The sweet, sour, and salty childhood snack of preserved plums actually makes frequent appearances in the world of coffee, too. From the dry aroma associations of Kenyan washed beans to the finishing touch baristas add when developing specialty drinks, the pairing of preserved plums with iced coffee is drawing attention from more and more enthusiasts. Since preserved plums are mostly dried and cured, heating or prolonged steeping releases a strong salty-sour flavor, so Front Street believes they are better suited to being combined with iced coffee. This article compiles three preserved plum iced coffee recipes you can make at home: preserved plum cold brew, preserved plum sparkling Americano, and preserved plum iced pour-over, using Panama sun-dried Butterfly, Sunflower Warm Sun blend, and Elida sun-dried Catuai respectively, with specific parameters and flavor descriptions included for readers with different taste preferences to refer to and choose from. [more…]

As a classic snack that weaves together sour, sweet, and salty notes, preserved plum has increasingly found its way into specialty coffee drinks in recent years. Because preserved plums are cured and thus fairly firm in texture, heating or prolonged steeping draws out an intense salty-sour flavor, making them better suited to iced coffee than hot drinks. Front Street Coffee shares three ways to make preserved plum iced coffee: an easy cold brew, a sugar-free sparkling Americano, and a slightly experimental iced pour-over. Each method has its own considerations when it comes to bean selection, the amount of preserved plum, and extraction parameters, and each ultimately presents a different layering of flavors. If you'd like to try the collision of preserved plum and coffee at home, why not pick the one that suits you best from these three approaches. [more…]

Cold brew coffee is usually recommended to be enjoyed black, in order to appreciate the pure flavor after low-temperature extraction, but when making it at home, it actually offers plenty of room for creativity. Front Street Coffee has put together five hidden ways to drink it today: adding fruit, dried flowers, preserved plums, milk, or coconut water — each one gives cold brew a completely different personality. Beans suitable for fruit cold brew include natural-process Huakui, washed Fruit Punch, Strawberry Candy, Sidra, and Kenyan Cherry Tomato; when choosing fruit, pay attention to whether it can withstand long soaking and whether its aroma is compatible — Kyoho grapes, white peaches, lychees, strawberries, cherries, and sweet oranges are all good choices. As for dried flowers, osmanthus, jasmine, and rose pair best with light-to-medium roast beans that have floral and fruity notes. Preserved plums and nine-process dried tangerine peel can bring a complex aroma with salty-sour notes and a sweet aftertaste. Milk cold brew comes in two forms: direct soaking and mixing in fresh milk. Coconut water mixed with cold brew at a 1:1 ratio is refreshing and cooling. [more…]

Cold brew is usually recommended to be enjoyed black, so as to appreciate the pure flavors and smooth mouthfeel that low-temperature extraction imparts. However, home enthusiasts have long since explored a rich variety of ways to flavor it. Simply by swapping in a different ingredient, cold brew can be transformed into a completely different taste experience. This time, Front Street Coffee has systematically put together five simple and easy-to-make innovative cold brew recipes—from fruit and dried flowers to preserved plums, milk, and coconut water—analyzing the principles of ingredient selection and pairing tips one by one, and offering practical suggestions down to the specific bean varieties and ratios. Whether you prefer bright fruity notes or rich milky flavors, you can find the cup that suits you, and easily recreate at home a limited-edition specialty drink that rivals any coffee shop. [more…]

Cold brew and ice drip are usually recommended to be enjoyed black in coffee shops, so as to savor the unique flavor layers of low-temperature extraction. But for coffee lovers who are keen on making coffee at home, these two types of coffee are far more versatile than that. By adding different ingredients such as fruit, dried flowers, preserved plums, milk, or coconut water, an ordinary cold brew can transform into a completely different taste experience. This article compiles five hidden ways to drink cold brew and ice drip summarized by Front Street Coffee, explaining everything from bean selection to pairing ideas one by one, helping you easily recreate at home the creative specialty drinks sold for fifty yuan a cup in coffee shops. [more…]

Starbucks has recently launched three new fruit cold brew products, featuring flavor elements such as bergamot, green plum, and guava, aiming to attract younger consumers with a refreshing taste. However, before the products have even fully hit the market, some netizens and internal partners have already reported that they taste similar to traditional Chinese medicine, sparking widespread discussion. Cold brew coffee, known for its strong adaptability and excellent layering, is seen as a direction for breaking through the limitations of traditional espresso, but this flavor fusion has clearly stirred up considerable controversy. Front Street Coffee continues to follow coffee product innovation and market feedback. This article will sort out the true performance of this new product from the perspectives of consumer reviews, ingredient combinations, and category trends. [more…]

