New to coffee and don't know how to choose? The dazzling array of coffee bean varieties makes it quite a dilemma for beginners to pick coffee beans. Front Street Coffee has over 50 types of beans on its shelves, and the question many friends ask most when they visit Front Street's store is what beans are good for beginners. This time, Front Street will talk about how beginners can choose coffee beans that suit them. (Coffee beans are listed in no particular order.)
1. Front Street Yirgacheffe Coffee Beans (bright citrus acidity, refreshing and clean)
Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe coffee, though petite in stature, is gentle and graceful, sweet and lovely. As the homeland of coffee, Ethiopia's thousands of years of cultivation history and processing traditions have produced high-quality washed Arabica beans. Light-roasted Front Street Yirgacheffe coffee has a unique aroma of lemon, floral notes, and honey-like sweetness, with soft fruit acidity and citrus notes, and a fresh and bright taste. Without adding milk or sugar, let the rich body and unique soft floral fragrance brush over your taste buds, leaving an endless aftertaste.
Representative coffee — Front Street Coffee · Ethiopia Washed Yirgacheffe Gotiti Cooperative
Region: Yirgacheffe Gedeo Zone
Altitude: 1900-2100m
Variety: Heirloom
Processing Method: Washed
Grade: G1
Brewing Flavor: Bright citrus acidity on the palate, full-bodied berry juice sensation, with a pronounced oolong tea taste.
2. Front Street Colombia Coffee Beans (soft fruit acidity, balanced flavor, versatile coffee bean flavors)
Colombian coffee is a quite representative excellent variety among Arabica coffee types, and is also a traditional dark-roasted coffee with a strong and memorable taste. Its aroma is rich and substantial, with bright high-quality acidity, high balance, sometimes with nutty notes, and an endless aftertaste. In terms of both appearance and quality, Colombian coffee is considered premium. When mentioning Colombian coffee beans, coffee enthusiasts will surely immediately think of this region's famous beans with special processing methods, especially Colombia's Finca Paraiso, which has been continuously innovating processing methods in recent years, producing very distinctive flavors that leave a particularly deep impression.
Representative coffee — Front Street Coffee · Colombia Diviso Farm Sidra
Region: Colombia Huila
Altitude: 2050m
Processing Method: Double Anaerobic Natural
Variety: Sidra
Brewing Flavor: Passion fruit, grape juice, citrus, apricot, dried fruit, chocolate aftertaste
3. Front Street Costa Rica Coffee Beans (Coffee flavor with pronounced sweetness)
Costa Rica is most famous for its honey processing method. So-called honey processing refers to the process of making green beans by drying them in the sun with mucilage still attached. After the outer pulp of the coffee cherry is removed, there is a sticky, glue-like substance. The traditional washed processing method uses clean water to wash it off, but because some high-altitude producing areas have limited water resources, this direct drying method emerged.
The honey processing process is prone to contamination and mold damage, and requires strict supervision throughout, with constant turning to speed up drying and avoid undesirable fermented flavors. Its advantage lies in preserving the original sweet flavor of the ripe coffee fruit as much as possible, giving the coffee a light brown sugar flavor and sweet nutty aroma, while berry flavors also support a red wine-like base note, and it is considered a very elegant product. Honey-processed coffee beans are highly sought after, largely because of their sweet and full-bodied characteristics.
Representative coffee — FrontStreet Coffee · Costa Rica Mirazu Estate Strawberry Candy Geisha Blend
Country: Tarrazu, Costa Rica
Region: Mirazu Estate
Altitude: 1,700 meters
Variety: Geisha blend
Processing method: Raisin honey processing
Brewing flavor: The delicate fragrance of jasmine, soft fruit acidity, almond finish, and pronounced sweetness.
4. Front Street Brazil Coffee Beans (A must for nut and cocoa flavor lovers)
Brazilian coffee is characterized by a relatively low acidity in the cup, combined with the coffee's bittersweet taste. It is extremely smooth on entry and also carries a faint grassy aroma. It is fragrant with a slight bitterness, sweet and smooth, and the aftertaste is refreshing and pleasant. For Brazilian coffee, there are no particularly outstanding advantages, but there are also no obvious shortcomings. This flavor is mild and smooth, low in acidity, moderate in body, and has a faint sweetness. All these soft flavors are mixed together, and trying to distinguish them one by one is the best test for the palate.
Representative coffee — FrontStreet Coffee · Brazil Queen Estate Semi-Washed Yellow Bourbon
Country: Brazil
Region: Mogiana
Estate: Queen Estate
Variety: Yellow Bourbon
Processing method: Semi-washed processing
Altitude: 1,400–1,950 m
Brewing flavor: The fresh sweetness of sugarcane juice, black tea, soft and smooth fruit sweetness, obvious nutty flavor, balanced and gentle acidity, weak and clean bitterness, rich chocolate aroma and nutty flavor, bright and refreshing taste, smooth and delicate mouthfeel.
5. Front Street Panama Coffee Beans (A must for floral aroma lovers)
It is now generally believed that the best Geisha is produced in Panama, but the Geisha variety was actually discovered as early as 1931 in the Geisha forest of Ethiopia, then sent to the coffee research institute in Kenya, and around 1936 introduced to Uganda and Tanzania, and in 1953 introduced to Costa Rica. Panama only began growing Geisha coffee in the 1970s. It was not until Daniel Peterson, owner of Panama La Esmeralda Estate, participated in the 2004 Panama coffee bean cupping competition and became an instant hit that Geisha began its own extraordinary life—or rather, bean life. Geisha has full sweetness, an extremely clean mouthfeel, and rich aromas that extend from berries and citrus all the way to mango, papaya, and peach. A very obvious bergamot-like aftertaste is also a typical cupping attribute. Geisha coffee beans are often champions among coffee varieties. Geisha coffee beans are rated in cupping as having moderate body, sweetness, multi-layered tropical fruit flavors, and a rose-like aromatic aftertaste.
