Introduction to Pour-Over Methods for Guokui Coffee: How to Brew Guokui Coffee Beans? Flavor Profile Description

FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion coffee, as one of the essential daily brews for countless fruit aroma coffee lovers, has now entered its eighth year unconsciously. So what kind of coffee beans can be defined as "Flower Champion"? What details should be paid attention to in order to extract its essence? To learn more, please follow FrontStreet Coffee as we turn the progress bar back to February 2017.

What is Flower Champion Coffee?

About eight years ago, when Ethiopia's DW Coffee Company participated in the TOH (Ethiopia National Taste of Harvest competition) organized by the African Fine Coffee Association, they submitted a natural process coffee bean from the Hambela Buku Abel processing station, which won the natural process category championship that year with its rich berry aroma and cream-like texture.

In the same year, this championship batch was selected by a Beijing green bean trader. Because of its champion status, it was named "Flower Champion" and introduced to the domestic market, symbolizing "the best among all flowers, surpassing all others in beauty." Immediately after, this "Flower Champion" was used by a World Brewers Cup competitor (China region) as competition beans, defeating opponents using Geisha coffee beans and winning the runner-up position that year. Thus, this natural process bean from the Buku Abel processing station successfully debuted with the competition's momentum, and with its affordable price, it quickly became widely recognized in the industry as a high-quality coffee.

In our impression, coffee bean naming methods usually follow certain patterns and once established, won't be changed, such as Geisha being a variety, Blue Mountain being an origin, Guddina being a processing station, etc. But Flower Champion is particularly special—it's like Apple's iPhone, needing new "version names" every year to be released. Why is this?

In fact, before this bean was called "Flower Champion," it only had an English name "Hambella," which essentially means natural process G1 coffee beans from the Hambella region, with "Buku Abel" being more precise traceability information. In 2017, after "Flower Champion" became famous overnight, to meet the surge in market demand, DW Company established 5 independent specialty coffee drying processing stations in Hambella Wamena Wereda, all located in the core producing area of Dimtu town. Besides the original Buku Abel, four other small villages—Buku Saysay, Haro Soresa, Tirtiro Goye, and Seke Bokosa—also joined the production of natural process coffee beans. It's reported that at this time, the annual production of "Flower Champion" under DW Company had reached tens of millions of tons.

To further increase "Flower Champion" production, besides adding processing stations, DW Company also significantly expanded the coffee cherry harvesting range. Coffee cherries grown in neighboring villages might also be sent to these processing stations for processing and then exported as "Hambella G1." In other words, although we can call Hambella natural process G1 coffee beans processed from these five villages "Flower Champion," strictly speaking, only the area processed within "Buku Abel" village includes the small producing area of the championship natural process batch that year, and is most likely to produce coffee beans close to the "Flower Champion flavor" of that year.

Why does "Flower Champion X.0" appear?

Everyone knows that coffee is essentially an economic agricultural crop. The annual yield and quality are first affected by factors such as climate, rainfall, altitude, soil, fertilization, and weeding, followed by different flavor profiles presented during processing due to detailed differences (sunshine time, temperature, humidity). Flower Champion is no exception.

Starting from the 2018 harvest season, natural process G1 coffee from the same growing region and processing stations no longer had the flavor of the 2017 Flower Champion. Therefore, to continue selling this natural process coffee from Hambela while making certain distinctions from the original version, domestic green bean companies established an X.0 suffix for each subsequent batch based on calculations from 2017 onward. For example, the 2018 batch was called "Flower Champion 2.0," the 2019 production was called "Flower Champion 3.0 and 3.1," and so on.

Flavor Characteristics of FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion

As a star product among African coffees, Ethiopian beans, with their rich floral aromas, fresh citrus notes, and clear, transparent mouthfeel, have become an entry-level single-origin choice for many people. As fans of flower and fruit flavor coffees, FrontStreet Coffee has multiple Ethiopian coffee beans on its menu, with FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion becoming the preferred natural process single-origin batch for many enthusiasts due to its consistently high popularity. FrontStreet Coffee believes that FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopian coffee is mainly represented by fruit acidity flavors, making it more suitable for medium-light roasting to highlight sweetness while preserving more floral aromas and fruit acidity.

FrontStreet Coffee's natural process Sidamo Flower Champion has a dry aroma of nuts, honey, berries, and a light fermentation aroma. The entry taste is a full sweet and sour flavor of passion fruit, cream, and strawberry, with a thick body and cocoa aftertaste.

V60 Drip Extraction

Flavor performance: Mixed berry-like aroma, cream strawberry and passion fruit-like sweet and sour taste, obvious sweetness, and full mouthfeel.

The V60 filter cup gets its name from its 60-degree conical design. This angle guides water flow to the center, extending the contact time between water and coffee. The large-aperture filter hole at the bottom allows everyone to control the coffee flavor extraction time by changing the water flow rate. To prevent water from passing too quickly through the coffee powder layer, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using medium-fine grinding (80% passing rate through China #20 sieve). To better reflect the full juice sensation and rich fruit aroma of FrontStreet Coffee's small-bean Flower Champion coffee beans, it's recommended to use 91 degrees Celsius water temperature and adopt a three-stage slow circular fine water flow injection brewing method.