The history of Yunnan small-bean coffee can be traced back to Typica and Bourbon, the two oldest Arabica varieties, which have pure flavors and a round, sweet taste, yet were gradually replaced by Catimor due to low yield and poor disease resistance. Today, most Yunnan small-bean coffee on the market is mainly Catimor. Front Street Coffee's Yunnan small-bean coffee, after wet processing, shows a balanced profile of brown sugar, nuts, and plum, making it suitable for beginners. If you want to experience a more refined Yunnan flavor, Front Street Coffee's 2013 sun-dried Typica comes from a high-altitude production area in Lincang. The sun-dried processing and medium roast bring layers of dried apricot, black tea, creamy nuts, chocolate, and Sanhua plum, and it can be brewed by pour-over, French press, ice drip, or cold brew. This article will use cold brew as an example to break down in detail the complete steps from bean selection, grinding, steeping, to filtering and dilution, helping you make a clean and smooth cup of Yunnan sun-dried Typica cold brew. [more…]

The history and present of Yunnan small-bean coffee is far richer than one might imagine. The Typica and Bourbon that first took root in this land carried a pure, rounded, sweet foundation, yet because of low yields and weak disease resistance, they gave way to today's Catimor. Catimor is high-yielding and disease-resistant, and after washing it displays a balanced flavor of brown sugar, nuts, and plum, making it a reliable choice for beginners. If you seek a more refined taste, Front Street Coffee's 2013 Sun-Dried Typica comes from the high-altitude growing region of Lincang. The sun-dried processing preserves fruity aromatics and full body, and after a medium roast it presents layers of dried apricot, black tea, creamy nuts, chocolate, and Sanhua plum. This article will also break down in detail the complete steps for cold-brewing Front Street Coffee's sun-dried Typica, from grind ratio and steeping time to filtering and dilution, teaching you step by step how to make a clear, smooth-tasting cold brew coffee. [more…]

The tart aroma of lemon is naturally suited to adding a refreshing touch to drinks, and incorporating it into coffee specialties can create surprisingly delightful flavors. Starting with the basics of making lemon syrup, this article breaks down in detail three popular lemon specialty coffees on the market—lemon sparkling americano, salted lemon sparkling americano, and jasmine lemon cold brew. Each comes with a clear ingredient list, ratio references, and step-by-step instructions, and特别 explains the advantages of medium-light roasted coffee beans in fruity specialty drinks. Whether you want to recreate café hits at home or seek new inspiration for refreshing summer beverages, this recipe guide offers practical references. [more…]

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow our WeChat official account: Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee). Cold brew coffee essentially means that under low-temperature conditions, small-molecule substances that tend toward aroma and acidity are more easily released into cold water, so the coffee tastes light-bodied and tends to express [more…]

What is the difference between cold brew coffee and regular iced coffee? The key lies in using cold water for low-temperature extraction throughout the entire process. This article will provide a detailed introduction to the production points of cold brew coffee, such as the coffee-to-water ratio, grind size, and steeping time, and will also share four coffee beans recommended by Front Street Coffee that are suitable for cold brew—Huakui, Sidra, Little Tomato, and Mozart—presenting rich fruity tea, fermented wine aroma, smoked plum juice, and dark berry different flavor directions, respectively. Whether you want to understand the basic principles of cold brew or want to find a bean suitable for cold brewing, this content can provide practical reference. [more…]

Cold brew coffee, with its light body and sweet-and-sour flavor profile brought by low-temperature extraction, has become the top choice for many coffee lovers at home. However, different coffee-to-water ratios, grind sizes, and steeping times can all cause noticeable differences in the final taste. This article takes the Kenya·Little Tomato coffee beans as an example and, through four sets of coffee-to-water ratio experiments at 1:8, 1:10, 1:12, and 1:15, provides a detailed comparison of the concentration, acidity, sweetness, and aftertaste performance of cold brew at each ratio, helping you find the cold brew recipe that suits you best. It also shares why Front Street Coffee prioritizes the 1:10 ratio in its daily service, and how drinking it over ice can accommodate different taste preferences. [more…]

