For enthusiasts who own a coffee machine, how to deal with the coffee grounds produced every day has become a common problem. Beyond the well-worn uses like growing flowers and removing odors, some netizens have tried using coffee grounds to blanch pork belly to remove its gamey smell, with surprising results. This article compiles the actual test results of this method, feedback from netizens, and similar applications in Korean cuisine, while also reminding you of details such as filtering and ingredient freshness during the process, to help you, a coffee lover, make reasonable use of coffee grounds. [more…]

Many people learning to brew loose-leaf tea hear the saying that "the first steep should be poured out," what is known as washing the tea, rinsing, or waking the tea. But in fact, not all teas need this step. Whether to wash the tea depends on the type, form, and processing method of the tea leaves. This article sorts out in detail which teas are suitable for a quick rinse and which are best to skip this step, and explains the actual impact of washing tea on flavor and caffeine content, helping you make more suitable choices in your daily brewing. [more…]

Heytea's "Super Plant Tea" family has welcomed a new member, the Red Beet Beauty Bottle, and the pace of new product launches in the fruit and vegetable beverage track is remarkable. However, behind the frequent launches, the work intensity in store back kitchens is constantly increasing. From the original chia seed slimming bottle to the bitter melon fire-clearing slimming bottle, and now to the new red beet product, employees are constantly busy around the sink, cutting board, and blender, washing vegetables, peeling, chopping, blanching, and juicing, with increasingly complicated procedures. The surge in orders during the National Day holiday has made workers complain endlessly, with some sighing that they have to process more than ten jin of fruits and vegetables a day, and blenders even overloaded to the point of smoking and breaking down. This article takes you through the real working conditions of Heytea's back kitchen employees, and the little-known daily hardships under the fruit and vegetable beverage craze. [more…]

Heytea continues to push hard in the fruit-and-vegetable tea segment, and is about to launch its autumn-winter new product, the "Hydrating Slimming Bottle," featuring cucumber as the star paired with kale and apple. As soon as the news came out, consumer anticipation and complaints from store staff emerged at the same time. The preparation of raw materials for fruit-and-vegetable tea is cumbersome, with a lengthy process of washing, cutting, blanching, and juicing. During peak hours, employees are run ragged, and some even joke that resignation letters are already being submitted. Whether this new product can balance consumer enthusiasm and employee burden is worth watching. Front Street Coffee continues to bring you the latest developments in the coffee and tea beverage industry. [more…]

In the pour-over coffee process, blooming is a standard step that almost every coffee enthusiast performs. At Front Street, we always pour water at twice the weight of the coffee grounds first and let it sit for about thirty seconds. What change does this seemingly simple step actually bring to a cup of coffee? This article will break down the meaning of blooming from two dimensions—degassing and saturation—and, for coffee beans of different freshness levels, offer ideas on adjusting the blooming time, helping you control the extraction rhythm more confidently and brew a full-flavored cup of good coffee. [more…]

Many people adore that bittersweet chocolate character in coffee—buttery, full-bodied sweetness, warm aromas of toasted walnuts, and a gentle acidity that glides across the palate like silk, with a cocoa sweetness that lingers unforgettably. If you're looking for this kind of flavor too, this article will walk you through how to choose beans for dark chocolate-flavored coffee, focusing on the rich cocoa notes of Front Street Colombia Huila, as well as two products with a high proportion of Brazilian beans: the Front Street Specialty Blend and the Front Street Dark Cocoa Base Blend. The former combines nutty, chocolate, and caramel aromas, while the latter incorporates the plum-like acidity of Yunnan smallholder beans, releasing a creamy chocolate aroma when ground—balanced and versatile, ideal for lattes and a variety of espresso drinks, helping you choose precisely according to your taste preferences. [more…]

