Types of Pour-Over Coffee Beans and Which Single-Origin Beans Are Best for Pour-Over

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With the development of the specialty coffee market, many coffee enthusiasts have begun researching how to make pour-over coffee at home. They come to FrontStreet Coffee to select freshly roasted coffee beans but often don't know how to choose, because FrontStreet Coffee alone has over two hundred types of single-origin coffee beans, and there are currently more than fifty varieties available in the store for coffee enthusiasts to try. It's really difficult to choose. Therefore, this article from FrontStreet Coffee will recommend suitable pour-over coffee beans to all coffee enthusiasts.

What is Pour-Over Coffee?

The pour-over coffee at FrontStreet Coffee is what's commonly known as specialty coffee in the coffee market, also called single-origin coffee. This refers to coffee beans produced from a single growing region, with traceability back to the origin, down to the specific farm and its characteristics, allowing you to understand the origin story of the coffee from its source.

The producing regions of specialty coffee are spread across the world and can be divided into three major continents: Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The altitude and climate of these three continents each have their own characteristics, which leads to different flavor expressions in coffee beans. However, overall, the flavor differences within each continent's growing regions are not too significant. Therefore, broadly speaking, coffee flavors can be divided into three major categories.

For example, Asian coffee flavors present spicy and herbal notes with a rich body; African coffee flavors showcase refreshing citrus-lemon acidity or cherry tomato acidity with a clean and bright taste; while Latin American coffee flavors fall between the first two, being more balanced with nutty and cocoa notes, which is also due to the significant differences in climate and altitude within its growing regions. FrontStreet Coffee will now recommend representative coffee varieties from these three continents to everyone.

Asian Growing Region Pour-Over Coffee Recommendations

Asian coffee bean production is second only to Latin America, with Vietnam being Asia's largest coffee-producing country. Through cupping, FrontStreet Coffee believes that Asian coffee has a fuller body than both Latin American and African coffees, but with less elegant acidity, featuring woody, herbal, and spicy notes, with deeper mellow aromas prevailing over bright fruity acidic aromas. Representative coffee-producing countries include Indonesia and China's Yunnan province.

Indonesian Coffee Bean Growing Region

Indonesia is located in Southeast Asia and has a typical tropical rainforest climate with an annual temperature of 25-27°C, no distinct seasons, and annual precipitation of 1600-2200mm. Indonesia is situated in a volcanic zone with fertile soil rich in minerals, which is beneficial for coffee bean cultivation. Indonesia's altitude ranges from 900-2100 meters, with main coffee-growing areas concentrated around 1200 meters. This makes it very suitable for coffee cultivation.

Indonesian Coffee Processing Method - Wet Hulling

The reason why FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling is famous is largely due to the local wet hulling processing method. This method emerged because Indonesia's local weather is often rainy with frequent typhoons, making it impossible to achieve the good weather required for sun-drying. Additionally, the local economy was not prosperous enough to afford the more expensive washed processing method.

Thus, the wet hulling method with strong local characteristics was developed. Although Indonesian coffee development is no longer in the impoverished state of the past, and many estates and companies now have the conditions to use washed processing, they haven't abandoned wet hulling. FrontStreet Coffee believes that wet hulling is a key factor that brought FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling coffee to the world stage, because when people mention FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling coffee, coffee enthusiasts immediately think of wet hulling, showing their complementary relationship.

FrontStreet Coffee · PWN Indonesia Gold Mandheling Coffee Beans

Country: Indonesia

Region: Sumatra, Aceh, Gayo Mountain

Altitude: 1100-1600m

Variety: Ateng

Processing: Wet Hulling

Flavor: Toasted bread, nuts, pine, caramel, herbal

This FrontStreet Coffee Gold Mandheling on our menu is the latest launch from PWN company in recent months. Unlike the PWN Gold Mandheling that FrontStreet Coffee acquired a few years ago, this latest batch comes from the Gayo Mountain region in Aceh, Sumatra, while the previous one was from Lake Tawa in Sumatra. According to FrontStreet Coffee's cupping and brewing of this latest FrontStreet Coffee PWN Gold Mandheling coffee, we found that compared to the previous PWN Gold Mandheling, it has more toasted bread flavor, making the body even richer.

