For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow the WeChat official account: Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)

As more and more people in China have developed the habit of drinking coffee, many friends have also begun to actively learn about coffee brewing and want to try making a cup of coffee themselves. In this article, Front Street will discuss which coffee beans are suitable for beginners in pour-over extraction.

What is pour-over coffee?

The roasted coffee beans we usually buy undergo a series of chemical reactions during high-temperature roasting, producing various aromatic substances. Brewing coffee is about using water and equipment to release these aromatic components. Pour-over coffee first grinds the coffee beans into powder, then pours hot water to contact the coffee bed, "dissolving" the substances in the coffee. In fact, it uses a dripper with filter paper or other tools to filter out the coffee grounds so they do not enter the server together, resulting in a cup of black coffee with a clear taste.

You should know that from bean selection to extraction, every step and procedure has more or less influence on the flavor of pour-over coffee. Therefore, if you want to brew a cup of pour-over coffee, based on Front Street's brewing experience, in addition to high-quality coffee beans, Front Street believes you need at least these tools: a gooseneck kettle for pouring water, a dripper and filter paper for filtering coffee grounds, a server, a grinder for grinding coffee beans, a digital scale for recording water volume and time, and a thermometer for measuring water temperature.

Delicious coffee is of course inseparable from good raw materials—high-quality coffee beans. Front Street recommends choosing coffee beans that are in the best flavor period 4-30 days after the roast date, as this is more conducive to stable extraction and gives pour-over coffee a fuller flavor. To ensure the freshness of the coffee beans, the beans shipped by Front Street are freshly roasted within 5 days, and usually can be received in 1-3 days, so the coffee beans everyone receives are also roughly within the best flavor period, and they can begin to study how to extract them.

Recommendations for pour-over specialty coffee beans

If you are a newcomer to pour-over coffee and are afraid of ruining and wasting expensive, low-volume coffee beans, Front Street suggests starting with cost-effective Front Street everyday beans. Front Street has selected 7 excellent classic coffee origins, covering multiple highly representative origins, varieties, and natural processing methods. So-called everyday beans, as the name suggests, are varieties that are burden-free to drink daily, with both price and flavor being very accessible. Front Street has selected several "representative faces" so that everyone can identify the basic flavors of major origins.

Ethiopia's Front Street washed Yirgacheffe coffee beans

The so-called Yirgacheffe flavor is beautiful citrus, lemon, berry, and rich floral aromas, also with a clear tea-like sensation, unforgettable after one sip. To express such delicate flavor and mouthfeel, the coffee's high-quality growing environment, variety, processing method, as well as roasting and brewing, are all indispensable.

Ethiopia, located on the African continent, has underdeveloped water resources, so traditionally it has used the ancient natural drying method to process green beans, that is, drying directly in the sun. Because the methods were too rough, coffee quality was generally low. It was not until 1972 that Ethiopia introduced washed processing technology and equipment from Central and South America in order to improve coffee bean quality. Unlike other origins, Yirgacheffe is a wetland, more suitable for washed processing. The multiple steps of washed processing remove defective beans, greatly reducing the defect rate of coffee and showing higher cleanliness, while its own aroma becomes clearer and more transparent.

This measure also greatly amplified the citrus-lemon acidity and white floral notes of Front Street Yirgacheffe coffee beans themselves, making the mouthfeel fresher and brighter. The Front Street Yirgacheffe everyday beans launched by Front Street use a medium-light roast, retaining more fruit acidity and presenting the classic Yirgacheffe flavor profile. They are suitable for pour-over, cold brew, French press, and many other brewing methods. Everyone can purchase them at the Front Street Tmall flagship store.

Guatemala's Front Street washed Huehuetenango coffee beans

The Huehuetenango highlands are located in Guatemala's western non-volcanic region, the driest and highest-altitude area in the country. Because it lies at the edge of active plate boundaries, under the ever-changing terroir conditions of high mountain basins, the coffee's flavor is also rich and diverse. Like the Antigua region, this place also has abundant volcanic soil, with altitudes reaching as high as 2000m, but because dry hot winds from Mexico blow in from the northwest, coffee trees can grow on the slightly elevated plateau at 2000 meters.

We all know that every country has its own coffee grading standards. Guatemalan green coffee beans are mainly graded by altitude. The higher the altitude, the higher the density of the coffee beans, and the higher the grade of the green coffee beans. The vast majority of coffee from the Huehuetenango region belongs to SHB Strictly Hard Bean, and SHB is the highest grade in Guatemala's green bean classification.

This Front Street Huehuetenango coffee bean uses washed processing, presenting the cleaner tone of Guatemalan coffee. Because it has rich and intense fruit aromas, a medium-light roast is used, so after grinding the coffee we can smell the sweet aroma of citrus and nuts.

Colombia's Front Street washed Huila coffee beans

The Huila region became famous after entering the 21st century. It frequently appeared on the award lists of various green bean competitions and obtained official designation of origin certification in 2013. The name of the Huila region comes from Huila Department, located in southwestern Colombia, on the side of the Andes Mountains, near Huila Volcano. Volcanic ash brought by eruptions adds fresh nutrients to the soil, especially benefiting the growth of coffee trees. Compared with other regions, Huila has rain year-round and suitable temperatures. Such growing conditions allow coffee trees to be planted even at highlands above 2,000 meters. Coffee produced at high altitude has bright acidity and chocolate aromas.

