Hand-Ground Coffee Bean Recommendations: Origin Guide & Best Brands

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FrontStreet Coffee Hand-Ground Coffee Bean Recommendation: El Salvador Olive Tree Estate

Flavor Profile: The first sip reveals berry and sweet orange notes, complemented by peach. As the cup cools a little, it turns more fruit-tea-like, with a honey peach aroma in the finish.

Acidity: Medium   Sweetness: Medium   Bitterness: Low to medium.

This El Salvador coffee undergoes honey processing. During that method the coffee keeps some of its fruit pulp while it dries, which gives it slightly higher acidity than natural-processed coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you enjoy the honey-processed sweetness and stone-fruit softness of the Olive Tree Estate, the FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Blackberry is a natural companion. It is made with a distinct black honey process that removes almost none of the mucilage, so the cherries dry slowly for at least two weeks under covers and are turned regularly to prevent uneven heat and over-fermentation. Roasted medium-light, it grinds into an intense floral fragrance and brews into grape, berry and ripe blackberry notes.

For a lighter, more fruit-forward honey style, try the FrontStreet Coffee Strawberry Candy Geisha Blend. It pairs a raisin honey Costa Rican coffee - 100% mucilage retained, zero water - with a Panamanian Geisha. The cherries are floated, dried on raised beds for at least three days, then depulped with the mucilage intact and turned constantly for even drying. The cup shows Geisha's floral-tea lift along with dried grape and blueberry, gentle fruit acidity, an almond finish and clear sweetness.

And for a more floral, exotic expression of the honey family, the FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Mozart uses a raisin honey method that pre-dries the whole cherries for at least three days before depulping. Retaining 100% of the pectin, it demands even stricter timing than black honey and rewards it with osmanthus, pineapple and raisin aromas - excellent as pour-over, cold brew or moka pot.