Furthermore, FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Gold Mandheling meets specifications of 18 mesh or above, with fewer than 3 defective beans (in a 300g green bean sample), belonging to the highest G1 grade, with a deep green color and uniform flat bean shape. After strict screening, FrontStreet Coffee found that not only does it lack the typical earthy impurities of regular Mandheling, but it also tastes cleaner and brighter.

FrontStreet Coffee · Indonesia Tiger Mandheling Coffee Beans

Country: Indonesia

Region: Sumatra

Altitude: 1500m

Variety: Caturra, Typica, Sidikalong

Processing: Wet Hulling

Flavor: Cream, dark chocolate, nuts, balanced taste

Only Mandheling with 17 mesh or above and a defect rate below 4% can be called FrontStreet Coffee Tiger Mandheling. Since FrontStreet Coffee Tiger Mandheling's main varieties are Caturra and Typica, Caturra brings citrus and lemon acidity, while Typica provides lasting sweet aftertaste, making FrontStreet Coffee Tiger Mandheling's taste relatively uniform with high clarity.

FrontStreet Coffee · Indonesia Aged Mandheling Coffee Beans

Country: Indonesia

Region: Sumatra

Altitude: 1500m

Variety: Caturra, Catuai

Processing: Wet Hulling

Flavor: Ripe pu-erh tea, caramel, herbal, chocolate, low acidity

FrontStreet Coffee Aged Mandheling refers to Mandheling coffee beans that have undergone aging treatment, where green beans are stored for an extended period to achieve natural aging (usually 2-3 years). This process leads to reduced coffee acidity and changes in green bean color. The storage environment for aged coffee must be cool and ventilated to prevent mold and moisture. Because of the dark storage environment and long duration, improperly handled aged coffee often has complex flavors similar to mold or what's commonly known as gunny sack or leather notes.

China Yunnan Coffee Growing Region

Next, we'll introduce coffee beans from Yunnan Province. Yunnan actually has a long history of coffee cultivation, but it hasn't been in the specialty coffee market for very long. FrontStreet Coffee believes Yunnan coffee has great development potential, so we established a coffee farm at the border of Yunnan's Baoshan and Myanmar, specifically cultivating Typica variety Yunnan coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee will now introduce coffee beans produced from FrontStreet Coffee's own farm.

FrontStreet Coffee · Yunnan Flower Fruit Mountain Coffee Beans

Country: China

Region: Yunnan Baoshan

Altitude: 1450-1550m

Variety: Typica

Processing: Washed

Flavor: Citrus, nuts, plum, melon fragrance, brown sugar, black tea sensation

The difference between FrontStreet Coffee's self-produced FrontStreet Coffee Yunnan Flower Fruit Mountain coffee and FrontStreet Coffee Yunnan Small Bean is that Flower Fruit Mountain is Typica variety, while FrontStreet Coffee Yunnan Small Bean is Catimor. Both beans can be called small bean coffee, but because Typica's flower and fruit acidity is more gentle and complex, we specifically named it Flower Fruit Mountain to distinguish between the two varieties.

FrontStreet Coffee · Yunnan Small Bean Coffee Beans (Daily Coffee)

Country: China

Region: Yunnan Baoshan

Altitude: 1200m

Variety: Catimor

Processing: Washed

Flavor: Herbal, nutty aroma, chocolate, caramel

FrontStreet Coffee Yunnan Small Bean coffee refers to small bean coffee cultivated in Yunnan region. Coffee is an evergreen small tree of the Rubiaceae family, native to Africa. Currently, the main cultivated beverage plants are small bean coffee and medium bean coffee. The small bean coffee traditionally cultivated in China's Yunnan specifically refers to mixed groups of Bourbon and Typica varieties.

