Blue Mountain coffee is famous for its scarce production and high price, but products sold under the "Blue Mountain" name on the market are a mix of genuine and fake. This article first helps you understand the origin certification, grading system, and estate system of authentic Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, then breaks down in detail seven brewing methods for Front Street Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans—espresso, pour-over, siphon, AeroPress, French press, cold drip, and Japanese iced pour-over. Each method comes with parameters and flavor descriptions, making it easy for coffee lovers to choose according to their own taste. [more…]

The coffee-to-water ratio is the first parameter to nail down in pour-over coffee, as it directly influences both the strength and the extraction yield. The American Coffee Association once arrived at a golden ratio of 1:18 through extensive research, but today's bean varieties and processing methods are vastly different, making this figure better suited as a starting point than an ironclad rule. Front Street Coffee's shops typically brew with 15 grams of grounds to a 1:15 ratio, meaning 225 milliliters of hot water is poured; when they want to highlight floral notes and acidity, they loosen the ratio to 1:16. This article explores how the coffee-to-water ratio affects flavor, how to fine-tune it for different beans, and a hands-on three-pour routine using 15 grams of grounds, helping beginners find a brewing rhythm that suits them. [more…]

Among the many variables in pour-over coffee, the coffee-to-water ratio is always the key parameter determining the direction of flavor. Front Street Coffee usually recommends a safe range of 1:15 to 1:16, and once you get used to it, 15 grams of coffee with 225 milliliters of water becomes almost the default operation. But in reality, we are not necessarily that precise every time, and the amount of coffee may be one gram more or one gram less. If the amount of water poured remains unchanged and only the coffee dose deviates by 1 gram, will the taste of the coffee show a noticeable difference? Through three controlled brewing experiments with 14 grams, 15 grams, and 16 grams, this article analyzes the impact of slight coffee dose adjustments on extraction yield and concentration, and provides parameter adjustment suggestions after the coffee dose changes, helping you achieve consistent results in daily brewing. [more…]

In the practice of pour-over coffee, the coffee dose is one of the key variables determining the extraction result. Many coffee enthusiasts run into this problem: at the end of a bag of beans there are always a few grams left, too little for a single cup on its own, yet too wasteful to throw away. Based on Front Street Coffee's hands-on testing experience, this article systematically explores the differences between brewing with a small dose of around 7 grams and a conventional 15-gram dose, analyzes the extraction challenges caused by a thinner coffee bed and faster water flow, and offers two sets of adjustment plans for different levels of water-control skill—one that relies on a finer grind combined with a thin stream and three-pour approach, and another that uses a heavy stream and staged raising of the water level to lower the barrier to execution. Whether you are a complete beginner or a pour-over player with some experience, you can find a small-dose strategy that suits you. [more…]

Many coffee enthusiasts are intimately familiar with latte art and equipment, yet when it comes to espresso extraction, they often overlook dosing, puck management, and tasting judgment. In fact, dose control is just as critical as grind size adjustment—fluctuations in dose mean that even the most beautiful latte art cannot mask an imbalance in the coffee itself. Starting from the TDS and extraction yield formulas, and drawing on a 2.3-gram dose difference measured on a Mazzer Robur grinder, this article uses charts and data to illustrate the specific effects of dose on concentration, extraction yield, and the balance between acidity and bitterness, and explores approaches to dosing for light-roast espresso. Front Street Coffee also emphasizes the importance of dose consistency in its daily output, and we hope this article offers practical reference for your extraction adjustments. [more…]

The standard dose for pour-over coffee is usually around 15 grams, but when dealing with a rare bean variety or when you just want to taste a sample, can you push the dose down to 5 grams or even lower? Once the dose is reduced, the ratio of hot water to coffee grounds, the extraction time, and the pouring method all change in a chain reaction, and one wrong move can produce a thin or bitter cup. Starting from practical operation, this article sorts out the lower limit of the pour-over coffee dose, analyzes the core difficulties faced by brewing with a small dose, and offers pouring strategies and equipment selection suggestions for extremely small doses such as 5 grams and 8 grams. The article also draws on the store practice of Front Street Coffee to explain the scenarios in which small-dose brewing is suitable and the points to note, helping coffee lovers preserve as much flavor layering as possible while saving beans. [more…]

