Essential Coffee Knowledge for Beginners | Pour-Over Coffee Basics | Beginner Coffee Bean Recommendations

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Drinking Black Coffee Without Sugar or Milk

A tremendous transformation

The Third Wave Coffee Revolution

The first wave of coffee emerged with instant coffee. In the sweet taste of creamer and companions, the Chinese coffee journey began.

The second wave of coffee saw the rise of chain coffee markets, followed by the emergence of various small coffee shops. Most second-wave coffee shops sold concepts and atmosphere while neglecting the quality of coffee itself. Various fancy coffees masked the true flavor of coffee.

The third wave coffee revolution brought a group of true coffee lovers and specialty coffee advocates who began to offer single-origin coffee (single origin/single estate/single variety), using self-roasted coffee beans, with roasting degrees changed to light-medium roasts. They insist on providing specialty coffee, spreading authentic coffee culture, with exclusive cultural meaning, providing coffee directly from origins, along with their exclusive culture and techniques. The goal is to return coffee to its true quality.

Specialty Coffee

First proposed by Ms. Erna Knudsen, known as the "godmother of specialty coffee," in the "Tea & Coffee Journal" in 1974, highlighting that "only in the most favorable microclimates and soil can specialty coffee with unique flavors be cultivated," aiming to distinguish it from the bulk commercial coffee of the New York futures trading market. In 1972, Ms. Knudsen and Donald Schoenholt, along with four others, co-founded the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), and the term "specialty coffee" became a global term.

SCAA's Definition of Specialty Coffee:

Carefully select the most suitable varieties, cultivated at altitudes, climates, and soil environments most conducive to coffee flavor development;

Careful washed and natural processing, carefully selected defect-free highest-grade green beans, transported with zero defects to customers;

Through the superb craftsmanship of roasters, bringing out the richest regional flavors;

Then use recognized extraction methods to brew delicious coffee.

Regional flavor refers to the different coffee flavors created by different soils, varieties, climates, and environments, which is the soul of specialty coffee region. In short, specialty coffee should be a high-quality coffee that integrates "good green beans, good roasting, good extraction."

Commercial Beans vs. Specialty Beans

Of the coffee beans produced in the world today, 70% are Arabica, divided into Typica, Bourbon, etc., and 30% are Robusta. Arabica quality is generally higher than Robusta, but Arabica has weaker disease resistance, so in the consumer market, Arabica proportion is much smaller than Robusta. Moreover, not all Arabica beans can be used to make specialty coffee; they must undergo strict cupping scoring.

The Specialty Coffee Association of America points out that through comprehensive cupping (blind tasting), beans scoring 80 points or above can be defined as specialty coffee beans. Blind tasting scores below 80 points can be classified as commercial beans, with longer packaging and transportation processes, and freshness cannot be guaranteed.

But this standard only applies to washed Arabica coffee and is not comprehensive, so now "specialty beans" are generally understood as single-origin beans with higher quality, proper processing methods, traceable variety origins, and unique flavors.

Famous Single-Origin Coffees

Blue Mountain: Produced in the high mountains of Jamaica, a treasure among coffees, with a fragrant, sweet, and gentle taste, no bitterness with a slight sweetness, extremely limited production, expensive price.

Mocha: Produced in Ethiopia, small beans with rich fragrance, strong acidity, with a slight wine aroma, spicy and stimulating, special flavor, a renowned high-quality coffee.

Yirgacheffe: Produced in Ethiopia, with rich jasmine fragrance, lemon or lime acidity, as well as peach, almond sweetness, or tea aroma.

Cuban Crystal Mountain: Adjacent to Jamaica's Blue Mountain range, with gentle fragrance, moderate concentration, almost no acidity.

Mandheling: Produced in Sumatra, with heavy fragrance, relatively bitter taste, with syrup and chocolate flavors, acidity is not prominent.

Panama Geisha: The brightest, most aromatic, and intensely fragrant coffee variety, with rich aromas ranging from berries and citrus to mango, papaya, and peach flavors.

Scientific Approach to Roasting

80% of coffee's flavor depends on roasting. Roasting must have the rigor of a scientist, able to skillfully bring out the aroma, acidity, and bitterness inherent in green coffee beans, ensuring the carbonization of sugars and carbohydrates contained in coffee during the roasting process, thereby producing coffee oils and expressing coffee's maximum characteristics. Good roasted beans are well-expanded, surface-free from wrinkles, with uniform gloss.

Roasting Degrees:

Can be divided into light, medium, and dark categories. Light roast has stronger acidity, dark roast gradually loses acidity, and bitterness increases. Now specialty coffee more often uses light-medium roasting to showcase the inherent flavor of coffee beans.

After Roasting:

Freshly roasted coffee beans need to degas, releasing carbon dioxide, and can be served after 36 hours. Flavor reaches its peak around 4 days, 4 weeks is the limit. Light roast coffee beans can extend by one week, dark roast is best consumed within 10 days, and it can be thrown away after three weeks.

Pour-Over Coffee · Exclusive Illustrated Step-by-Step Guide

Pour-over coffee is a ritual

Slow dripping

Extracting the rich and light flavors of coffee

The greatest charm of pour-over

Also lies in being full of various uncertainties

Essential Tools

Dripper: Drippers come in single-hole, double-control, three-hole, and multi-hole varieties. The more holes a dripper has, the higher the pouring skill required;

Filter Paper: As coffee bean quality gets higher and higher, cleanliness also increases. To highlight flavors, filter screens or filter paper are the best choices;

Pour-Over Kettle: Narrow-spout kettle, convenient for controlling water flow and direction;

Coffee Beans: Choose according to preference.

Pour-Over Tips

Water-to-Bean Ratio: Generally, for 200ml of coffee, approximately 15-20g of coffee beans are needed;

Dripper Warming: Before brewing coffee, pour hot water into the dripper, wet the filter paper to remove the paper taste, and warm the dripper and coffee cup;

Bloom: Using the center point of the coffee grounds as the center, use the pour-over kettle to add water in uniform, gentle circles, submerging the coffee grounds, for about 20-25 seconds. The water flow here should be relatively fine.

First infusion water volume accounts for 60% of total coffee water, second infusion accounts for 30%, third infusion accounts for 10%.

Extraction Complete

Enjoy

● Recommended Beginner Coffee Bean Brands

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted beginner coffee beans: Yirgacheffe coffee, Panama Butterfly coffee, Indonesian Mandheling coffee, etc., all have full guarantees in terms of brand and quality. More importantly, the cost-performance ratio is extremely high. A half-pound 227g package costs only around 80-90 yuan. Calculating based on 15g of powder per cup of pour-over coffee, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, each cup of single-origin coffee only costs about 6 yuan, which is extremely cost-effective compared to the tens of yuan per cup sold in coffee shops.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou, with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find various famous and lesser-known beans, while also providing online shop services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473