Small bean coffee is the most widely cultivated species in the Coffea genus. Due to its strong cold resistance and tolerance to short-term low temperatures, it can grow at altitudes up to 2100 meters in tropical regions, but is not drought-tolerant; its branches are relatively fragile and cannot withstand strong winds; it has relatively weak disease resistance; fruits fall easily after ripening; after processing, the coffee has aromatic flavor and lower caffeine content.

FrontStreet Coffee · Yunnan Natural Catimor Coffee Beans

Country: China

Region: Yunnan (Baoshan)

Altitude: 1450-1550m

Variety: Catimor

Processing: Red Cherry Natural Processing

Flavor: Caramel, dried fruit, cocoa, dark chocolate, herbal, woody

Most of Yunnan now grows Catimor, which is a hybrid of Caturra (a Bourbon line branch of Arabica) and Robusta. The reason for growing this variety is that Catimor has Robusta genes, making it more disease-resistant than single old varieties, and it also has good yields. Compared to delicate old varieties with poor disease resistance and low yields, farmers naturally prefer growing Catimor, so a Catimor trend has now swept through Yunnan.

The above are the more popular Asian coffee beans currently available at FrontStreet Coffee. Coffee enthusiasts who enjoy rich body and like spicy, herbal flavored coffee might want to try these coffee beans.

African Growing Region Pour-Over Coffee Bean Recommendations

As the birthplace of coffee beans, African growing regions have developed an extensive variety library, but according to FrontStreet Coffee, there are still many unknown wild coffee bean varieties in African growing regions.

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, African coffee's flavor characteristics are rich aroma and charming fruit acidity, with lively and unforgettable brightness. The drawback is that African coffee's body is often somewhat thin, and sweetness is not very prominent. Representative African coffee-producing countries include Ethiopia and Kenya, which are well-known to coffee enthusiasts.

Ethiopian Coffee Growing Region

Ethiopian coffee flavors are predominantly citrus-lemon acidity, with the most famous being coffee beans from the Yirgacheffe region. FrontStreet Coffee also believes that FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe best represents the entire African continent's coffee flavor. Additionally, the Sidamo region also has many high-quality coffee beans, such as FrontStreet Coffee Sidamo Flower Queen coffee beans with strawberry cream flavors, which are also excellent choices.

FrontStreet Coffee · Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry Coffee Beans

Country: Ethiopia

Region: Yirgacheffe

Altitude: 2300m

Variety: Local Landrace

Processing: Natural Processing

Flavor: Berries, lemon, strawberry, fermented wine aroma

The FrontStreet Coffee Natural Red Cherry coffee beans on our menu are made from 100% ripe coffee beans naturally processed, resulting in extremely aromatic flavors with rich sweetness and fermented notes. The origin of this coffee bean comes from the "Red Cherry Project" jointly initiated by local Ethiopian coffee farmers and Dutch trader Trabocca. It aims to improve the quality of coffee from small-scale farms and increase farmers' income. Harvesting fully ripe coffee fruits requires not only picking fully red, mature fruits but also completely manual harvesting - these are just the most basic requirements. There are also corresponding requirements for coffee bean processing methods.

FrontStreet Coffee · Ethiopia Gedeb Cooperative Coffee Beans

Country: Ethiopia

Region: Yirgacheffe

Altitude: 1900-2300m

Variety: Local Landrace

Processing: Washed Processing

Flavor: Tropical fruits, cream, honey, berries, citrus

According to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, Gedeb Cooperative was originally part of the Woka Cooperative under the Yirgacheffe Union YCFCU, becoming independent as Gedeb Cooperative in 2012. It currently has about 300 small farmer members. Because Gedeb village was one of the first areas to become independent, many small farmers were originally members of the Woka Cooperative, so their coffee production skills are excellent. The coffee beans they produce naturally have excellent flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee · Ethiopia Sidamo Buku 4.0 Coffee Beans

Country: Ethiopia

Region: Sidamo

Altitude: 2250-2350m

Variety: Local Landrace

Processing: Natural Processing

Flavor: Berries, floral tea, honey, lemon, black tea

This is because this bean was originally an unknown small bean. In 2017, Ethiopian green bean supplier DW company sent this coffee bean to the TOH (The Taste Of Harvest) green bean competition held by the African Coffee Association. A natural batch from the "Buku Abel" processing plant won the Ethiopia TOH championship with its strong strawberry and cream aroma. This bean is the English literal translation of "Hanbeila."

