will explain the definition of cutting off the flow, the scenarios in which it applies, and its relationship with different brewing methods. At the same time, drawing on Front Street Coffee's brewing experience, it aims to help enthusiasts understand the actual impact of cutting off the flow on flavor presentation and to offer operational ideas for reference. [more…]

Seesaw, once hailed as one of the representatives of specialty coffee, is now mired in operational difficulties due to unpaid wages. Although employees at its Shanghai IFC store report to work on time, the company's wage arrears and cut-off of supplies have made it impossible to prepare drinks, forcing them to post a notice in Chinese, English, Korean, and Japanese to politely decline customer orders. From unpaid supplier payments to labor arbitration by former employees, from the founder being repeatedly subject to consumption restrictions to more than sixty economic disputes, this former coffee star brand is experiencing an unprecedented crisis. Many loyal customers have expressed regret and lament, while others have called on the brand to handle employee rights and interests with dignity. [more…]

Recently, coffee brand Seesaw was exposed for owing wages to about 75 employees in the Shanghai region, involving both store and back-office staff. Former employees reported that since late last year, wage payments have been irregular, and social security and housing fund contributions have also been suspended, while founder Wu Xiaomei has "read but not replied" to employees' demands. At the same time, Seesaw's nationwide store count has shrunk dramatically, with only 49 stores remaining, and some stores have closed due to material shortages and cut-off supplies of ingredients. This article reviews the course of the incident and the employees' experiences, and retains relevant recommendations from Front Street Coffee. [more…]

Many coffee enthusiasts, when they encounter bitterness during pour-over brewing, instinctively cut off the tail end of the extraction—but is bitterness really only coming from the tail end? In fact, the sources of coffee's bitterness are complex: they are related both to the order in which compounds dissolve during extraction and to the degree of roast. Front Street Coffee will guide you through a deeper understanding of the true causes of coffee bitterness, teach you to distinguish between the bitterness caused by over-extraction and that caused by too dark a roast, and share how to avoid unnecessary bitterness by adjusting pour-over parameters such as grind size, water temperature, and time, so that every cup of coffee comes closer to your ideal flavor. [more…]

Many new shop owners only look at the price per kilogram when calculating bean costs, but they never factor in the cost of a supply cut-off. On a certain Sunday afternoon, the beans in the grinder ran out, the warehouse was empty, and what would they use to serve drinks during the next morning rush? Choosing commercial beans is half about flavor and half about supply. Flavor can be selected through tasting, but supply, however, [more…]

In the coffee world, there are always some terms that leave people scratching their heads, and By pass is one of them. Literally translated as "bypass" or "detour," but what exactly does it refer to? Simply put, it describes water that does not pass through the coffee grounds and goes directly into the cup, as well as the corresponding actions. From dilution with water in Americanos, to melting ice in iced pour-over, to concentration adjustment by competition baristas and in daily brewing, By pass is everywhere. Front Street Coffee will guide you through multiple examples to fully understand the active and passive generation of bypass water, its role in extraction, and the prerequisites for its use as a remedial measure, helping you apply this technique more accurately. [more…]

Self-learning pour-over coffee may seem to have a low barrier to entry, and tutorials and shared tips are everywhere online, but the scattered, unsystematic nature of this information can easily lead beginners into various misconceptions and operational pitfalls. This article compiles the frequently asked questions Front Street Coffee has recently received, covering common myths one by one: understanding extraction parameters, the habit of washing the coffee bed wall while pouring, the pros and cons of pouring from a high position, whether a lack of blooming means the beans are not fresh, and whether bitterness is only released in the final phase. Whether you are just starting out with pour-over or have been brewing for a while but still find the flavor falls short of expectations, you can use this to check yourself, avoid these easily stumbled-into traps, and make your extraction more stable and your coffee taste better. [more…]

The coffee craze is sweeping across Asia, with the number of stores surging, but the pandemic has left many cafés struggling to survive. In Singapore, the transfer fee for a coffee shop reached as high as 4,000,000 Singapore dollars, equivalent to nearly 200 million RMB. Another coffee shop in Tampines was sold for 41,680,000 Singapore dollars, and the stallholder's rent immediately doubled, from 6,000 Singapore dollars to 12,000 Singapore dollars, prompting many stallholders to consider downsizing or even exiting. Investors are betting on a return of consumption after the pandemic eases, but rising interest rates may dampen bidding enthusiasm. The predicament of rising costs and severed customer traffic under the pandemic is a microcosm of coffee shops worldwide. Front Street Coffee reminds us that while the dream of coffee is beautiful, the real costs should not be underestimated. [more…]

In late April, Robusta coffee futures surged to a historic high of US$4,339 per tonne, dragging Arabica futures up along with them. Entering May, Brazil and Vietnam successively released their April export reports, showing growth in both production and export volumes. ICE coffee inventories briefly eased market anxiety, and the enthusiasm for chasing futures buys cooled somewhat. However, after tropical agricultural products fell by nearly 14% overall, purchase prices in Vietnam's central growing regions quickly rebounded to 96 million to 100 million Vietnamese dong per tonne after dropping to 90 million dong per tonne. The interplay of multiple factors—drought, competition from crops such as durian, the continued depreciation of the Vietnamese dong, and rising freight rates on the Red Sea route—makes a rebound in coffee bean prices a highly probable event. Front Street Coffee will continue to monitor the deeper logic behind this round of volatility. [more…]