Front Street Coffee uses a standard dose of 15 grams of coffee per serving, so when sharing brewing methods, 15 grams is always used as the demonstration standard. However, the dose used to brew coffee varies widely. Based on Front Street Coffee's observations, the most common doses are multiples of 6—12 grams, 18 grams, and 24 grams—and these are mostly used to make a single serving of 120 [more…]

Many friends who are just getting into pour-over coffee, in order to save money, often skip tools like electronic scales and thermometers, and instead use spoons they already have at home to estimate their coffee dose. But spoons vary in size and depth, and the roast level of the coffee beans also affects density, so there is no uniform answer to how many grams a single spoon holds. This time, Front Street Coffee specifically gathered four common types of spoons—a porcelain soup spoon, a small stainless steel spoon, a cupping spoon, and a promotional bean scoop—and separately weighed light roast, medium-light roast, medium-dark roast, and dark roast coffee beans before and after grinding, compiling a complete set of data, and teaching you how to convert, based on roast level, the number of scoops needed for close to 15 grams of coffee, so that even without an electronic scale you can still roughly control your coffee dose. [more…]

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow our WeChat public account: FrontStreet Coffee. A while ago, a customer asked, "How do you brew your iced pour-over coffee? Is there a difference between adding ice first and adding ice later?" In this issue, Front Street will conduct an experiment to compare them, hoping to [more…]

The V60#01 dripper is typically suited for 1 to 2 servings, with 15 to 20 grams of coffee being its optimal working range. But in reality, when drinking alone and not wanting too much, people reduce the dose, and when sharing with friends, they increase it. So, when brewing different doses in the same dripper, do the parameters really need to be changed? Front Street Coffee conducted three sets of comparative experiments using Ethiopian Yirgacheffe natural Red Cherry, with doses of 10 grams, 15 grams, and 25 grams, a fixed water temperature of 90°C, a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, medium-fine grind (80% passing through a Chinese standard No. 20 sieve), and circular pouring. The results showed that with a smaller dose, the flavor tends to be thin, while with too large a dose, bitterness may appear and the liquid level may awkwardly approach the rim of the cup. This article will break down the three brewing recipes one by one, their flavor performance, and the adjustment approaches for 10 grams and 25 grams, to help you find a more reasonable extraction method in this small dripper. [more…]

The extraction time of pour-over coffee directly affects the final flavor strength and mouthfeel. This article breaks down how four dimensions—dripper structure, coffee dose, pouring speed, and grind size—influence the contact time between coffee grounds and water, and in turn change the coffee's layering and body. Using 15 grams of coffee, a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, and a V60 or KONO dripper as an example, a Front Street Coffee barista shares a 2-minute brewing recipe suitable for beginners, helping enthusiasts consistently recreate café flavors at home while understanding the logic behind different combinations such as fast brewing with a fine grind and slow brewing with a coarse grind. [more…]

Iced pour-over coffee has gained popularity among many enthusiasts in recent years, but the details during brewing often determine the final flavor direction. Front Street Coffee uses 15 grams of coffee grounds and a 1:10 coffee-to-water ratio as the foundation, paired with 100 grams of ice for cooling and dilution, and conducts a side-by-side comparison experiment on the two methods of adding ice first versus adding ice later. This article fully presents the experimental parameters, brewing process, and sensory differences, while also sharing the flavor performance of the Kafa Forest Ethiopian washed bean, helping readers understand the specific effects of ice addition timing on coffee cleanliness, aroma intensity, and mouthfeel changes, providing reference adjustment ideas for daily brewing. [more…]

