Extra number! Extra number! After a year, the coffee trees in the FrontStreet Coffee shop are finally blooming again!
The blooming flowers are white in color, with 5 to 6 petals. The shape of the blooming flowers is a bit like a windmill. Inflorescences are arranged in clusters. The fragrant smell not only attracts bees, but also attracts baristas who come to smell the aroma. Some people say that the aroma of coffee flowers is like jasmine, others say it is like gardenia, and some people think it is like thyme... These flowers are all white, could it be the white floral aroma in the flavor description?
Looking back on those days, I had never seen real coffee flowers. Front Street got to know the smell of coffee flowers through the No. 12 scent bottle - Coffee Blossom. Front Street felt the sweetness of peach pulp, elegant and round, just like taking a bite of a freshly ripe peach.
The aroma of freshly bloomed coffee flowers does not gather together in one place after entering the nasal cavity, but begins to spread, so it lasts only a short time. The scent is light and lively, with a honey-like aftertaste, and the small and delicate flower shape is indeed reminiscent of the pure jasmine of the same color.
In the early 17th century, when botanists named Coffea arabica, they noticed that the flowers blooming on the coffee tree "have a floral fragrance like Arabian jasmine and a leaf shape like a laurel tree." Therefore, the first botanical name for Coffea arabica was "Jasminum arabicanum" (Jasminum arabicanum). It seems that coffee flowers and jasmine are indeed very similar.
From a botanical perspective, coffee trees belong to the Rubiaceae family, the same family as gardenias, but they are not in the same genus, so the plants look somewhat similar. But in terms of taste, compared to the rich and dense gardenia, the aroma of coffee flowers is much lighter.
When it comes to tasting the flavor of coffee, it is not easy for us to capture it in time and identify which specific flower it belongs to. The mixed smell is unique and indescribable. The smell or taste experience reminds people of the pleasant smell of white flowers, but for a while, I couldn't find the exact description of it, so I just called it white flowers. In addition to coffee flowers and jasmine, there are also white roses, white camellias, white magnolias, pear blossoms, lemon blossoms, plum blossoms, etc. This is a huge group of flowers.
The classic washed Yirgacheffe flavor of Front Street is famous for its citrus sourness with the sweet aroma of white flowers. The coffee beans of the Front Street Guoding Ding Cooperative often exhibit an elegant white floral aroma, very similar to jasmine.
The now famous Front Street Panama Gesha is famous for its white floral aroma, with fresh flavors of honey, cantaloupe and green tea.
The floral aroma in coffee is mainly divided into three types: dull aroma, faint aroma, and light aroma.
Among them, the white floral fragrance is a typical representative of the light fragrance type and is also the most frequent fragrance type; roses are the most classic fragrance type, and Front Street Sun-dried Emerald Red Label Geisha has such a floral fragrance, which smells soothing; while the stuffy fragrance type has a slightly choking aroma, which may be a bit harsh when you first smell it. Chamomile and osmanthus are the most typical ones, and representative coffees include Front Street Mozart and Front Street Bach.
As a rare flavor in specialty coffee, floral aroma has always been sought after by coffee fans. The generation of floral aroma partly depends on the variety, planting, and post-processing fermentation of coffee, and roasting is a very critical step in grasping the intensity of floral aroma.
As the roasting degree deepens, the substances in the coffee gradually transform, and the floral aroma is easily eliminated. Therefore, from the perspective of roasting alone, usually light-medium roasting can better retain the floral aroma. Medium-light roasted coffee has a softer flavor and lighter texture, making it easier to detect the presence of floral aromas when tasting. Generally speaking, floral aroma tends to appear in the grinding and steaming stages of coffee powder, and is especially obvious in the medium to low temperature range of the coffee liquid. When you taste it, you might as well compare it with the flowers you have come into contact with to see which tone of flavor you feel.
It is a pity that the flowering period of coffee flowers is very short, usually only 3 to 5 days. Front Street observed that the petals that bloomed the day before had begun to grow old and wither one by one. So, friends, if you want to enjoy the flowers, remember to do so early.
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
