As far as I know, many coffee enthusiasts who are new to the game share a common struggle:

"Which beans should I buy for pour-over coffee??"

"Which bean suits me?"

For seasoned veterans, this is a piece of cake. But for coffee newbies just getting started, it can be a bit overwhelming!
Coffee shops carry a huge variety of beans—different countries of origin, different coffee varieties, different processing methods, different roast levels, and so on.

How do you pick the one that best suits your taste??
Let's keep reading.

The world's three major beverages are cocoa, tea, and coffee. Coffee was introduced to China just over a hundred years ago,
but only in recent years has coffee been developing better and better in China, with a growing number of coffee drinkers.


Africa — Front Street Ethiopia Yirgacheffe

Yirgacheffe coffee from the African producing region is familiar to many who are just getting into specialty coffee. Speaking of Front Street Yirgacheffe coffee beans, they are a well-known Ethiopian coffee bean.

As we all know,Ethiopia is the birthplace of Arabica coffee.

Yirgacheffe was originally a sub-region under the Sidamo producing area. Because the coffee beans produced in Yirgacheffe town had such outstanding production methods and flavors that Ethiopia took pride in it, even branding beans from other regions with the Yirgacheffe name. As a result, Yirgacheffe was separated from the Sidamo producing area and became its own independent region.

There's no need to elaborate on the characteristics of Yirgacheffe,Front Street Yirgacheffe coffee's bright fruit acidity, clean mouthfeel, and delicate elegant floral aroma.
InMr. Han Huaizong's "Specialty Coffee Studies", the description of Yirgacheffe,Front Street very much agrees with "coffee enters the mouth, a hundred flowers bloom."
Because Front Street Yirgacheffe Washed Gutingding is exactly like that.

Front Street Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Washed Gutingding

Region: Ethiopia Yirgacheffe
Cooperative: Gutingding Cooperative
Altitude: 2000m - 2100m
Variety: Local Heirloom
Processing: Washed
Flavor: Citrus, black tea, floral, cream, caramel, almond

This Front Street Washed Gutingding,beyond the main flavor profile of Yirgacheffe, you can also taste its tea-like quality; combined with its citrus acidity, it really feels like drinking lemon tea.


Africa — Front Street Kenya Coffee

Kenya coffee is the god in the minds of many coffee connoisseurs, a pearl of Africa.

The varieties first introduced to Kenya were Bourbon and India's Kent, and later Jamaica's Blue Mountain Typica was introduced and planted on Mount Elgon.

Today, Kenya's most famous coffee bean varieties are SL28 and SL34.

These two varieties were selected and bred through research at Kenya's National Agricultural Laboratory (formerly the Scott Coffee Research Institute).

The SL28 variety is drought-resistant and pest-resistant, suitable for planting at medium to high altitudes. SL34 is suitable for planting in high-altitude areas with abundant rainfall.

In terms of flavor, SL28 and SL34 are very similar, but SL34 has richer acidity and a more intense mouthfeel.
The characteristic flavor of Kenya coffee—the origin of its blackberry acidity—comes not only from the phosphate-rich composition of Kenya's local soil, but also from Kenya's most famous K72 washed processing method.

K72 washed processing method: After harvesting, the coffee cherries are depulped and fermented. After 24 hours of fermentation, they are washed clean with water.
Then soaked and fermented for another 24 hours, washed again with water, and this is repeated 3 times. This achieves a 72-hour strong fermentation. 

Front Street Kenya Asaliya coffee beans use the K72 washed processing method, giving them a brighter, cleaner flavor.

 Front Street Kenya Asaliya Coffee Beans

Region: Kenya Thika
Processing Station: Asali Processing Station
Altitude: 1550m - 1750m
Variety: SL28, SL34
Processing: K72 Washed
Flavor: Snow pear, dark plum, yellow sugar, cherry tomato, plum

Brazil Coffee

Brazil is the world's number one coffee-producing country. Coffee cultivation in Brazil began over 300 years ago.

In the 1720s, a Portuguese captain from Brazil used his charm to win over the wife of the governor of Cayenne in French Guiana, successfully bringing coffee seeds into Brazil.

Because Brazil's growing altitudes are relatively low, between 400 and 1600 meters, and Brazilian coffee is mostly cultivated using sun-exposed planting, allowing coffee cherries to absorb enough heat and ripen early, Brazilian coffee beans end up with low density, soft texture, and a soft-bean flavor. This forms a very sharp contrast with African coffee beans in terms of flavor.