The reason it's called "Hua Kui" (Flower Champion) in China is that this batch of green beans was imported by a Beijing green bean trader, and due to its championship status, it was given the name "Hua Kui."

Kenyan Coffee Growing Region

The above are recommendations for the famous Ethiopian Yirgacheffe region coffee beans. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce the cherry tomato coffee bean flavors from Kenya.

FrontStreet Coffee · Kenya Asalia Coffee Beans

Country: Kenya

Region: Asali (Honey Processing Station)

Altitude: 1550-1750m

Variety: SL28, SL34

Processing: 72-hour Washed Processing

Flavor: Snow pear, preserved plum, brown sugar, cherry tomato, plum

This FrontStreet Coffee Kenya Asalia on our menu uses the 72-hour washed processing method, which was developed by Kenya. This processing method requires coffee beans to be fermented at low temperatures for extended periods, finally completed through air-drying and dehydration. Coffee beans processed with this method achieve brighter, cleaner yet full-bodied flavors. This is why Kenyan coffee is famous for its极致 acidity, which is precisely thanks to this processing method.

Latin American Pour-Over Coffee Recommendations

Latin American growing region coffee beans: Latin America refers to the American region south of the United States, which is the continent between 32°42" north latitude and 56°54" south latitude, including Mexico (North America), Central America, the West Indies, and South America.

According to FrontStreet Coffee, Latin American growing regions have fertile volcanic soil, rainy and humid climates, and high altitudes, making them very suitable for coffee bean cultivation. Therefore, Latin American coffee beans are known for their balance, typically having rich flavors like cocoa and dark chocolate. Representative coffee-producing countries include Brazil, Colombia, and Costa Rica. FrontStreet Coffee will now introduce coffee beans from these three regions respectively.

Brazilian Coffee Growing Region

The Brazilian growing region mainly cultivates Bourbon variety coffee beans, resulting in excellent sweetness in coffee flavor expression. The following coffee bean is what FrontStreet Coffee believes best represents Brazilian coffee flavor.

FrontStreet Coffee · Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon

Country: Brazil

Region: Mogiana

Altitude: 1400-1950

Variety: Yellow Bourbon

Processing: Pulped Natural

Flavor: Nuts, cream peanuts, fermented fruit flavor, cane sugar

Queen Estate mainly exports Bourbon variety specialty coffee. Environmental protection is quite thorough. Due to higher terrain and non-plain terrain, mechanical harvesting cannot be used, so fruits are harvested completely by hand. Low-yield, high-quality Bourbon varieties are cultivated as the essence of Brazilian premium coffee. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee believes that FrontStreet Coffee Queen Estate Pulped Natural Yellow Bourbon best represents Brazil's premium coffee.

Costa Rican Coffee Growing Region

Costa Rican growing region coffee beans mainly use honey processing methods because local coffee farms are on mountains, making it very inconvenient to send them to coffee processing plants downhill, and coffee fruits are easily damaged during transit. Bean buyers' prices also exploit farmers. Therefore, coffee farmers developed unique honey-processed coffee beans for self-production and sales to increase income. With the advancement of Costa Rican coffee technology, many special honey-processed coffee beans have appeared on the market, such as FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Canet Estate Musician Series coffee, which is very popular among FrontStreet Coffee enthusiasts.

