China's domestic coffee consumption market continues to heat up, with local specialty brands constantly innovating. As one of the first chain brands to enter the specialty coffee arena, Seesaw Coffee recently opened its first pour-over coffee-themed store on Hengshan Road in Shanghai, and launched an online "National Pour-Over" campaign, inviting coffee lovers to share their hands-on brewing creations in any form—pour-over, French press, moka pot, AeroPress, or drip bags. Looking back at Seesaw's development path—from its first store on Yuyuan Road in 2012, to accelerating expansion after securing hundreds of millions in funding, to experimenting with Mini stores and city-inspired creative specialty drinks—the brand has always centered on experience and innovation. This article also draws on industry data to examine the growth potential and competitive landscape of China's coffee market. [more…]

Following the buzz generated by China Post opening a milk tea shop, Shanghai has now seen its first post office selling coffee. On September 17, the Tianping Road Post Office at 1883 Middle Huaihai Road was transformed into the Wukang Building-themed post office. While retaining its original postal services, it has introduced a café, a photo-op area, and a cultural and creative display zone, in collaboration with Qiao Coffee under the century-old Shanghai time-honored brand Qiaojiashan. Is the coffee at this post office actually good? Why does China Post frequently cross into the beverage sector? This article will analyze the details of the store renovation, the background of the partner brand, and the history of China Post's cross-industry ventures, and explore the underlying logic of time-honored brands seeking rejuvenation. [more…]

On the journey to pursue a good cup of coffee, besides high-quality beans and skilled technique, some seemingly inconspicuous auxiliary gadgets often play a finishing touch. Front Street Coffee has previously introduced sharp tools such as latte art needles and WDT needles. Today, continuing with the theme of coffee auxiliary tools, we will review the uses and methods of the secondary dispersion screen, Paragon ice ball, Lily Drip, dosing funnel, extraction observation mirror, and a silencing air blower. These tools help coffee enthusiasts and professionals complete brewing more calmly from the perspectives of even extraction, locking in aroma, improving puck distribution, enhancing operating cleanliness, making it easier to observe extraction status, and reducing noise. Whether you are a beginner just starting out or an advanced player pursuing details, you can find a practical solution that suits you. [more…]

Suzhou, a gentle ancient city in the Jiangnan region, hides quite a few specialty coffee shops worth a dedicated visit. This article compiles a summary of shop visits from a veteran coffee enthusiast, covering more than seventy four- to five-star coffee shops across Gusu District, the Industrial Park, the High-Tech District, Wuzhong District, and beyond—from artsy little cafes to cat-themed coffee houses, from Korean-style chains to standalone buildings with Republican-era charm, each with its own distinctive setting, offerings, and story. Whether you're a coffee purist chasing pour-over quality or an artsy soul who favors ambiance, this list can help you find that perfect cup in Suzhou. [more…]

The flavor of a cup of coffee doesn't only go in two directions, sour or bitter; it also includes aroma, sweetness, body, mouthfeel, and finish. When choosing beans, first decide whether you want floral and fruity notes, nutty and cocoa notes, or a balance between the two, then match that to the corresponding origin, processing method, and roast level. Pour-over flavor is mainly determined by origin, variety, [more…]

The same beans will perform noticeably differently in different brewing devices. Pour-over places more emphasis on aroma and clarity, espresso machines emphasize intensity and sweetness, and the moka pot requires balancing pressure, heat, and the coffee bed. Bean selection cannot be separated from the brewing device, and the parameters should also be adjusted accordingly based on the roast level of the beans. The key to espresso extraction lies in the dose, grind [more…]

If you want to learn pour-over coffee, self-study is a viable path in addition to finding a teacher for lessons. Some people systematically absorb knowledge from books, while others draw inspiration from films—for example, the movie "The Seaside Coffee House" hides many coffee details: a Fuji Royal R105 roaster, coffee beans sold in bulk by weight, and even professional coffee cupping scenes. Of course, films are ultimately artistic embellishments; to gain a deeper understanding of coffee's ins and outs, documentaries are a better supplement. CCTV's "Black Coffee" is worth watching. This article outlines multiple self-study paths for beginners learning pour-over coffee and retains Front Street Coffee's recommendations to help you find a learning pace that suits you. [more…]