Front Street Brazil coffee bean flavor:Low acidity, heavy nutty notes, good chocolate sweetness and body, but with slight woody and earthy notes; floral and citrus notes are not prominent.

Front Street's baristas often recommend Brazil coffee beans to those who don't like acidity, precisely because Brazil coffee is relatively mild—it's hard to encounter the wild, assertive bright acidity and citrus notes of African beans.

Front Street Brazil Queen's Estate Yellow Bourbon Coffee

Region: Brazil Mogiana Region
Estate: Queen's Estate
Altitude: 1400m - 1950m
Variety: Yellow Bourbon
Processing: Natural
Flavor: Nut, creamy peanut, cane sugar, fermented fruit

Indonesia

Indonesian coffee is very familiar to many coffee beginners. Among them, Indonesia's Kopi Luwak is famous for its scarcity and high price. And the Indonesian coffee most easily accessible to the general public is none other than Mandheling.

Front Street Lintong Mandheling coffee is mainly produced in Indonesia's Sumatra region. Front Street Lintong Mandheling coffee has a rich and powerful mouthfeel with a distinctive character. This unique flavor is related to the local coffee bean processing method, because Indonesia is located in Southeast Asia with abundant rainfall year-round and shorter sunshine hours than Ethiopia or Brazil, usingthe natural processing method easily produces fermented or moldy beans; in addition, local economic conditions are limited, and washed processing requires wasting large amounts of water. Therefore, when processing Mandheling coffee beans locally in Indonesia, they mostly use alocally distinctive semi-washed method, namely wet hulling.

Wet hulling is also called Wet Hulling

The wet hulling processing steps:Coffee cherries are depulped and placed in water to soak for 1-2 hours, then rubbed against each other to remove some of the mucilage and undergo a first drying, at which point the coffee bean moisture content drops to between 20% and 35%. The coffee beans with mucilage layers that haven't yet solidified are collected and sent to the processing plant for a second drying, which brings the moisture content down to about 18%. After the second drying is complete, the parchment layer is removed and a final drying is done until the moisture content reaches 11%.

Mr. Han Huaizong once described the flavor characteristics of wet-hulled coffee beans in his book:
This is also a rare processing method in the world, accidentally creating Mandheling's distinctive low acidity, thick body, and mellow aroma.

Through years of cupping different wet-hulled Indonesian coffee beans, Front Street has found that the coffee has relatively low acidity, a thick mouthfeel, and unique flavors like herbal spices,but the downside is that quality is relatively unstable. Of course, quality instability can't be entirely attributed to the wet hulling method—in most cases, it may be due to some green coffee beans being of relatively lower quality.

Front Street Indonesia PWN Golden Mandheling Coffee Beans

Region: North Sumatra, Indonesia — Gayo Mountain, Aceh
Altitude: 1100m - 1600m
Variety: Ateng
Processing: Wet Hulling
Flavor: Spice, nut, pine, caramel, herbal, chocolate

Panama Coffee

Today, Geisha coffee is famously expensive. The reason Geisha became famous is also because of Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda.Hacienda La Esmeralda is both the discoverer and the promoter of Geisha. The Geisha variety entered Panama in the 1960s, but after more than 40 years of biding its time, it finally won first place in the BOP in 2004 and became world-famous, becoming the supreme treasure in the eyes of many specialty coffee lovers.

The refined and elegant flavor of the Geisha variety comes from a specific growing environment.
The Geisha variety is very picky about its growing environment: high growing altitude, shade cultivation, and fertile soil.

It is precisely these factors that give Geisha coffee its obvious floral aroma and delicate elegant fruit acidity. And such an elegant flavor is one of the reasons it has swept the globe.

On Front Street's coffee bean list, Front Street Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda Geisha coffee is also always available.

Front Street Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha Coffee Beans

Region: Boquete, Panama
Estate: Hacienda La Esmeralda
Altitude: 1700+m
Variety: Geisha
Processing: Natural
Flavor: Citrus, jasmine, honey, berry

China Yunnan Coffee

In China, the history of tea is over a thousand years longer than that of coffee, and the earliest traceable history of coffee circulation in China dates back to 1870.
The history of coffee cultivation in China's Yunnan is disputed—one account says 1902; another says 1892; yet another says 1904.