Huila coffee is mainly produced by smallholders, and local farm areas are usually within 1.5 hectares. Managers plant shade trees to provide coffee with a better growing environment and quality assurance. Whenever coffee cherries mature, Colombians select the ripest and fullest coffee cherries to pick and carry out post-processing at the freshest stage, ensuring the freshness of the coffee at every step. The washed Front Street Huila everyday beans have both soft acidity and appropriate body and sweetness. Front Street hoped to present the classic Colombian nutty profile while retaining some acidity, so it chose a medium-dark roast.

Brazil's Front Street semi-natural Cerrado

Brazil's coffee farms do not have the high altitudes of Africa or other South American coffee origins. Locally, most are flatlands only a few hundred meters high. Brazilian growers pursuing mass production mainly adopt large-scale sun-exposed cultivation. Therefore, the Brazilian coffee fruits produced mature quickly, and in flavor they lack the rich fruit acidity of high-altitude coffee, leaning instead toward sweetness, smoothness, and balance. It is precisely because of this plain, solid characteristic of Brazilian coffee that it is used in espresso blends, both highlighting the coffee's roasted aroma and making the extracted flavor profile more stable.

The Cerrado region, located in the northwest of Minas Gerais, has a long coffee history and mature cultivation and production experience. Many companies have successively established medium to large coffee plantations here. At an altitude of 800-1300 meters, with four distinct seasons (humid summers and dry winters), the soil here is rich in minerals. The coffee produced has the smooth aroma of nuts and cream, a balanced mouthfeel, and a very classic Brazilian flavor. Therefore, Front Street also added Front Street semi-natural Red Bourbon coffee from the Cerrado region to Front Street's lineup of everyday beans.

Costa Rica's Front Street washed Tarrazu

Costa Rica is located in Central and South America, connected to Panama, the place where Geisha became famous. At the same time, it is affected by ocean currents and monsoons from both the Pacific and Atlantic, forming an excellent microclimate. Combined with various topographic features, it becomes a perfect origin for coffee to thrive. Although in terms of coffee production Costa Rica does not rank near the top, multiple volcanoes within the country bring very fertile mineral-rich soil and excellent drainage, allowing crops planted here to receive abundant rainwater and nutrients, so the fruit produced is naturally higher quality.

Tarrazu is located south of the capital San José and is one of the most valued coffee-growing areas locally. Tarrazu has high-altitude growing conditions of 1,200-1,700 meters. The cool climate and nutrient-rich volcanic ash soil give the coffee diverse acidity and a rounded body. Coupled with the development of specialty coffee, everyone has continuously innovated and improved processing techniques, allowing Front Street Tarrazu coffee to accumulate a good reputation in coffee circles.

Front Street Costa Rica everyday beans blend two common varieties, Caturra and Catuai, and use natural washed processing. Caturra's flavor mainly presents fruitiness and berry-like acidity. Catuai's flavor is more monotonous than Caturra, mainly nutty, without Caturra's rich layering. The blend of the two varieties makes Front Street Tarrazu coffee more balanced and soft.

Indonesia's Front Street wet-hulled Lintong Mandheling

Indonesia's local high-temperature, high-humidity environment forced locals to innovate a "new" processing method suited to the area—wet-hulling. The steps before wet-hulling are the same as the washed method. Indonesians first remove the pulp from the coffee fruit, ferment it in water for 3 hours, wash off the mucilage, then dry the parchment coffee green beans for a short time for 2-3 days. When the moisture content is 20-24% and the beans are half soft and half hard, the parchment is removed from the parchment-covered beans, and drying continues until the coffee's moisture content is 13%, at which point it can be bagged.

Because the hulling machine uses relatively large friction, it tears open the parchment layer clinging tightly to the green beans. At this stage, white or green viscous liquid usually flows out. Due to long soaking in mucilage and the humid environment, the green beans finally become soft, whitish, swollen, and gray-green. Through the stirring caused by friction, the green beans are also more easily crushed or squeezed, especially at both ends, forming small gaps and causing shell beans. The "naked beans" that have lost their parchment layer dry very quickly, and at the same time are directly exposed to the humid environment, subject to the growth of various microorganisms. This gives Indonesian coffee its unique woody, spice, and herbal notes. This is what we call the "Mandheling flavor."

China Yunnan's Front Street washed Arabica coffee

In recent years, through the efforts of many people, the quality of Yunnan coffee has continuously improved and gained considerable recognition. There are many fans of Yunnan coffee in China. For friends who have never drunk Yunnan coffee, they must be very curious about how it tastes. Front Street Yunnan everyday beans come from the Baoshan region, which has a relatively long history of coffee cultivation.

Baoshan's warm frost-free climate throughout the year is very suitable for the growth of Arabica coffee. In particular, the unique dry-hot river valley climate around Lujiangba has little annual temperature difference but a large day-night temperature difference, creating the unique sweetness of Baoshan Arabica coffee. In addition, reasonably low rainfall brings great advantages to coffee fruit production. Baoshan's biggest climate feature is relatively little rainfall and higher altitude, so the coffee beans have less pulp but higher sweetness. Therefore, Front Street selected Front Street Baoshan Arabica as the representative face of Yunnan coffee, allowing everyone to taste domestic coffee.

Some merchants use novel flavor-enhancing processing methods to cover up the defective flavors of Yunnan beans themselves, add large amounts of aroma to them, and raise prices. Front Street feels that this not only fails to truly preserve the taste of Yunnan coffee, but also misleads consumers. In fact, the vast majority of Yunnan coffee, due to limited conditions, can only use natural processing methods, namely washed and natural. Here Front Street ultimately chose washed processing and used a medium roast to highlight the chocolate and nutty roasted aromas of Front Street Yunnan Arabica while retaining some acidity, presenting nutty, herbal, and brown sugar aromas, melon-and-fruit sweetness, and plum-like acidity, with a balanced mouthfeel.

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