Yuanse Café Journey

A Coffee Tasting Journey: Yuanse Café

Headed out at noon to begin today's little pilgrimage.

Destination: Yuanse Café

Address: No. 2-2, Lilac Alley, Pingjiang Road, Pingjiang District (near Guanqian Street)

Details: The café sits in the narrow lane between Lilac Pavilion and My Cat Coffee on Pingjiang Road. It's small, but that's part of its charm.

Today's Coffee Bean Selection

What I ordered: Panama Geisha and Hawaii Kona — the Kona won me over the moment the bag was opened and an intoxicating fruity aroma came pouring out.

A Closer Look at Today's Two Coffees

Panama Geisha

The cup was bright and transparent, clear all the way to the bottom.

The sweetness was generous, and it didn't fade as the coffee cooled — even the empty cup kept a rich, sugary fragrance long after the last sip.

While hot, a vivid fruit acidity danced across the palate and tickled the sides of the tongue. Hold a sip briefly, swallow slowly, and a clean sweetness rises from the throat back to the tip of the tongue.

As the cup cooled, the texture grew smoother and rounder. That bright, cheerful acidity softened, but the sweetness never wavered.

The aroma, meanwhile, kept intensifying as the temperature dropped — genuinely intoxicating.

By the end, the empty cup looked as though it had been glazed with a translucent coating of coffee nectar. Clean and refreshing.

Overall verdict: Refreshingly bright on the surface, yet deep and reserved underneath.

The image it painted in my mouth:

"A spirited young man running through open country, passing through seasons and years, weathering every trial, slowly maturing — until he becomes a wise man seated before a bookshelf, profound and full of quiet wisdom."

Hawaii Kona

The beans open with a rich aroma that's hard to pin down — something like fresh earth. After brewing it smells of newly turned lawn, sweet with cut grass.

The color is beautiful too — not the kind of glassy clarity you can see straight through, but a soft, layered beauty.

While hot, there's a very pure creamy note on the nose and a lovely nuttiness on the palate. As the cup cools, the two gradually fold into each other.

The whole flavor profile fills the mouth with such a rich blend of aromatics that picking out individual notes becomes almost impossible.

It left me tempted to re-boil the spent grounds just to have one more round in the cup.

Overall verdict: A bean with real expressive range, a perfectly rounded aroma, and a thick, substantial mouthfeel.

The image it painted in my mouth:

(I'm not fond of the usual description of this Kona as "a woman walking toward you on Hawaii's sea breeze.")

"Churchill lights his familiar cigar, his resolute eyes undimmed by the rising smoke — a charm carved by time, every gesture radiating an unbeatable confidence."

Impressions of the Café

The style is strikingly minimal. The owner trained in Japan, and the first floor reflects a Japanese minimalist aesthetic.

The whole tasting experience was deeply comfortable. The owner patiently lets you discover each coffee's character on your own before offering a gentle comment and walking you through the finer points of tasting.

Face masks, a thermometer, cups warmed with hot water, brewing that looks effortless but is anything but — every detail speaks to the owner's philosophy of coffee.

A true coffee person pours their passion into the cup, hoping others will taste that enthusiasm in the coffee itself.

The owner dislikes being called a barista; the preferred term is "coffee person."

That's the artisan spirit at its best: putting as much care as possible into making good coffee.

I love this approach — chasing the essence of coffee, nothing more.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If today's Panama Geisha piqued your interest, FrontStreet Coffee carries both of Hacienda Esmeralda's flagship grades: the Red Label "Esmeralda Special," grown at 1,600–1,800 meters, cupping above 90 points, with every batch traceable to a single named lot on the farm; and the Green Label "Private Collection," a blend of lots that showcases Esmeralda's signature high-altitude Geisha character at a friendlier price. Both deliver that classic Panama profile — orange blossom and honey, juicy fruit acidity, and a tea-like, lingering sweetness.

Brewing Geisha at home rewards a light touch. Use a medium-light roast, grind to a coarser medium (about 78% pass through a #20 sieve, the size of fine granulated sugar), and pour with water at 91°C. FrontStreet's recipe: 15g of coffee in a small Hario V60 at a 1:16 ratio, three pours — bloom with 30g of water for 30 seconds, then build to 125g and finally 225g in small, slow spirals, finishing the drawdown in about 2:10–2:20.

For a more affordable first taste of the Geisha mystique, FrontStreet Coffee's Boquete Geisha from Panama is the entry-level pick — orange-honey sweetness, an oolong-tea finish, and layered fruit acidity at a gentle price. And if you want to explore Geisha back where it all began, the Granja Granlana Gesha from Ethiopia, washed on raised beds for 14–20 days and roasted medium-light, offers bright citrus, elegant ginger-flower aromatics, and the variety's signature refined finish.