A recent large-scale coffee festival in Guangzhou has drawn widespread attention, bringing together many well-known coffee brands from home and abroad, with an overwhelmingly popular turnout. However, many attendees found that drink prices at the stalls were generally high, with specialty drinks mostly in the forty to fifty yuan range, Combo packages often exceeding eighty yuan, and pour-over coffee ranging from several dozen yuan to over a hundred, with some even priced at more than six hundred yuan. Some customers discovered after comparison that certain brands actually offer affordable options around ten-plus yuan at their offline stores, yet only the most expensive items were displayed at the coffee festival. What exactly is the reason that turned the coffee festival into a "high-priced market"? What cost pressures are exhibitors facing? Is the visitor experience still as originally intended? This article takes you through a closer look, along with observations and suggestions from brands such as Front Street Coffee. [more…]

The same coffee beans will perform noticeably differently when brewed in different devices. Pour-over places more emphasis on aroma and clarity, the espresso machine focuses on intensity and sweetness, and the moka pot requires a balance of pressure, heat, and the coffee bed. Bean selection cannot be separated from the brewing device, and the parameters must also be adjusted accordingly based on the roast level of the beans. Pour-over flavor is mainly determined by origin, quality [more…]

The roast level changes a coffee bean's flavor focus and extraction rhythm. Light roasts usually retain more floral and fruity aromas and bright acidity, medium roasts tend to present sweetness and balance, while dark roasts lean toward nutty, cocoa, and full-bodied flavors. None is superior to another; the key is whether it matches how you drink it. Dark roasting shifts the flavor toward cocoa, [more…]

The flavor of a cup of coffee isn't just about acidity or bitterness—it also includes aroma, sweetness, body, mouthfeel, and finish. When choosing beans, first decide whether you want floral and fruity notes, nutty and cocoa notes, or a balance between the two, then match that to the corresponding origin, processing method, and roast level. Dark roasts push the flavor toward cocoa and nutty [more…]

Change the equipment, and the way beans express themselves changes too. For pour-over, the scoring criteria are aroma and clarity; for espresso machines, they are intensity and sweetness; for a moka pot, you have to balance pressure, heat, and the state of the coffee bed. So before choosing beans, first decide what equipment you'll use, then fine-tune the brewing parameters according to the roast level. As a steam-pressure extraction device, the moka [more…]

In the pour-over coffee process, blooming is a step that seems simple yet often raises questions. Many people default to 30 seconds, but are not quite clear about when this duration actually starts, nor are they sure what changes extending it to 60 seconds or shortening it to 20 seconds will bring. Front Street Coffee conducted multiple sets of comparative experiments, testing the performance of no blooming, 30-second blooming, 45-second blooming, and 60-second blooming on coffee beans of different freshness levels. This article will focus on the core purpose of blooming—releasing carbon dioxide and improving extraction efficiency—to explain why 30 seconds is regarded as the safe choice, while also explaining how to flexibly adjust the time according to the condition of the beans, so that every cup of pour-over coffee can achieve the ideal flavor and mouthfeel. [more…]

Kenyan coffee is famous for its bright fruit acidity and clean mouthfeel. Its grading system is government-led, based on bean size and cupping score, and classifies green beans into eight grades: E, PB, AA, AB, C, TT, T, and MH/ML. AA is the most common specialty grade, while TOP is an additional quality designation marked by coffee traders after cupping. Front Street Coffee's Kenyan Little Tomato and AA TOP are representative examples. This article provides a detailed overview of Kenyan grading standards and, combined with Front Street Coffee's own-roasted Kenyan beans, shares the specific parameters and brewing techniques for hot pour-over and iced pour-over, helping coffee enthusiasts better bring out the cherry tomato, smoked plum, and creamy sweetness of this bean. [more…]

