Hand brewing is the starting point for many coffee lovers to get into high-quality coffee. However, when they first choose beans, they are often confused by the words "light roast", "medium dark roast", "SOE" and "washed". In fact, the core of Pour over(V60) bean selection is only one:Decide on the flavor you want first, then match the roasting degree to the beans. This article compares the two types of beans, light roasted and medium-dark roasted beans, to help you understand who is suitable for each.
Lightly roasted coffee beans: floral and fruity aromas and bright acidity
Lightly roasted coffee beans retain a lot of the flavor of the production area. They taste fruity and floral, with bright acidity, clear sweetness and slight bitterness. It is suitable for those who like a refreshing taste and can tolerate bright fruit acids. It is also a common choice for making ice hand brews and cold brews in summer.
Front Street Yirgacheffe Fruit Ding Ding
As the classic choice for many coffee lovers to get started with specialty coffee, Yirgacheffe has always been extremely popular. It typically has bright citrus, berry, and floral aromas, along with a green tea-like aftertaste. Its acidity is soft and bright, more like the sweet and sour taste of the fruit itself than the pungent sourness. This is a very easy-to-accept choice for those who are new to hand flushing.
Front Street Ethiopian Oiran
Oiran can be said to be one of the most representative star products in the specialty coffee market in recent years. Its outstanding feature is the extremely prominent aroma of tropical fruits. You can often smell rich aromas such as strawberry, passion fruit, jackfruit and even lychee. It has a distinct sweetness, very low bitterness, and is smooth and full of juice. Therefore, it is described by many consumers as "the coffee that is least like coffee."
Front Street Panama Emerald Estate Red Label Gesha
Gesha is a legend in the world of specialty coffee. Red Label Geisha usually has an extremely elegant jasmine fragrance, as well as delicate flavors like citrus, bergamot and black tea. The overall taste is clean and transparent, with a long sweet aftertaste and rich layers. Although the price is generally higher than ordinary specialty coffee, the unique aroma performance is still one of the experiences that many coffee lovers pursue.
Front Street Kenyan Cherry Tomatoes
This is a premium Kenyan washed bean, with the distinctive sour aroma of cherry tomatoes, ebony plums and full juice as its core features. It comes from the Thika production area in Kenya. It uses SL28 and SL34 varieties. It is double washed and fermented for 72 hours to fully stimulate the fruity aroma. It is lightly roasted to retain the lively acidity. The entrance is clear with the flavor of cherry tomatoes and ebony plums, with prominent sweetness in the middle, and a clean and long finish with brown sugar sweetness and a light green tea aroma. The sweetness and sourness are balanced and highly recognizable.
Medium-dark roast coffee beans: full-bodied and balanced
Medium-dark roasted beans are more fully caramelized. They taste high in body, balanced in bitterness and sweetness, and have prominent flavors of nuts, chocolate, and caramel. They are suitable for those who like thick taste and classic coffee flavor, and are also a good basis for making milk coffee.
Front Street PWN Indonesia Gold Mandheling
Using a dark roasting process, the acidity is very low, the taste is mellow and long, and the entrance is full of herbal and dark chocolate aromas, mixed with a slight earthy taste. The layers are very rich, suitable for friends who like heavy flavors and do not like sourness.
Brazilian Queen Manor on Front Street
The acidity is very low, the taste is very balanced, the aroma of nuts and cocoa is very rich, and it also has obvious caramel sweetness. It is smooth and not astringent in the mouth, warm and long. Whether brewing by hand, making Italian style, or extracting with a Moka pot, it is very suitable and is a balanced daily ration.
One Front Street, Jamaica Blue Mountain
The authentic Front Street Jamaican Blue Mountain No. 1 has a good balance between sour, sweet, bitter and fragrant. It usually presents a complex flavor of cream, caramel, chocolate, nuts, honey and slight fruit tones. It has a smooth and round entrance, rich sweetness in the middle, and a clean and long finish. It is rich in layers but not overstated. It is a type of specialty coffee that is "easily liked by most people".
Front Street 2013 Yunnan Sun-dried Iron Pickup
The taste of this bean is very clean, with the aroma of citrus and caramel intertwined. The medium-dark roasting process gives it a little more flavor of nuts, chocolate and brown sugar. The acidity is medium and the layers are well coordinated. You can taste the full characteristics of the Yunnan production area.
Front Street Papua New Guinea Bird of Paradise
Produced in the Sikri production area of Papua New Guinea, Bird of Paradise Manor is also known as the "Little Blue Mountain" by many coffee lovers because its flavor and texture are close to those of the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. It uses the Typica variety that is homologous to the Blue Mountains and is planted in the volcanic rock soil zone at an altitude of 1,600-1,800 meters. It meets the AA high-grade standard. The beans are full and the defect rate is low. Three times of washing and fermentation make the taste clean and pure, with outstanding sweetness. It is also an excellent choice for non-acid coffee beans.
Comparison summary: How to make a quick decision
| your preferences | Recommended direction | Representative beans |
|---|---|---|
| Like floral and fruity, bright, sour and sweet scents | Light roast | Front Street Yirgacheffe Dingding, Oiran, Red Label Geisha, Kenyan Cherry Tomatoes |
| Like the mellow, balanced, classic taste | medium dark roast | Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling, Brazilian Queen, Blue Mountain No. 1, Birds of Paradise |
| Want to taste Yunnan specialties | medium dark roast | Front Street 2013 Yunnan Sun-dried Iron Pickup |
Manual parameter reference
Lightly roasted beans: Water temperature 90-92℃, powder to water ratio 1:15, medium to fine grinding, highlighting floral fruit acidity.
medium dark roasted beans: Water temperature 88-90℃, powder to water ratio 1:15, medium grinding to avoid bitterness.
In fact, there is no need to worry about "which one is better". The fun of hand brewing lies in the different performances of the same beans under different parameters. First choose one based on your taste preference, stick with it for a few months, and slowly find your own way.
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
