Those who have opened a shop and look back at their base beans will find a clear evolutionary line. Most people start with chain-style dark-roast blends, and after a year or two, the beans on the bar gradually shift toward medium roasts and specialty blends. This isn't fickleness of taste—it's that as a shop grows to different stages, the questions the base beans need to answer also [more…]

At this moment, you are standing in the supermarket, staring at rows of espresso beans on the shelf, feeling overwhelmed. You notice that every coffee is different—some are dark roasted, some are light roasted; some are labeled as blends, while others list various flavor notes. Perhaps you are wondering: which ones are truly delicious espresso? [more…]

Front Street often encounters many pour-over beginners asking a question: Why does pour-over coffee need blooming? The most indispensable step in pour-over coffee is the blooming phase. The purpose of blooming is to allow the coffee to release gases and ensure even extraction, and it also clearly reveals whether the beans being brewed are fresh. Front Street focuses on freshness [more…]

The roast level changes the flavor focus and extraction rhythm of coffee beans. Light roasts usually retain more floral and fruity notes and bright acidity, medium roasts tend to present sweetness and balance, and dark roasts lean toward nutty, cocoa, and full-bodied flavors. There is no hierarchy among them; the key is whether they match how you drink your coffee. The moka pot uses steam pressure extraction. [more…]

Nowadays, people's love for coffee goes beyond pour-over, and more and more people are pursuing making espresso at home. You'll notice that many friends now go to coffee shops and directly order a latte or cappuccino and other espresso-based drinks, but the friends who understand coffee better might order a single-origin specialty coffee. [more…]

Making a latte at home, do you always find that yours turns out either too bitter, or the milk flavor overwhelms the coffee aroma? Actually, as long as you choose fresh ingredients, master the espresso extraction ratio, and then adjust the coffee-to-milk combination based on the bean's roast level and whether you want a hot or cold drink, you can easily recreate coffee-shop quality. This time, Front Street Coffee breaks down the key points of latte-making clearly: from the espresso extraction formula and the flavor tendencies of beans at different roast levels, to the coffee-to-milk ratios best suited for hot lattes and iced lattes respectively, along with reference solutions based on specific products such as Front Street Coffee's Huakui SOE and Sunflower·Warm Sun blend. Whether you prefer a rich, toasty aroma or a fresh, floral-fruity profile, you can find the balanced, delicious cup that suits you. [more…]

For hand-ground coffee, the brewing methods can be quite diverse—pour-over, French press, siphon, moka pot, Clever Dripper, and so on—but the resulting coffee is always a pure black coffee. If you can't handle the bitterness of coffee, you can add sugar and milk to make its taste softer. Therefore, the flavor of hand-ground coffee mainly [more…]

Choosing coffee beans—coffee beans actually determine the flavor of the coffee you make. Many people are used to coffee being bitter, especially those who love drinking coffee from a certain American coffee chain. If you are already used to drinking bitter coffee, I suggest you first try iced-drip Mandheling coffee; it lets you taste the difference between iced drip and what you usually drink. [more…]

In the world of specialty coffee, more and more people prefer drinking single-origin beans, which is understandable. Coffee roasters can use the roasting method best suited to a particular bean to bring out its optimal flavor. In addition, when selling single-origin coffee, they can also introduce customers to the growing environment of that coffee and the story behind it. However, [more…]

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow the WeChat public account: Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee). In the coffee industry, iced coffee is extremely popular, especially in the hot summer, when its popularity feels like fans surrounding their idol. So when it comes to iced coffee [more…]

For many friends who are just getting into coffee, deciding which coffee beans to buy can be quite difficult. There are many brands on the market, so which brand of coffee beans is more suitable for you or better? First step: understand your own preferences. Because during the roasting process of coffee beans, flavor compounds are constantly under [more…]

Roasting is the key step that transforms coffee beans from bland green beans into the rich aroma in your cup. During roughly twenty minutes of high-temperature treatment, the starches inside the beans convert into sugars and acidic substances, moisture and carbon dioxide escape, and proteins and fats combine to form an oily film on the surface, accompanied by the cracking sounds of first crack and second crack. Chlorogenic acid gradually dissipates, releasing pleasant fruit acids such as acetic acid, citric acid, and malic acid. Different roasting levels produce beans of varying darkness; charcoal-burned coffee is the typical example of a deep French roast, and its bitterness comes mostly from carbonization rather than just caffeine. When roasted properly, the beans expand evenly, with a smooth surface and consistent gloss, which is what allows coffee to show its ultimate character. Front Street Coffee believes that mastering the principles of roasting is an important foundation for brewing good coffee. [more…]

If you've been following our activity notifications over the past couple of days, you might have noticed that both of Front Street's stores on Taobao and Tmall have just launched a washed-process Hacienda La Esmeralda Diamond Mountain. And so some friends are quite curious: "They're both Diamond Mountain—what's the difference between this washed-process one and the sun-dried one that was listed before? And then [more…]

The moka pot, an essential espresso-making device in Italian households, has also gained a large following in China in recent years. This article will start with the extraction principle of the moka pot, help beginners understand how to choose suitable coffee beans, and explain in detail key parameters such as the coffee-to-water ratio and grind size. It recommends several Front Street Coffee beans suitable for the moka pot, covering Italian blends, Colombia Huila, Brazil Cerrado, and more, with flavors ranging from nutty chocolate to creamy cookie, each with its own characteristics. Finally, a complete set of usage steps is included, from adding water and distributing the grounds to heating and extraction, teaching you step by step how to brew a rich cup of moka pot coffee. [more…]

What is a Moka pot? Friends who enjoy espresso surely know that espresso originated in Italy. Italians' love for coffee can be said to be carved into their bones—several cups per person per day, making them a nation that "drinks coffee like water." But if every cup had to be bought at a café, the expenses would really add up over time. [more…]

Change the brewing device, and the same coffee beans will perform noticeably differently: pour-over emphasizes aroma and clarity, espresso machines emphasize intensity and sweetness, and the moka pot emphasizes the balance of pressure, heat, and the coffee bed. Only by factoring the brewing device into bean selection and then adjusting the parameters according to the roast level can you call the process complete. Dark roasts shift the flavor focus toward cocoa, dark [more…]

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow: Front Street Coffee (Frontsteet Coffee). Customers who often come to Front Street for coffee sometimes ask the baristas whether there is a lazy-person coffee machine suitable for home use, preferably at a reasonable price. Well then… let's take a look at the American-style drip coffee machine! [more…]

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow the WeChat official account: Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee). When it comes to choosing espresso beans, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) first pays attention to the freshness of the beans, and then to the [more…]

American coffee has attracted many office workers because it lets you enjoy the coffee aroma brought by espresso—refreshing and mellow, without being masked by milk. But in fact, if we have a home coffee machine at home, we can easily make the same American coffee as in a coffee shop, though there are a few details to pay attention to. 1. Purchasing [more…]

With the rapid development of the specialty coffee market, more and more people are beginning to explore pour-over coffee. Many beginners feel completely lost when it comes to making pour-over coffee—the dazzling array of brewing equipment, coffee brewing techniques, and so on make many people feel it's a hassle. Quite a few friends have also come to Front Street Coffee asking how to get started with pour-over coffee, how to brew [more…]