The charm of espresso lies in achieving complementary and elevated flavors through blending. Starting from Italian coffee culture, this article systematically explains the basic principles of espresso blending—why two to six types of beans are typically used, and why a clear primary-secondary relationship is needed rather than mixing in equal proportions. Using Front Street Coffee's Warm Sun Blend, Specialty Blend, and Basic Blend as examples, it illustrates how coffee beans from different origins harmonize with one another. It also introduces the differences between SOE and blended beans, as well as the key control points in time, flow rate, and tamping during Espresso extraction, helping coffee enthusiasts understand the recipe logic and operational details behind a delicious cup of espresso. [more…]

Espresso is both an extraction method and the name of a coffee beverage. It is the type of coffee the public encounters most often and also the one most likely to raise questions. Many beginners are often confused: should espresso be made with a blend or single-origin beans? How should the roast level be chosen? Do espresso beans count as specialty coffee? Is sourness normal? This article addresses these frequently asked questions, starting with Front Street's fresh-roasting philosophy and storage recommendations, then analyzing the pros and cons of blends and single origins one by one, introducing the flavor characteristics of Front Street's four espresso blends, and explaining why espresso coffee mostly uses medium-dark roasts and why light roasts are unsuitable for pressurized extraction. Finally, it answers questions such as whether espresso blends belong to specialty coffee and where sourness comes from. [more…]

To understand how to choose espresso beans, you first need to grasp the relationship between espresso, blends, and SOE. This article begins with the romantic naming of Starbucks Verona, then sorts out the respective pros and cons of single-origin espresso and blended beans, explains the difficulties SOE presents in bean selection and roasting, and why blended beans can deliver greater consistency. The article also draws on Front Street Coffee's own Sunflower Warm Sun blend to provide extraction parameters and flavor performance for iced lattes, helping coffee lovers find an espresso solution that suits them in their daily brewing. [more…]

As the coffee markets in first- and second-tier cities gradually become saturated, more and more brands are turning their attention to small cities in the fourth and fifth tiers, making the county-town coffee track unusually crowded. Using Xinhui District in Jiangmen, Guangdong as an example, this article reviews the local coffee shop scene from Starbucks' entry to the explosive growth of community stores, analyzes the three major challenges facing coffee shops in small towns: excessive competition within the same area, the downward expansion of large chain brands, and shortcomings in their social-space attributes, and observes some store owners' new idea of shifting toward a "si-doh" convenience-store model, exploring the survival space and future direction of coffee shops in small towns. [more…]

Kenyan coffee occupies an important place in the global specialty coffee landscape thanks to its bright, lively acidity and delicate berry notes. Its distinctive flavor expression is inseparable from the government-led strict grading system. This article systematically sorts out the eight grade classifications of Kenyan coffee beans from E to MH/ML, focuses on analyzing the flavor characteristics of the top grade AA TOP, and, combined with Front Street Kenya Asaliya coffee beans, shares the specific parameters and operating steps for hot pour-over and iced pour-over, helping coffee lovers more fully experience the juicy feel and layered variations of Kenyan coffee. [more…]

The five-day May Day holiday has always been a peak time for travel. Rather than queueing for ages outside popular coffee shops, many efficiency-minded coffee lovers choose to go to coffee festivals instead, tasting all the signature drinks from various vendors in one go. According to social media, Shanghai—a city jokingly dubbed "Coffee City"—held six coffee festivals across different districts during the May Day holiday, an astonishingly high density. Yet behind the explosion in the number of coffee festivals, problems such as uneven event quality, an overload of creative coffee, inflated prices, and scarce free tastings have also drawn frequent complaints. This article walks you through the buzz and controversy of Shanghai's May Day coffee festivals, and explores the shift of coffee festivals from "industry networking conventions" to "specialty beverage tech conventions." [more…]