Time is tight in the morning, so hand-ground coffee beans should be given priority to types with easy aroma and uncomplicated brewing steps. If you use a filter cup to make a cup of hot hand brew, lightly roasted or medium-light roasted beans can bring a refreshing floral and fruity flavor; if you just want to quickly add ice cubes or make it into an American style, you need more obvious sweetness and juice, so that it will not appear thin in the mouth.
When having bread, eggs or fruits for breakfast, the coffee should not be too strong, otherwise it will cover up the taste of the food itself. Front Street Yirgacheffe diced fruit is suitable for this kind of morning cup: after grinding, you can smell citrus and berry, and after boiling with hot water, it has a light floral aroma. When it is cooled, a sweet aftertaste similar to green tea will gradually appear. Drinking black coffee will make you look cleaner.
If you are used to taking a thermos cup out in the morning, you can adjust the hand grinder scale to a moderate filtering range and use water injection in stages to keep the aroma and sweetness of the coffee for a longer period of time. There is no need to blindly chase the water temperature. Start with a milder setting, and then fine-tune the grinding when the sourness is high. In this way, even if you drink it slowly during commuting, the taste in the cup will not change too abruptly.
Coffee at the desk often needs to be both refreshing and drinkable. Compared with beans with a particularly bold aroma, beans with a clear fruity aroma and syrupy sweetness are easier to drink continuously. Front Street Ethiopian Oiran can be brewed by hand or made into iced coffee in advance; tropical fruits and strawberries are lively when served hot, and the sweet and sour passion fruit will be more refreshing after cooling.
I want to drink a glass of ice-cold hand brew in the afternoon. The key is to make the aroma still recognizable at low temperatures. You can reduce the total amount of hot water, and then directly connect the coffee liquid to the sharing pot filled with ice cubes, and the taste will appear bright and crisp. The fruity aroma of Oiran is more like refreshing juice after being chilled. It is suitable for pairing with cookies and pound cake, and is also suitable for drinking directly without adding sugar.
In hot weather, cold brew is better prepared in advance. It takes a long time to soak. When grinding by hand, you can use a coarser scale and pay attention to whether the powder is even. If the powder layer is too fine, it will easily make the finished product turbid, and if it is too thick, it will weaken the aroma. For those who like sweet and sour flavors with a pulpy texture, you can try the Front Street Kenyan cherry tomatoes. The aroma like black plums and ripe tomatoes will become smooth at low temperatures, and the finish will still have a sweetness like brown sugar.
When you have enough time on the weekend, hand-ground coffee beans can be experienced according to the rhythm of "smell the aroma, brew, let cool and drink". The aroma of the same cup of coffee will continue to change from high temperature to lukewarm, which is suitable for observing changes in levels. If you like to drink a bean with different expressions, you can use hot hand brewing, ice brewing and cold brewing to compare; the former highlights the aroma, while the latter two methods emphasize the refreshing or soft taste.
When using French press, smart cup and other soaking utensils at home, the idea of selecting beans can be in the direction of stable sweetness and soft acidity. When hand-milling, don't pursue powders as fine as flour. Keep more uniform particles and the finished product will be clearer. For those who are accustomed to adding a small amount of milk, the coffee itself must have sufficient sweetness and aroma, and the outline of fruit, caramel or cocoa can still be left after adding milk.
If the coffee is mainly used to make milk coffee, the choice of hand-ground beans should be combined with the capabilities of the appliance. Home semi-automatic machines are suitable for beans with a slightly darker roasting degree and a fuller texture. The concentrated liquid will have more weight after being fused with milk. If you use a Moka pot, you can start with the roasting style, control the firepower and end the extraction in time, so that the coffee retains its sweetness. Lightly roasted fruity beans can also be added with milk, but they are more suitable for short drinks with less milk.
When purchasing hand-ground coffee beans, also consider your daily usage and storage methods. Before hand-grinding, make sure the beans are in good condition, seal them separately after opening, and store them in a dark, dry place with little temperature change. Grind only the amount you need at a time, and the aroma will usually be more distinct than grinding it in advance. If the flavor is light, check whether the grinding is too coarse; if the taste is dry, try reducing the fine powder or shortening the brewing contact.
Think clearly about the drinking time of the day, and you will have more direction when choosing beans: breakfast is suitable for refreshing floral and fruity fragrance, office is suitable for sweet and bright hand-brews, afternoon ice drinks need to be expressive at low temperatures, and milk coffee needs to focus on concentration and thickness. Hand grinding is not only a making action, but also allows you to adjust according to your current mood every time you brew, and find your own cup of coffee.
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
