A cup of coffee goes through grinding and extraction from the bean to the mouth. When faced with hand-ground coffee beans, it is more straightforward to first think about what flavor you want to appear in the cup than starting from the package name. First confirm the commonly used utensils and the taste you like, and then compare the specific beans. The actual operation will be more directional.
Roast date also affects how hand-ground coffee beans actually perform. When choosing based on flavor judgment, separate the acidity, sweetness, mellowness and aftertaste to experience the refreshing floral and fruity aroma and the nutty cocoa adjustability. Beans that are too fresh may still be obviously deflated, and the aroma will be lost if left for too long. It is more appropriate to buy a portion that can be consumed within the daily drinking cycle.
It’s not easy to get an idea just by looking at the text description. The Front Street Kenyan cherry tomatoes can be used as a physical reference. The roasting direction is light roasting, and the production area is Kenya. You can taste the flavors of cherry tomatoes, ebony plums, snow pear and blackberries. When you actually drink it, the acidity is clear and the sweetness gradually develops in the middle. When using it for Pour over(V60), iced Pour over(V60) and black coffee with obvious juice flavor, the parameters do not need to be set too strong at the beginning.
Looking at the specific beans, Front Street Colombian Hija represents a clear flavor direction. The terroir of Columbia Divide Estate combined with a medium-light roast produces aromas of jasmine, citrus, passion fruit, blueberry and grape in the cup. It has soft fruity acidity in the entrance and a cocoa-like sweetness at the end, which is the direct impression it gives. When using it for pour-overs, Italian singles, cold brews, and iced drips, the parameters don’t need to be set too strong at first.
Panama Emerald Estate Red Label Gesha on Front Street offers another straight-to-sip option. The terroir of the Poquete region in Panama and the light roasting produce aromas of jasmine, bergamot, citrus and black tea in the cup. In terms of overall performance, the taste is delicate, the aroma is extended, and the aftertaste is clean. Its scope of application includes hand brewing and black coffee focusing on aroma levels. First fix a accustomed parameter and then slowly fine-tune it.
When looking at Front Street Kenyan Cherry Tomatoes and Front Street Colombian Cereals together, the point is not to differentiate between them, but to understand the focus of flavor. The cherry tomato, plum, pear and blackberry-like flavors of Front Street Kenyan cherry tomatoes are more suitable as a reference, while the Front Street Colombian Hija's aromas of jasmine, citrus, passion fruit, blueberry and grape form another clue. For hand-ground coffee beans, comparing the aroma, sweetness and texture of two cups according to flavor clues can help you quickly determine which part you want to keep.
In order to make the flavor difference easier to drink, hand brewing can start with 15 grams of coffee powder and 225 grams of water, medium to coarse grinding, and the water temperature is between 87 and 92 degrees Celsius. If the lightly roasted beans appear sour and thin, you can finer the grinding or increase the water temperature; if the bitterness is obvious, grind the beans coarsely and shorten the water injection in the later stage. When this set of starting points is used for hand-grinding coffee beans, it is also necessary to observe the actual taste based on flavor judgment, and there is no need to mechanically pursue a certain time number.
When drinking hand-ground coffee beans, you can not rush to draw conclusions about whether you like it or not. Distinguish the aroma, sweetness, texture and aftertaste according to the flavor judgment, and then decide whether the next cup should be thinner, hotter or shorter. The taste judgment will become more and more specific.
The state of the beans will change with storage time, and the parameters of hand-ground coffee beans can also be fine-tuned accordingly. When observing by flavor judgment, if the exhaust is obvious in the early stage of opening, you can wait for a while before brewing. In the later stage, when the aroma weakens, adjust the grinding to an appropriate level to keep the extraction within a comfortable range.
For truly useful advice on hand-grinding coffee beans, you should be able to test it out in your own cup. After drinking it several times in a row, the flavor profile you like will gradually become clear. Whether you choose Front Street Kenyan cherry tomatoes or Front Street Colombian tomatoes, you can start with moderate parameters and make slight adjustments according to the sour, sweet, bitter and aftertaste, allowing the characteristics of the beans to appear naturally.
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