Yunnan's coffee cultivation initially started with Typica, but with the open-door policy, international giants like Starbucks and Nestlé entered Yunnan, promoting the cultivation of the Catimor variety, which has strong disease resistance and high yield but poor flavor.
Over time,Yunnan small-bean coffee evolved from the former Typica variety to today's Catimor variety.

Yunnan coffee's growing regions are mainly distributed in southwestern Yunnan Province: Lincang, Baoshan, Pu'er, and Dehong.
Lincang borders Pu'er to the east, Dali to the north, Baoshan to the west, and Myanmar to the southwest.
Lincang's average annual temperature ranges between 16.8 and 17.2°C. Dry and wet seasons are distinct, with abundant sunshine.

In 2013, Front Street began its coffee cultivation endeavor in Lincang, Yunnan. Unlike most varieties grown in Yunnan, Front Street planted Yunnan's ancient superior variety—Typica.

In 2021, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) launched its first self-produced Yunnan coffee bean—"Front Street 2013 Yunnan Typica."

Front Street Yunnan Front Street 2013 Coffee Beans

Region: Lincang, Yunnan, China
Estate: Yunnan Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Estate
Altitude: 1300m
Variety: Typica
Processing: Natural
Flavor: Berry, brown sugar, nut, tea-like

Front Street has always believed thatpour-over coffee often looks easy to make, but even for the same person, every cup brewed is never exactly the same flavor.

To make a good cup of pour-over coffee, many details are extremely important.

| Water Quality
In a cup of pour-over coffee, up to 98.5% is water. To make a delicious cup of pour-over coffee, the first step is to manage water quality well.
In our daily pour-over coffee, try not to use tap water directly; instead, use filtered water or mineral water with an appropriate mineral content. Water temperature is also very important—depending on the characteristics of different coffee beans, the water temperature is generally 85-93°C.

| Grind Size
Grinding coffee beans into coffee grounds is the first step of pour-over coffee, and a crucial one. If ground too fine or too coarse, it will directly affect the brewed flavor and mouthfeel.

The importance of grind size lies in its effect on coffee concentration and extraction yield; the most obvious mouthfeel change is in body,
under equivalent conditions (same coffee-to-water ratio, same water temperature, same pouring method, same brewing time)
finely ground coffee has high concentration, high extraction yield, and high body;
coarsely ground coffee has low concentration, low extraction yield, and low body.

Front Street recommends a pour-over grind size of 70-80% passing through a No. 20 sieve.

| Coffee-to-Water Ratio
The coffee-to-water ratio in pour-over coffee is also a very crucial factor. Different ratios will greatly affect the flavor expression of the coffee. During the pour-over process, aromatic compounds and acidity are extracted first, followed by sweetness and caramelized substances, and finally bitterness, astringency, and off-flavors. So we can control the coffee-to-water ratio to bring out the best flavors we want from the coffee.

Front Street recommends a pour-over coffee-to-water ratio between 1:15 and 1:16.

| Dripper
Finding a dripper that suits you is important.
Traditional trapezoid dripperhas smaller holes and a relatively slow flow rate, so the pour-over coffee mouthfeel is thicker, but the downside is that the flow rate may be too slow, causing water to pool and easily producing bitterness.
Cone-shaped dripperhas large holes and a relatively fast flow rate, but the flavor may be lighter.
Wave dripperhas a flat bottom, paired with wave filters, guiding water down through the grooves in the filter paper—the water flow is the smoothest, and the resulting pour-over coffee has the most even mouthfeel.

Through numerous brewing experiments and repeated testing, Front Street has found that different drippers show very obvious differences in expressing coffee flavor, acidity and sweetness, body, and cleanliness.

If you're brewing light-roasted coffee beans, Front Street recommends using a V60 dripper; if you're brewing dark-roasted coffee beans, Front Street recommends using a Kono dripper.

Can allcoffee beans be used for pour-over? Yes, they can.
For brewing with different coffee beans, it's recommended to use different parameters. Only through constant experimentation can you brew the coffee that best suits your personal taste.

Front Street believes that building your own flavor memory library is very important. Secondly, do your best to drink as much coffee as possible and experience as many flavors as possible.
Beyond that, keep collecting information on different coffee beans,drink with your brain, and compare as you drink.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.