The Tale of Flower Queen from Ethiopia's Guji Hambella | Cold Brew Flavor Characteristics of Flower Queen Coffee Beans

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Looking up at the sky on a summer evening, the gentle hues of sunset evoke thoughts of a coffee bean beloved by many—Horse King 5.0. The fruity aroma resembles the orange-yellow interweaving sunset, the rich berry juiciness mirrors the pink-purple sunset, and the creamy smooth texture with wine notes captures summer's gentleness. How can we bring the gentleness of Horse King coffee to our palate? FrontStreet Coffee commonly uses four methods.

Recalling the Story of Horse King Coffee Beans

In 2017, Ethiopia's DW green coffee company sent their beans to the Taste Of Harvest (TOH) competition hosted by the African Fine Coffee Association. A batch from the "Buku Abel" processing plant won the TOH Ethiopia championship with its intense strawberry and cream aroma. This batch of green beans was imported by a Beijing green coffee trader and crowned with the name "Horse King" due to its championship status. In the same year, Li Jianfei from Beijing used these 2017 champion Horse King coffee beans to win second place in the 2017 World Brewers Cup China region (when other competing beans were Geisha), and Chinese coffee enthusiasts deeply remembered this particular bean.

Is Horse King 5.0 Still the Original Horse King?

No, the climate is changing, and as agricultural products, coffee beans' flavors also change. Although all Horse King series come from the "Buku Abel" processing plant and use the same natural processing method, the formation of coffee bean flavors varies according to factors like climate and soil. Therefore, DW differentiates Horse King coffee beans each year—launching Horse King 2.0 in 2018, Horse King 3.0 and 3.1 in 2019, Horse King 4.0 in 2020, and this year, 2021, brings Horse King 5.0.

How FrontStreet Coffee's Roasters Bring Out Horse King 5.0's Gentleness

Due to the high moisture content of new harvest green coffee beans, the moisture affects heat transfer during roasting, and coffee can easily experience incomplete dehydration during the roasting process. At this point, the coffee beans might appear cooked on the surface while the core remains underdeveloped.

To avoid underdevelopment, FrontStreet Coffee suggests extending the dehydration time when roasting Horse King 5.0 (the time between temperature return point and yellowing point). Meanwhile, to highlight the sweetness and fermentation characteristics of natural processing, FrontStreet Coffee's roasters appropriately extend the development period (the time between yellowing point and first crack). Horse King 5.0 is grown at altitudes of 2250m-2350m, giving the beans high hardness, so they need heat application before first crack to avoid excessive development time that would cause the coffee's sweet and sour flavors to dissipate.

How FrontStreet Coffee Brings Horse King Coffee Beans' Gentleness to Your Palate

Hot Pour Over & Ice Pour Over Methods

To fully extract the rich layers of Horse King 5.0, FrontStreet Coffee uses higher water temperature and finer grind size for extraction. However, to avoid over-extraction caused by high temperatures, they use faster-flowing drippers like the V60. The V60 dripper has a 60-degree conical shape that allows coffee grounds to concentrate, and when pouring water, it automatically converges toward the center of the dripper, ensuring sufficient contact time between water and coffee grounds to extract suitable coffee liquid. Additionally, the spiral ribs inside the V60 extend from bottom to top in a clockwise pattern, creating enough space between filter paper and dripper for good water flow. Combined with the large hole at the bottom, water flow is relatively faster than many other drippers.

Hot Pour Over Parameters and Brewing Technique

Water temperature 90°C, coffee-to-water ratio 1:15, coffee dose 15g, medium-fine grind (80% pass-through rate on China #20 standard sieve).

First, use 30g of water to fully saturate the coffee bed into a "hamburger" shape for a 30-second bloom. The second pour at 1'00" brings the water to 125g, then wait until the water level drops to 2/3 of the coffee bed before the third pour. The third pour at 1'40" brings the total to 225g. Wait until the coffee liquid completely drips through, with total extraction time of 1'59". After extraction is complete, gently swirl the server to ensure the coffee is well-mixed before tasting.

Ice Pour Over Parameters and Brewing Technique

Water temperature 91°C, coffee-to-water ratio 1:10, coffee dose 15g, medium-fine grind (85% pass-through rate on China #20 standard sieve), 100g ice cubes. Also using a three-stage pour: first pour 30ml for 30-second bloom, second pour 60ml, third pour 60ml more. Then pour the coffee liquid into a cup containing 100g ice cubes and shake well.

Ice Drip Method

FrontStreet Coffee's ice drip coffee method uses 60g of coffee grounds to extract 600ml of coffee liquid, with a coffee-to-water ratio as high as 1:10. For grind size, they choose a setting slightly finer than pour-over—about 85% pass-through rate on a #20 sieve. The ice-water mixture ratio is 1:1, with the flow control valve set to 7 drops per 10 seconds. The entire extraction takes about 6-8 hours. After extraction is complete, it's bottled and refrigerated for 12 hours before drinking.

Cold Brew Method

Taking FrontStreet Coffee's daily cold brew production as an example, the coffee grind is slightly finer than pour-over—about 75-80% pass-through rate on China #20 standard sieve, visually similar to fine sugar, corresponding to 9.5-10 on EK43s or approximately 22-26 clicks on hand grinders like C40.

Next, pour the ground coffee into a clean container—either a dedicated cold brew maker or a mineral water bottle—add room temperature water at a 1:10 coffee-to-water ratio, stir well, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for more than 8 hours (preferably within 12 hours). Finally, filter out the coffee grounds with filter paper to complete the cold brew preparation.

The cold brew coffee-to-water ratio is often the most concerning question. FrontStreet Coffee believes that if you're drinking it straight without adding anything, you can use a 1:12 to 1:13 ratio, as this range produces the most palatable black coffee with relatively full aroma extraction. However, considering that we'll eventually add fresh milk, we need to increase the coffee concentration so it doesn't get too "diluted" later. Here, FrontStreet Coffee suggests using a 1:10 to 1:11 ratio.

Finally, FrontStreet Coffee wants to remind you: generally, for both flavor experience and health safety considerations, whether it's ice drip or cold brew, for any extraction method performed at low temperatures, FrontStreet Coffee recommends drinking it within 5 days (counting from the preparation day).

Important Notice :

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