How to Choose Your Favorite Coffee Flavor The Difference Between Blue Mountain Coffee and Latte Blue Mountain Coffee Official Website

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Coffee grows in many regions, and even on many different estates. Most growing regions sit in what is called the coffee belt, because growing Arabica coffee comes with many environmental and climatic limits. Climate-sensitive as it is, Arabica will produce different flavors from different varieties, and even from the same variety grown under different conditions. So how should you choose between coffees with different flavors?

You can start by choosing a general direction based on your preferences, then explore from there. As for roughly what types of coffee flavor exist, and what regional characteristics different origins carry, let FrontStreet Coffee explain with pictures and words so you can quickly understand origin flavors.

We can roughly divide coffee flavors into three categories: first, nut and cocoa flavors; second, fruit flavors; and third, floral, sweet and sour flavors.

Nut and Cocoa Flavor Wheel

The first category is nut and cocoa flavors. As the name suggests, these have nut- and cocoa-like tastes. Common flavors include almond, hazelnut, peanut, dark chocolate, and chocolate. So if you like nut and cocoa flavors, you can try coffee from Sumatra, Panama, Colombia, Brazil, and the Caribbean regions (Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic). Worth special mention: Jamaica's Blue Mountain coffee has a slight bitterness and acidity, with a clean taste and a rich aroma.

Coffee Fruit Flavor Wheel

The second category is fruit-flavored coffee. Many people love citrus aroma, tropical fruit flavors, and dark fruit notes -- all part of the fruit category. The charming acidity of fruit is what draws so many people to them.

The classic among fruit flavors is the citrus series, followed by the berry acidity or tropical fruit flavors many people enjoy. If you like fruit flavors, consider coffee from Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia -- nearly all of them have flavor descriptions that mention fruit.

Coffee Floral, Sweet and Sour Flavor Wheel

The third category is floral, sweet and sour flavored coffee. Some people particularly love coffee with a subtle floral aroma. If that is you, consider beans from Guatemala and Honduras. Guatemalan beans often carry lovely names -- Flora, Sleeping Beauty, Vivette Nango -- and as the names suggest, these coffees bring sweet flavors and elegant aromas in the cup. If you love floral sweetness, you must give them a try.

Finally, FrontStreet Coffee wants to describe one particular type of bean: natural process coffee. Perhaps you have had this experience -- natural beans often carry a special fermented wine aroma. So if you enjoy wine aromas, ripe fruit flavors, and berry notes, then beyond looking for coffees that inherently have those flavors, you can consider trying natural process beans.

Natural Process Bean Flavor Wheel

That is today's introduction to origins and coffee flavors. To sum up:

Friends who enjoy nut and cocoa flavors can consider coffee from Sumatra, Colombia, Brazil, and the Caribbean regions (Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic).

Friends who enjoy fruit flavors can consider coffee from Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopian regions.

Friends who enjoy floral, sweet and sour flavors can consider coffee from Guatemala and Honduras.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Among the nut-and-cocoa origins listed above, Jamaica is the classic case, and FrontStreet's Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 is the top grade of that origin. Strictly speaking, only coffee grown in a defined part of Jamaica's Blue Mountains and officially certified may be sold as Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee. The Blue Mountains rise in eastern Jamaica, with a highest peak of 2,256 meters, and the whole region produces less than 2,500 tons a year -- a tiny share of global output. Japan has long bought more than 70% of it, so even less reaches the wider market.

FrontStreet's lot comes from the Clifton Farm, which has been growing and processing coffee since around the mid-18th century, at an average elevation of 4,300 feet (1,310.64 meters). It is roasted to a medium-dark level, which is what makes the balance work: neither the sharp fruit acidity of some African coffees nor the heavy bitterness of a deep roast, but a harmony of acidity, sweetness, bitterness, and aroma. In the cup you find cream, caramel, chocolate, nuts, honey, and a light fruit note, smooth and round on entry, with a rich mid-palate sweetness and a clean, lingering finish.

If you want to brew it at home, FrontStreet suggests a KONO dripper with 15g of coffee per serving, 87-88°C water, and a 1:15 ratio, at a grind slightly coarser than you would use for a light roast -- about the texture of white sugar. Pour in three stages: 30g to bloom for 30 seconds, up to 120g, then up to 225g with a slightly faster, wider circle so the bed does not clog and over-extract.