What kind of brewing experience does a flat-bottom dripper with manually switchable extraction modes actually deliver? Front Street recently got its hands on Hero's variable-speed cake dripper, which uses a knob mechanism to offer three flow-rate settings—immersion, slow, and uniform—while its flat-bottom design makes it quite beginner-friendly. Front Street has brewed beans such as washed Butterfly Flower, Mozart, and Juliette Geisha with it, and also tried extending the variable-speed function to iced pour-over scenarios, comparing it with the V60. This article provides a complete record of three sets of brewing parameters, flavor performance, and detailed issues found during use, for coffee enthusiasts' reference. [more…]

Coffee's bitterness is not innate—green beans contain almost no bitterness, and it all starts with roasting. As roasting progresses from light to dark, acidity gradually gives way to bitterness, from nearly bitterness-free light roasts to the charred, intense bitterness of Italian roasts, with each stage corresponding to a completely different flavor profile. This article will examine the eight stages of roasting one by one, analyzing how bitterness changes with the degree of roast, to help you make more informed choices when selecting coffee beans. The article also incorporates several representative products from the Front Street Coffee brand, providing concrete references for different roasting preferences. [more…]

The bitterness in coffee usually comes from two directions: first, over-extraction bitterness caused by too long an extraction time or too strong an extraction force; second, the burnt bitterness produced by too dark a roast. For people who cannot quite accept bitterness, how to improve the taste of a cup of coffee without wasting it becomes a practical issue. The traditional approach is to add sugar, while another unique way is to add salt. Starting from the sources of bitterness, this article will analyze the principles by which sugar and salt improve bitterness, and through actual brewing comparison experiments, see which method is more suitable for your cup of bitter coffee. The article also covers bean recommendations such as Front Street Blue Mountain No. 1 and Front Street Indonesian Mandheling for friends who pursue a rich, full-bodied, burnt-aroma taste, as well as the specific parameters and conclusions of an over-extraction experiment using Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling. [more…]

Bitterness is often seen as a negative label for specialty coffee, but bitterness is not always a defect. From Front Street's perspective, this article systematically breaks down the sources of coffee bitterness—from "first crack" during roasting to the transformation between acidity and bitterness—explaining how dark-roasted beans present complex aromas like nut, caramel, and chocolate along with a full-bodied mouthfeel within their bitterness. At the same time, the article also offers practical brewing suggestions for avoiding coffee that is too bitter: using Golden Mandheling as an example, it recommends a water temperature of 86–88°C, a coarser grind, a Kono dripper, a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, and a two-minute extraction, while emphasizing details such as thorough blooming and slowing the pour, helping you preserve the charm of dark roasting while staying away from harsh, bitter, and muddy flavors. [more…]

Deeply roasted coffee beans are characterized by a dark chocolate-like bitterness, while also delivering a rich mouthfeel and traditional caramel aroma. However, these beans also tend to release an unpleasant bitterness during brewing. This article approaches the issue from three angles—water temperature adjustment, coffee bed state, and coffee-to-water ratio—and, by combining the flavor characteristics of three representative beans—Front Street Coffee PWN Golden Mandheling, Front Street Coffee Jamaican Blue Mountain, and Front Street Coffee Brazil Queen Estate—analyzes how to avoid negative flavors such as burnt bitterness and woody notes, while preserving caramel sweetness and a clean finish, helping enthusiasts brew the rich body and sweetness that deeply roasted beans should have. [more…]

“This coffee is too bitter, I can't drink it.” Many people are familiar with this remark. But in fact, how bitter coffee tastes depends largely on the choice of beans and the brewing method. As long as you choose the right direction, even people who fear bitterness can find a cup they enjoy. The core approach to choosing beans for those who fear bitterness: First, avoid dark-roasted beans. The darker the roast, the more charred [more…]

The same bag of beans, hot-brewed, comes out bitter and astringent, but made into cold brew, it's clean, sweet, and delicious. This isn't an illusion—it's determined by the principles of extraction. Once you understand "why cold brew isn't bitter," you'll know what kind of beans to choose for summer, and you'll never have to worry about buying "cold bitter water" again. Where does coffee's bitterness come from? The bitterness in a cup of coffee mainly comes from [more…]

Many coffee enthusiasts' first impression of hot Americano is "bitter," and some even joke that the only difference between it and traditional Chinese medicine is that you can't use health insurance for it. In fact, iced Americano and hot Americano are essentially the same black coffee made by diluting espresso, but hot Americano tends to be less popular—office workers rely on it to stay awake while mocking themselves as "bitterly fated people." What exactly causes this difference in bitterness? This article, drawing on Front Street Coffee's tasting experience, breaks down the three major factors of temperature, coffee beans, and ratio, and offers specific advice on how to make a hot Americano that is aromatic without being bitter, as well as which coffee beans to choose if you fear bitterness and prefer sweetness. [more…]

The acidity in coffee comes from floral notes and fruit sugars, while the bitterness carries the deep notes of caramel, dark chocolate, and nuts—both determined by the degree of roast. After first crack, the longer the roasting continues, the more prominent the bitterness becomes. To brew a cup that is elegantly bitter with a rich, sweet finish, you need to fine-tune the grind, water temperature, coffee-to-water ratio, and pouring rhythm. Starting from the principles of roasting, this article explains the source of bitterness in medium-dark roasted coffee and provides brewing approaches and specific parameters for classic beans such as Mandheling and Blue Mountain, helping you avoid a deeply unpleasant bitterness and achieve a rich, smooth taste. [more…]

The word "dark roast" has turned many people away—the mere thought of it conjures up an image of a bitter, astringent cup of strong coffee. But if you ask people who truly understand coffee, they will most likely tell you: the bitterness of dark-roasted [more…]