Coffee Recommendations for Beginners: A Guide to New Single-Origin Coffee Selection

FrontStreet Coffee's Beginner's Guide to Single-Origin Coffee Selection

"Single-origin" is a widely used term in the coffee world, typically explained simply as coffee from a single producer, single crop, or the same region of a producing country. "Single-estate" and "single-region" represent coffee from the same farm, processing plant, or cooperative, where buyers can see labels indicating the growing region, specific area, or estate name, and even micro-lots (specific varieties within a particular estate).

"The most important thing about single-origin coffee is its traceability—you can know exactly where the coffee comes from, making it single-origin rather than a blend." Typically of higher quality, you can see the production history of specific estates, while these coffees present their authentic flavor profiles, possessing the unique characteristics of specific coffee varieties grown in particular regions.

Single-origin coffees are beans with distinct personalities. Most specialty coffee shops offer 3-5 or more single-origin coffee beans for you to choose from:

Typically, you can start by region: African beans, American beans, or Asian beans. Examples: Mandheling (bitter), Yirgacheffe with citrus notes (acidic), Costa Rica honey-processed (sweet).

Then, you can briefly understand several common bean varieties: if you prefer something more acidic, choose Kenyan or Yirgacheffe; if you prefer something fuller-bodied, select Blue Mountain or Mandheling. There are also sweet beans like Gesha, which have floral and sweet potato flavors.

Colombia, Nicaragua, Brazil—chocolate, nutty, caramel notes.

Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda—sweet, acidic, nutty, lemony flavors, sometimes with astringency.

India, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea—herbal, spicy, savory notes.

Coffee growing regions mainly include Africa, Central and South America, and Asia and island regions. African beans generally have orange aroma, berry notes, and a sweet, sugarcane-like acidity. Common varieties include Yirgacheffe and beans from the Sidamo region. Central and South American beans have balanced flavors—Panamanian beans mostly have jasmine floral notes, honey-like sweetness, and bright, varied fruit acidity. Costa Rican coffee has soft acidity with chocolate and nutty flavors. Asian beans and island varieties have fuller body than Central and South American and African beans, mostly medium to dark roast, with subtle herbal, pine, and spice notes, and low acidity. Island beans are light and mild.

In short: FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research establishment dedicated to sharing coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation to help more friends fall in love with coffee, and we hold three coffee discount events every month. This is because FrontStreet Coffee wants to let more friends enjoy the best coffee at the lowest prices—this has been FrontStreet Coffee's mission for the past 6 years!

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473