Cold brew coffee essentially refers to the fact that under low-temperature conditions, small-molecule substances tending toward aroma and acidity are more easily released into cold water, so the coffee tastes light and is mostly characterized by a sweet-and-sour profile. In addition, since it is not limited by equipment or location, cold brew can be said to be a coffee that people can easily access—at home, as long as you have raw [more…]

Cold brew coffee, with its refreshing sweet-and-sour taste and low-barrier preparation method, has become the summer drink of choice for many coffee lovers. But many people will notice that cold brew's coffee-to-water ratio spans a huge range—some use 1:8, some prefer 1:13, while Front Street Coffee habitually brews at 1:10. What flavor differences do different ratios actually bring? This article will use Kenya Little Tomato as an example to test the performance of four coffee-to-water ratios—1:8, 1:10, 1:12, and 1:15—while also sorting out key variables such as grind size, steeping time, water quality, and coffee bean selection, to help you find the cold brew solution that best suits your taste. [more…]

When choosing cold brew coffee beans, you can set the complicated information aside for now. For everyday bean buying, you need to consider how quickly you'll drink them, how much to buy at once, and whether you mainly make black coffee or milk coffee at home. Start from the two contrasts—light and refreshing versus rich and full-bodied, and black coffee versus milk coffee—then look at the roast date and processing method, and your judgment will be closer to your daily needs. Flavor [more…]

The coffee-to-water ratio for cold brew has always been a hot topic among enthusiasts. Some prefer the intensity of 1:8, others are used to the lightness of 1:15, while Front Street Coffee's daily offerings mostly use 1:10. Which ratio is actually the most suitable? Starting from the principles of extraction, this article systematically analyzes the impact of coffee-to-water ratio on cold brew flavor, and shares key parameters such as grind size, steeping time, and water quality selection. At the same time, using Kenya AA washed beans as an example, it conducts actual taste tests of the differences among four ratios—1:8, 1:10, 1:12, and 1:15—to help you make a cup of cold brew coffee at home with balanced acidity and sweetness and clear flavor. [more…]

Cold brew coffee, through its low-temperature slow extraction, can present a unique flavor that is light and delicately balanced between sweet and tart, and it can easily be made at home. However, many people wonder: why isn't the coffee-to-water ratio for cold brew fixed like it is for pour-over? Some use 1:8, some use 1:10, and others go as high as 1:15. What kind of taste differences do these different ratios actually create? This article will use a practical side-by-side experiment to help you understand how factors such as coffee-to-water ratio, grind size, and steeping time affect cold brew flavor. Using Kenya Little Tomato as an example, it will also explain how to choose coffee beans suitable for cold brew, and share why Front Street Coffee prioritizes a 1:10 ratio in its daily production. [more…]

Choosing coffee beans suitable for cold brew is something you gradually learn to judge through tasting experience. When buying beans day to day, you need to consider how quickly you'll drink them, how much to buy at once, and whether you mainly make black coffee or milk-based coffee at home. The flavor notes on the packaging can offer clues, but they can't replace the actual drinking experience—whether the acidity is mellow, whether the sweetness lingers, and the mouthfeel [more…]

In the height of summer, wampee, a niche southern fruit, has become a popular partner for homemade iced coffee thanks to its sweet-and-sour juiciness and uniquely fresh aroma. Through repeated testing, Front Street Coffee has put together three distinctly different wampee iced americano recipes: the original wampee sparkling americano uses sparkling water to amplify the fruit aroma and add a more refreshing layer; the jasmine tea wampee americano blends homemade jam with a cold-brewed tea base for a soft fragrance; and the wampee preserved plum iced shaker americano targets those who dislike sweetness, using preserved plum water and a shaker to create a sugar-free version. All three recipes use Front Street Sunflower Warm Sun espresso blend, extracting 40g of coffee liquid from 20g of grounds in 31 seconds. Below, we break down the ingredients, steps, and production details one by one to help you find the cup that best suits your taste. [more…]

Coffee beans suitable for cold brew and ice drip will show different facets depending on the brewing method. When buying beans for daily use, you need to consider how quickly you'll drink them, how much to buy at a time, and whether you mainly make black coffee or milk coffee at home. Pour-over easily brings out the aroma, a coffee machine emphasizes intensity, and a moka pot amplifies the full-bodied richness. When choosing beans, you should first determine your own [more…]