The Huila, Cauca, and Nariño regions in southern Colombia, with their high altitudes, special terrain, and microclimates, produce coffees with outstanding acidity and distinctive flavors that are extremely popular among enthusiasts worldwide. Among them, Huila, as one of the main cultivation areas, accounts for 12% of Colombia's total coffee production. Although different estates and processing methods bring subtle variations, the nutty, chocolate, and caramel undertones run through almost consistently. If you want to drink Colombian coffee, Front Street Coffee's washed Huila is the top choice—with prominent chocolate and roasted hazelnut aromas, rich layers in pour-over, and the ability to showcase crema in a moka pot or espresso machine. If you prefer complex nutty notes like almonds, blanched almonds, and walnuts, Front Street Coffee's specialty blend is also worth trying. [more…]

As the Dragon Boat Festival approaches, Starbucks' Frappuccino Dumplings have made their return to stores, bringing with them forced sales tasks for employees. Some customers report that even after clearly declining, they are still repeatedly pestered by staff recommendations, which is extremely annoying. On the other hand, Starbucks employees are also full of grievances; facing mandatory sales targets from the company, they have no choice but to use various channels to clear inventory, even paying out of their own pockets. This buying-and-selling game surrounding Frappuccino Dumplings reflects the deep contradiction between brand performance pressure and consumer experience. [more…]

Cinnamon-flavored Phoenix Dancong is a highly distinctive variety among Wuyi oolong teas. Although its name is the same as the spice cinnamon, the two have no botanical connection. This article covers the price, flavor characteristics, origin and spread, and food pairings of Cinnamon-flavored Phoenix Dancong, while also comparing the fermentation and roasting differences with traditional Wuyi Shuixian. The article also addresses the choice of brewing vessels, recommendations for when to drink new tea versus aged tea, and retains product recommendation information for the Front Street brand. Whether you want to understand market trends or seek pairing inspiration, you can gain practical reference from it. [more…]

Iced Americano has been reinvented in increasingly wild ways by netizens in recent years, from mixing Huoxiang Zhengqi liquid into an Americano to today's jaw-dropping oyster iced Americano—the boundaries of creative coffee are being pushed further and further. For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style). For more specialty coffee beans, please add our private WeChat account Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: qjcoffeex. This article will walk you through how this iced Americano called "Oyster Bitter" came to be, as well as the increasingly absurd creative trends in today's specialty coffee drinks, and explore the balance between chasing hype and preserving the essence of coffee in creative coffee. [more…]

Heytea recently launched the "Fire-Clearing · Slimming Bottle," the second product in its "Super Plant Tea" series, featuring kale and bitter melon as the core ingredients, paired with apple, lemon water, tea infusion, and white pomelo pieces. The official emphasis is on 100% fresh ingredients freshly squeezed, with no added concentrated juice, and only about 100 calories. Just one day after its launch, the new product was sought after by young consumers, with many reporting that the bitter melon taste is not very noticeable and the drink is refreshing and easy to drink. However, the hot sales of this beverage have also brought enormous pressure to store employees, with the workload of apple washing and juicing surging, and back-of-house partners complaining endlessly. This article will take you through the features of this new product, consumer feedback, and the real situation behind the stores. [more…]

Yunnan coffee has attracted growing attention in the specialty market in recent years. From its past as a raw material for instant coffee to today's endless array of experimental processing methods, its flavor image is being redefined. But what exactly should Yunnan coffee taste like? And what is the relationship and difference between Typica and Catimor? This article begins with the history of cultivation, traces the evolution of Arabica varieties in Yunnan's small-bean producing regions, focuses on the Typica coffee that Front Street Coffee grows in Lincang, and provides a specific pour-over recipe for sun-dried Typica, including dose, ratio, water temperature, grind size, and a three-stage pouring rhythm, to help you brew a cleaner, more balanced side of Yunnan coffee. [more…]

The definition of specialty coffee goes far beyond the coffee beans themselves; it depends even more on whether the roaster and brewer can interpret the characteristics of each bean from a professional perspective. This article explores the core of specialty coffee in depth: from green bean varieties, processing methods, and moisture content to roasting curves, and then to the precise control of extraction parameters, emphasizing that only by fully understanding and accommodating the personality of the coffee beans can one present a cup of specialty coffee with balanced flavor and no jarring notes. Whether Robusta or Arabica, as long as the strengths are properly showcased, either can become specialty. The article also points out that blindly following brewing trends or ignoring basic extraction principles cannot achieve true specialty coffee. [more…]