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FrontStreet Coffee's Daily Bean - Costa Rica Tarrazu Introduction

If you work in new media, overtime is simply unavoidable - it comes with the territory. That is exactly why a coffee shop with a beautiful, comfortable environment, a quiet atmosphere, excellent coffee and desserts, and reasonable prices matters so much. After all, no good manuscript was ever written while burrowed under a warm blanket with snacks in reach and variety shows on the screen.

Plenty of urban professionals prefer to work from coffee shops. You order a cup, settle into a comfortable seat, and ease into the day's work. Many people love cafés precisely because one cup buys you the whole day - hook up to the free WiFi and let the brainstorming begin.

In Guangzhou, coffee is indispensable: the city overflows with cafés. This is especially true of the old districts, where the ancient buildings seem to still be telling stories from long ago. Indelible urban memories mingle with new-era development to create today's Guangzhou - young, yet full of substance.

Guangzhou's autumn and winter stay warm compared with much of the country. On the weekend before last year's winter solstice, I spent two days drinking coffee at "FrontStreet Coffee." Dongshan is my favorite corner of Guangzhou, without exception. The accumulated years give it a scholarly air and an unhurried, everyday sort of charm. Take the subway to Dongshankou and walk from Shuqian Road to Miaoqian Zhijie: big trees shade grandfathers playing chess while grandmothers sit chatting together. Along the way you pass the aged facade of Dongshan Department Store, very old photo studios, shoe repair shops, and snacks you will find nowhere else in Guangzhou.

The shop itself is not large - arrive a little late and you may not get a seat; sometimes it even feels a touch cramped. Next to the bar sits a coffee roaster, and a blackboard is densely packed with notes on the various beans. The owner roasts every day, and when he fires up the machine in the morning the whole Bao'an FrontStreet can fill with the scent of roasting beans. The people at the bar are either regulars or coffee enthusiasts hoping to chat with the barista; on all my visits, the bar was always full. The small tables nearby display pre-selected beans, the wall by the entrance is papered with coffee bean packaging, and green beans line the wall in bag after bag.

Through a small door beside the bar, two outdoor tables await. On my first visit I deliberately chose a seat outside - not only because I could smoke, but because Guangzhou's winter sun is wonderfully pleasant. FrontStreet Coffee carries beans from many producing regions and processing methods, and it runs promotions every month with substantial discounts. The daily beans reportedly start at just 9.9/100. Coffee this inexpensive is not a sign of poor quality; it is deliberate, so that coffee lovers can enjoy the best coffee at the lowest possible price. Better still, every promotion coincides with a new bean launch, which makes each one irresistible.

Among the offerings, one Costa Rica Tarrazu daily bean particularly captured my heart - soft fruit acidity, berry flavors, and a beautifully balanced mouthfeel.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If value is what you are after, FrontStreet's espresso blends deserve a spot on your shelf. The FrontStreet Premium Blend - washed Colombian and pulped-natural Brazilian - delivers nuts, dark chocolate, and caramel with a comfortable bittersweet finish, splendid with milk in a latte. The FrontStreet Dark Cocoa Blend pairs Yunnan washed arabica with Brazilian pulped natural for a balanced, low-cost cup with golden crema, while the FrontStreet Strawberry Candy Gesha Blend answers anyone who wants a non-bitter Americano or latte with rose florals and notes of grape, dried blueberry, sweet orange, and fruit candy.