The brewing amount is 15g of coffee powder with a powder-to-water ratio of 1:15, meaning we need to inject 225g of hot water into 15g of coffee powder for extraction. First, use 30g for a 30-second bloom, with a water flow rate of 4g per second and 4 seconds per circle, pouring from the center outward in a circle and returning to the center until reaching 125g, then stop the water. Wait until the powder layer drops to half its height before starting to pour water in the same way to 225g, then stop. After all the coffee liquid from the filter cup flows into the lower pot, remove the filter cup to end extraction. The total brewing time is 2 minutes and 10 seconds.

Clever Dripper Immersion Extraction

Flavor performance: Mixed berry-like aroma, full strawberry juice sensation, cream-like smoothness, and tea-like aftertaste.

The bottom of the Clever Dripper consists of two layers. The outer layer provides structural support, while the inner layer has a pressure-activated switch valve design. As long as it's not placed on a container, the valve remains closed, allowing coffee powder to be immersed. After immersion is complete, simply place the filter cup on a container, the middle of the base receives pressure, prompting the piston valve to open, allowing coffee liquid to flow into the container. Due to immersion extraction, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using medium grinding (75% passing rate through China #20 sieve), 90 degrees Celsius water temperature, and center fine water flow injection brewing method.

The brewing amount is 15g of coffee powder with a powder-to-water ratio of 1:15, meaning we need to inject 225g of hot water into 15g of coffee powder for extraction. First, move the Clever Dripper to the electronic scale (the valve will automatically close), pour the ground coffee into the center of the filter cup. Start the timer, inject 30g of hot water in a "Z" pattern for the first segment to bloom for 30 seconds. After blooming, no need to circle—inject hot water to 225g in the center of the filter cup with fine water flow, then immerse for 1'50". After immersion is complete, move the Clever Dripper to the container and open the valve to filter the coffee liquid from the filter cup. The entire process takes about 15 seconds, with a total coffee extraction time of 2'05".

French Press Immersion Extraction

Flavor performance: Mixed berry-like aroma, complex juice sensation, obvious cream-like mouthfeel, overall full and mellow.

The French press consists of a heat-resistant glass container and a metal filter screen with a pressure rod, mainly extracting coffee through immersion. During extraction, the longer the immersion time, the more substances are extracted from the coffee until saturation, meaning the longer it's brewed, the stronger the coffee. Meanwhile, the metal filter screen retains a large amount of oils from the coffee, making the mouthfeel smoother, but because it can't completely filter fine powder, there may be a slight residue sensation. To avoid over-extraction, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using medium-coarse grinding (71% passing rate through China #20 sieve), 92 degrees Celsius water temperature, and 4 minutes of immersion time.

The brewing amount is 15g of coffee powder with a powder-to-water ratio of 1:15. Pour the ground coffee powder into the pot, then pour in 225ml of hot water, pull up the pressure rod, cover the pot lid, and wait for 4 minutes. Then slowly press down the pressure rod so the metal filter screen presses to 1/4 of the pot's height, preventing fine powder at the bottom from surging upward.

AeroPress Pressure Extraction

Flavor performance: Saturated berry sour aroma, obvious sweetness, cream-like smoothness, high cleanliness, obvious tea sensation.

The AeroPress structure can be simply divided into three main parts: the chamber, filter cap, and plunger. It combines the immersion extraction method of French press, the paper filter of pour-over coffee, and the pressure extraction of espresso machines. Its working principle is to stir and mix coffee powder with hot water, then use the plunger to press air through the filter cap to extract clean-flavored coffee. Due to short-time pressure extraction, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using fine grinding (90% passing rate through China #20 sieve) and 90 degrees Celsius water temperature.

The brewing amount is 15g of coffee powder. First, press the circular filter paper onto the filter cap and moisten it with water to fit tightly; then press the filter cap onto the chamber and place it upright on top of a filter cup. Place the funnel and pour in 15 grams of ground coffee powder; then start timing, pour in hot water until the water level reaches the "④" mark on the chamber, use the stir stick to gently stir the coffee powder inside the chamber so all coffee is moistened by water. Press on the plunger—because of positive pressure, coffee will drip into the lower pot, so the action of stirring and pressing the plunger after water injection must be quick. After pressing the plunger, because the inside is sealed, dripping will stop. After 1 minute, start pressing the plunger; the coffee liquid is pressed into the lower pot by the squeezing effect. After pressing is complete, the time is 1 minute and 20 seconds.

Cold Water Immersion Extraction

Flavor performance: Complex juice sour aroma, full berry juice sensation, passion fruit fermentation aroma, balanced sweet and sour, overall full and mellow.

Cold brew coffee, also known as cold extraction coffee, is made by pouring cold water into coffee powder for immersion extraction. The cold brew method can amplify various flavors and aromas of coffee, reduce acidity, and enhance the overall richness of the coffee. Due to low-temperature extraction, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using medium-fine grinding (85% passing rate through China #20 sieve), and room temperature water or ice water can be used for immersion.

FrontStreet Coffee recommends a powder-to-water ratio of 1:15 for making cold brew coffee. For example: 30g of coffee with 300g of room temperature water and 150g of ice cubes (or directly add 450g of room temperature water), stir thoroughly and place in the refrigerator to steep for 12-24 hours. After extraction, filter out the coffee grounds using filter paper or a fine mesh sieve before drinking. The best tasting time for cold brew coffee is 2-3 days after filtering the coffee grounds, and it's recommended not to exceed 7 days of storage time.

Important Notice :

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