FrontStreet Coffee · Costa Rica Musician Series Mozart Coffee Beans

Country: Costa Rica

Region: Tarrazú

Altitude: 1800m

Variety: Caturra, Catuai

Processing: Raisin Honey Processing

Flavor: Raisin acidity, berries, floral fragrance, fermented wine aroma

Mozart is known as the prodigy who epitomized classical music, famous for his magnificent classical compositions. The magnificent aroma of this FrontStreet Coffee Mozart coffee bean refers to the elegant floral notes that Mozart exudes, similar to white flower fragrances like orange blossom, which FrontStreet Coffee can also perceive during brewing. The magnificent taste refers to FrontStreet Coffee Mozart coffee having more dark berries, raisins, and trace amounts of red berry flavors, with some plum acidity and gummy bear-like sweetness in the middle to later stages; it still retains floral and sweet notes when cooled.

FrontStreet Coffee · Costa Rica Musician Series Bach Coffee Beans

Country: Costa Rica

Region: Tarrazú

Altitude: 1950m

Variety: Caturra

Processing: Raisin Honey Processing

Flavor: Fermented wine aroma, berries, fruit tea notes

When FrontStreet Coffee just finished brewing this FrontStreet Coffee Bach coffee, there were obvious floral and fruit aromas. Upon tasting, we also perceived rich fruit aromas and sweet-sour sensations, with slight wine notes in the middle to later stages, similar to red wine. When cooled, it has candied fruit sweetness, and the wine aroma becomes more pronounced, even perceiving plum wine flavors.

Colombian Coffee Growing Region

Colombia is the world's second-largest coffee exporter and also the country that exports the most Arabica variety coffee beans. Colombia also has many coffee beans processed with special methods, with flavor expressions that are quite amazing. FrontStreet Coffee will now recommend some special Colombian coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee · Colombia San Jose Estate Coffee Beans

Country: Colombia

Region: Caldas

Altitude: 1750m

Variety: Castillo

Processing: Premium Washed Rum Barrel Fermentation Processing

Flavor: Rum, chocolate liqueur, tropical fruits, maple syrup

The owner of San Jose Estate can be called the founder of barrel fermentation processing. According to FrontStreet Coffee, she is the third-generation female owner of San Jose Estate. Because she is committed to promoting Colombian coffee, she broke through between traditional production and modern specialty coffee trends, trying to forge a different path. Under this premise, during one occasion when she accompanied her husband in making rum, she had a flash of inspiration: what if she put green coffee beans into oak barrels - would they absorb the oak barrel flavors like the original wine, achieving barrel-aged effects?

Under this concept, the owner Monsalve Botero began in 2013 to put green beans into rum barrels of different ages for winemaking-style low-temperature fermentation, comparing fermented flavors from different brewing times. Through such experiments, she selected the most suitable barrels and fermentation duration. Finally, she successfully found the most suitable combination, achieving special and satisfying flavors, thereby creating rum barrel fermented coffee different from traditional washed processing.

FrontStreet Coffee · Colombia Rose Valley Coffee Beans

Country: Colombia

Region: Santander (Big Tree Estate)

Altitude: 1700m

Variety: Caturra

Processing: Anaerobic Double Enzyme Washed Processing

Flavor: Honey, juice sensation, strawberry

FrontStreet Coffee Rose Valley coffee comes from Big Tree Estate in Colombia's Santander region. The farm owner Vargas has been growing coffee at Big Tree Farm for 20 years. At Big Tree Farm, only fully ripe, bright red coffee fruits are selected for picking, and defective floating beans are removed through washing, followed by two rounds of anaerobic fermentation and placement with special enzyme groups for fermentation. The farm owner also pays great attention to the drying process of coffee beans, avoiding excessive temperatures during drying and adopting a slow drying method. This is precisely the double enzyme anaerobic processing method mentioned by FrontStreet Coffee above.

Its process involves removing floating beans through washing, then placing the processed coffee beans in a sealed container, injecting carbon dioxide to expel oxygen, slowing down the decomposition rate of sugars in coffee fruit pectin in an oxygen-free environment, with pH declining more slowly, extending fermentation time to develop better sweetness and more balanced flavors in the coffee.

The above are the distinctive pour-over coffee beans recommended by FrontStreet Coffee. We hope this article can help coffee enthusiasts choose coffee beans they like and that suit their taste preferences.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat, WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925

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