Representative coffee — FrontStreet Coffee · Panama La Esmeralda Green Label Geisha
Region: Boquete, Panama
Estate: La Esmeralda Estate
Altitude: 1,600–1,800 m
Processing method: Washed processing
Variety: Geisha
Brewing flavor: Rich jasmine fragrance on entry, high sweetness, citrus, berries, juicy feel, cream, green tea, orange peel, cantaloupe; the overall flavor is richly layered, with a lasting finish of floral and citrus notes.
6. Front Street Guatemala Coffee Beans (Mild and mellow, with soft fruit acidity)
Guatemala is characterized by high-altitude volcanic terrain, and these volcanoes are precisely a good home for cultivating coffee. There are mainly seven coffee-producing regions in Guatemala, and the coffee produced in each region has a different flavor, but in summary, Guatemalan coffee beans all present a mild and mellow overall texture, with an elegant aroma and a special and pleasant acidity similar to fruit acids. They have become the aristocracy of coffee and are highly recommended by coffee connoisseurs around the world.
Representative coffee — FrontStreet Coffee · Guatemala Antigua Flower God
Region: Antigua producing region
Altitude: 1,200–1,600 m
Variety: Bourbon, Caturra
Processing method: Washed processing
Grade: SHB
Brewing flavor: Berry acidity, citrus, slight chocolate, rich layering, smooth mouthfeel.
7. Front Street Kenya Coffee Beans (Full-bodied mouthfeel like cherry tomato juice)
AA is Kenya's best coffee grade, and coffee of this grade is the cream of the crop, so much so that Front Street is deeply in love with AATOP from the Thika producing region. TOP is marked by Kenyan coffee traders after cupping. This Front Street Kenya Asali AA bean uses K72 double washed fermentation processing. Its acidity is very bright and lively, as delicate and mouthwatering as berries and red wine. During brewing, the rich berry aroma instantly wafts out, and on entry there are obvious cherry tomato and smoked plum flavors. The acidity and fragrance coexist in the mouth for a long time, and the aftertaste has a creamy sweetness with a lasting sweet finish.
Representative coffee — FrontStreet Coffee · Kenya Cherry Tomato
Region: Thika, Kenya
Processing plant: Asali Honey Processing Plant
Altitude: 1,550–1,750 meters
Grade: AA TOP
Variety: SL28, SL34
Processing method: Kenya 72-hour washed
Brewing flavor: Ripe tomato and floral aroma; on entry, flavors of cherry tomato and smoked plum, bright acidity, clean and the most solid and rich mouthfeel, prominent sweetness in the middle, juicy feel, aftertaste of berry aroma and brown sugar sweetness, with green tea aroma.
8. Front Street Indonesia Coffee Beans (Mellow, low acidity, pronounced sweetness)
Indonesian Mandheling coffee has low acidity and a high concentration, grassy aroma. It drinks rich and full-bodied, and its sweet aftertaste leaves a deep impression. It is worth recommending to those who do not like acidity. Since Front Street opened, it has always been a loyal fan of Mandheling coffee, and Front Street's Golden Mandheling from PWN has also always been deeply loved by Front Street fans.
Representative coffee — FrontStreet Coffee · Indonesia PWN Golden Mandheling
Country: Indonesia
Company: PWN
Region: Gayo Mountain, Aceh, North Sumatra
Processing method: Wet-hulled method
Variety: Ateng
Altitude: 1,100–1,600 meters
Brewing flavor: Varied layers, mellow and clean, high balance, rich nutty and caramel aroma, with chocolate notes, and a lasting finish.
9.Front StreetJamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Beans (A very balanced acidity, bitterness, and sweetness)
The Blue Mountain Range is located in the east of Jamaica. Because the mountains are surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, on clear days when the sun shines directly on the azure sea, the peaks reflect the brilliant blue light of the sea, hence the name. The highest peak of Blue Mountain is 2,256 meters above sea level, the highest peak in the Caribbean region and also a famous tourist destination. It is located in the coffee belt, with fertile volcanic soil, fresh air, no pollution, a humid climate, and fog and rain all year round (average rainfall is 1,980 mm, temperature around 27°C). This climate has created the world-famous Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee and also the world's highest-priced coffee. This coffee has all the characteristics of good coffee. Not only is its flavor rich and mellow, but because the sweetness, acidity, and bitterness of the coffee are perfectly balanced, it has no bitterness at all, only a moderate and perfect acidity. The Front Street Jamaica Blue Mountain that Front Street offers is Blue Mountain coffee beans that are exported through a company designated by the national coffee bureau, packed in wooden barrels as green beans, and Rainforest Alliance certified.
Representative coffee — FrontStreet Coffee · Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1
Farm: Clifton Farm
Estate owner: The Sharp family
Certification: Rainforest Alliance certification
Location: Newcastle area
Total area: 250 acres
Coffee planting area: 180 acres
Average altitude: 4,300 feet (1,310.64 meters)
Processing method: Washed
Variety: 100% Arabica Typica
Brewing flavor: Clean mouthfeel, not as rich as the previous cup, prominent chocolate and nutty flavors, balanced acidity, sweetness, and bitterness.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