On a scorching summer day, a refreshing glass of iced pour-over coffee is nothing short of a lifesaver. This article focuses on the key points of brewing iced pour-over, starting with a simple, easy-to-remember universal formula—coffee grounds, hot water, and ice in a 1:10:5 ratio—then breaking down variables one by one, such as fine grinding, water temperature, and pouring rhythm, to help you recreate café-quality iced coffee at home. It then uses Tanzania Kilimanjaro as an example to demonstrate the standard three-pour iced brewing process, along with a grind size reference from Front Street Coffee shops. At the end, it also introduces Tetsu Kasuya's "one-pour iced pour-over," which needs only a slow-flow dripper and a spoon: pour with a strong stream of water and then stir, and the whole process takes less than two minutes, yielding a round, sweet cup. Whether you pursue precise control or want to save effort, you can find a suitable method. [more…]

How long exactly should the brew time for pour-over coffee be controlled to? This question seems simple, but in reality it involves the combined effects of multiple variables such as the structure of the dripper, the dose of coffee, the pouring speed, and the grind size. Brew time is essentially the duration of contact between coffee grounds and water, which directly determines the degree to which flavor compounds are dissolved. This article will start from the principles of extraction, analyze one by one the various factors that affect brew time, and share a basic brewing recipe commonly used in Front Street Coffee stores—15 grams of coffee, a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, a V60 dripper, three-stage pouring, with a total time of about 2 minutes—suitable for beginners new to pour-over to imitate and practice. [more…]

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow our WeChat official account: Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee). Pour-over coffee has become deeply loved by enthusiasts with the development of the third wave of specialty coffee. Many enthusiasts enjoy brewing pour-over coffee at home. Is pour-over coffee difficult? Actually, to [more…]

The flavor expression of pour-over coffee is closely related to the coffee dose, grind size, coffee-to-water ratio, and pouring technique. For an ideal cup of pour-over coffee, exactly how much coffee grounds should be used, and how much water should accompany them? Taking 15 grams of grounds as an example, Front Street Coffee, combined with SCAA concentration recommendations, analyzes the coffee-to-water ratio range of 1:12 to 1:15, and explains why 1:15 has become a commonly used parameter in cafes. The article also compares the differences in extraction ratios with espresso, and includes the complete brewing data and three-stage operation details of Front Street Yirgacheffe Gedingding, helping enthusiasts build a reproducible brewing framework. [more…]

The appeal of pour-over coffee lies in its ability to bring out different flavors by adjusting parameters, and the coffee-to-water ratio is one of the most critical variables among them. The ratio not only determines the strength of the coffee, but also directly affects the extraction yield and the direction of the taste. Starting from the definition of the coffee-to-water ratio and drawing on the brewing experience of Front Street Coffee shops, this article explains how to find a suitable ratio range and provides a detailed introduction to the operation method and parameter settings of three-pour brewing. Whether you are a beginner just getting into pour-over or an enthusiast looking to refine your technique, you will find practical references here. [more…]

Nowadays, when you go to a coffee shop, most shops offer both pour-over coffee and espresso. Friends who don't drink coffee very often may be confused by this. They're both coffee, so what's the difference? Front Street Coffee is here to explain these two types of coffee respectively. [more…]

Many coffee enthusiasts, when brewing at home, tend to eyeball the dose and pour water by feel, and as a result, the taste comes out different every time. One of the keys to the consistent quality at Front Street Coffee shops is a fixed coffee-to-water ratio—15 grams of coffee to 225 grams of water. This 1:15 ratio is the [more…]

Many friends who are just getting into espresso have heard the saying: the brew ratio for espresso should be controlled at 1:2, for example, 18 grams of coffee grounds extracted into 36 milliliters of espresso. This ratio is often called the "golden ratio," but is it really the only standard? Actually, it is not. The brew ratio determines the strength of the coffee, and the strength in turn directly affects how the espresso performs when drunk on its own or paired with milk. This article centers on the relationship between brew ratio and actual extraction, explaining why 1:2 has become a commonly used reference value, and why ratios such as 1:1.5 and 1:2.5 are equally viable, helping coffee enthusiasts understand espresso extraction parameters more flexibly. [more…]