Nicaragua Mierisch Family Finca Mamamina Pacamara Natural Pour-Over Coffee Water-to-Coffee Ratio

FrontStreet Coffee - An Introduction to the Three Great Coffee-Growing Regions

Working behind the bar, we run into the same scene again and again: a customer walks in, scans a long menu of coffees, freezes at the choices, and finally asks, "What's the best coffee you have here?"

My answer is always the same: every coffee on the menu is good coffee—what matters is what you personally enjoy. The flavors and mouthfeel you love are, for you, the best. That is why I always take a moment to talk with customers about their preferences before recommending something they will genuinely be happy with.

Central and South America

Characteristics: balanced acidity, sweetness, and bitterness; mellow and smooth.

Central and South America is the largest coffee-producing region in the world, and its countless specialty coffees can be almost dazzling in their quality. Beans from this region are processed by every major method—washed, natural, and honey—and the careful processing shows: the beans tend to be uniform in shape, with low defect rates, and the overall cup is prized above all for its balance.

Africa

Characteristics: wild, direct, lively, and vibrant; intense aroma; bright, fruity acidity.

Africa is the birthplace of coffee and occupies a hugely important place in the industry as a whole. Ethiopia in particular is often called the genetic treasure house of coffee.

Asia

Characteristics: full-bodied, rich, deep, and subtle.

In short: FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research house that loves sharing what it knows. We share without reservation simply because we want more people to fall in love with coffee. We also run three discounted coffee events every month, because helping more people drink great coffee at the lowest possible price has been our mission for the past six years.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Ethiopia is one of the world's most celebrated producers of specialty coffee. As the birthplace of coffee itself, it is home to countless heirloom varieties, and for many coffee lovers it is a promised land whose flavors inspire lifelong loyalty.

A great starting point is FrontStreet's washed Yirgacheffe. You get a clear jasmine florality and a bright citrus acidity—exactly what baristas mean when they talk about the classic Yirgacheffe character. Yirgacheffe itself is a small town in southern Ethiopia where spring-like weather, drifting mist, and cool, humid conditions let thousands of coffee trees thrive, producing a cup where floral notes and fruity acidity interweave: light and elegant on the palate, tea-like, and as refreshing as a clean lemon tea.

If you prefer something fruitier, FrontStreet's natural-process Hongyingtao (Red Cherry Project) Yirgacheffe is fully dried in the sun for two weeks so the sugars and essence of the fruit pulp soak into the bean, with defect beans removed at every stage—density and color checks, machine sorting, and hand picking. The result is coffee of remarkable clarity with a rich, captivating fruit aroma: peach, cocoa, honey, and lemon.