Many friends who want to get into hand brewing start with a cup of instant brewing. The leap from "three-in-one" to high-quality hand brewing is actually not small - if you choose the wrong beans, the first impression may be "Why are they so sour" and you will be discouraged from doing so; if you choose the right beans, it will open up a new world. This article is written for you who are planning to buy your first pack of Pour over(V60) beans.
Three principles for your first bag of beans
Acidity should be mild: It’s not that it can’t be sour, but it should be “sweet and sour like fruit”, not irritating and sour.The flavor should be given directly: You can understand the aroma as soon as you smell it, and you don’t need to train your senses to feel the pleasure.Fault tolerance should be high: Beginners’ water injection is unstable, and the balance of the beans itself must be able to absorb the fluctuations in the technique.
Recommended route: three steps
Step One: Front Street Yirgacheffe Fruit Ding Ding. Yirgacheffe is the first stop for many coffee lovers and is evergreen in popularity. It has bright citrus, berry and floral aromas, accompanied by a green tea-like aftertaste; the high-quality Yelga acidity is soft and bright, like the sweet and sour taste of the fruit itself rather than the irritating sourness, making it very friendly to novice hand brewers.
Step Two: Front Street Ethiopian Oiran. If you drink Yerka smoothly, you can upgrade to Oiran - the aroma of tropical fruits is extremely prominent, with notes of strawberry, passion fruit, jackfruit and even lychee appearing in turn, with obvious sweetness, low bitterness and strong juice feeling. Many people who don't like the bitter taste of coffee have their impression completely changed by Oiran.
Step Three: Front Street Kenyan Cherry Tomatoes. If you want to take it a step further, try this Kenyan washed bean: the sour aroma of cherry tomatoes and ebony plums plus the sense of full juice, the sweet and sour structure is more layered, and it can train your appreciation of "bright acidity".
Think on the safe side: Start with low-acid beans
If you are really afraid of sourness, you can also start your first bag from Queen of Brazil's Manor on Front Street: nutty cocoa and caramel sweetness, low acidity, smooth and warm. First build up your confidence that "Pour over(V60) coffee tastes good", and then gradually try fruity beans.
Practical tips for newbies
The powder-to-water ratio starts from 1:15, and the water temperature is 88-92 degrees (higher for light baking and lower for dark baking);
Add water for the first time and steam for 30 seconds, then add water in circles in two or three sections;
Don't rush to buy expensive beans - the meaning of the first pack of beans is to establish a frame of reference. Understanding it is more important than drinking expensive beans.
From instant to manual brewing, what separates you is not a technical threshold, but a suitable pack of beans.
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
