Top 10 Coffee Bean Brands: How Coffee Beginners Can Choose the Right Beans for Their Taste

New to coffee and not sure how to choose? The dazzling variety of coffee bean varieties can leave beginners feeling perplexed when selecting coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee offers over 50 different types of beans, and the most common question new customers ask at FrontStreet Coffee's physical stores is which beans are best for beginners. This time, FrontStreet Coffee will share how beginners can choose coffee beans that suit them. (Coffee beans are not ranked in any particular order)

1. Yirgacheffe Coffee Beans (Bright citrus acidity, refreshing and clean)

Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe coffee, though small in size, is delicate, elegant, sweet, and charming. As the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia's thousand-year history of cultivation and processing traditions has produced high-quality washed Arabica beans. Lightly roasted FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe coffee has unique lemon, floral, and honey-like sweet aromas, with soft fruit acids and citrus flavors, creating a fresh and bright taste. Without milk or sugar, let the rich texture and unique soft floral notes sweep across your taste buds, leaving an endless aftertaste.

Representative Coffee - FrontStreet Coffee · Ethiopia Washed Yirgacheffe Gudingding Cooperative

Region: Yirgacheffe Gedeo Zone

Altitude: 1900-2100m

Variety: Heirloom

Processing: Washed

Grade: G1

Brewing Flavor: Bright citrus acidity on entry, full-bodied berry juice sensation, with distinct oolong tea notes.

2. Colombia Coffee Beans (Soft fruit acidity, balanced flavor, special processing creates varied and unique flavors)

Colombian coffee is quite representative among the excellent Arabica coffee varieties and is a traditional dark roast coffee with a rich and memorable taste. Its aroma is rich and thick, with clear, high-quality acidity, high balance, sometimes with nutty notes, and an endless aftertaste. In both appearance and quality, Colombian coffee is top-grade. When it comes to Colombian coffee beans, coffee enthusiasts will immediately think of the famous special processing methods from this region, especially Colombia's Hacienda La Palma, which has been continuously innovating processing methods in recent years. The resulting coffee bean flavors are extremely unique and particularly memorable.

Representative Coffee - FrontStreet Coffee · Colombia Hacienda La Palma Sakura

Region: Cauca, Colombia

Altitude: 2050m

Processing: Anaerobic Natural

Variety: Bourbon

Brewing Flavor: Berry juice-like texture, strawberry jam, mint tea sensation, with artemisia and basil aftertaste.

3. Costa Rica Coffee Beans (Noticeably sweet coffee flavor)

Costa Rica is most famous for honey processing. Honey processing refers to the process of making raw beans by sun-drying with the mucilage intact. After removing the outer pulp from the coffee beans, there remains a layer of viscous, gelatinous substance. Traditional washed processing uses water to wash this away, but due to water resource limitations in some high-altitude areas, this direct drying method emerged.

The honey processing process is susceptible to contamination and mold damage, requiring constant careful monitoring and continuous turning to accelerate drying and avoid undesirable fermentation flavors. Its advantage lies in best preserving the original sweet flavor of ripe coffee fruits, giving the coffee a subtle brown sugar flavor and stone fruit sweetness, while berry flavors support a red wine base aroma, making it considered a very elegant product. The popularity of honey-processed coffee beans largely stems from their sweet and thick characteristics.

Representative Coffee - FrontStreet Coffee · Costa Rica Mirasu Estate Strawberry Candy Geisha Blend

Country: Tarrazu, Costa Rica

Region: Mirasu Estate

Altitude: 1700 meters

Variety: Geisha Blend

Processing: Raisin Honey

Brewing Flavor: Jasmine fragrance, soft fruit acidity, almond aftertaste, with noticeable sweetness.

4. Brazil Coffee Beans (Essential for nut and cocoa flavor enthusiasts)

Brazilian coffee characteristics include low acidity in taste, combined with the bitter sweetness of coffee, making it extremely smooth on the palate, with a faint grassy aroma. The fragrance is slightly bitter, sweet and smooth, with an aftertaste that is refreshing and satisfying. For Brazilian coffee, there are no particularly outstanding advantages, but also no obvious shortcomings. This mild and smooth taste, with low acidity and moderate body, has a faint sweetness. The combination of all these soft flavors presents the best challenge for distinguishing them individually on your taste buds.

Representative Coffee - FrontStreet Coffee · Brazil Queen Estate Pulped Natural Yellow Bourbon

Country: Brazil

Region: Mogiana

Estate: Queen Estate

Variety: Yellow Bourbon

Processing: Pulped Natural

Altitude: 1400-1950m

Brewing Flavor: Fresh sweetness of sugarcane juice, black tea, mellow and smooth fruit sweetness, with distinct nutty flavors, balanced and gentle acidity, clean and mild bitterness, containing rich chocolate aroma and nutty flavors, with a bright and refreshing taste, and a smooth, delicate texture.

5. Panama Coffee Beans (Essential for floral aroma enthusiasts)

It is now widely believed that the best Geisha comes from Panama, but the Geisha variety was actually discovered as early as 1931 in the Geisha forest of Ethiopia, then sent to Kenya's Coffee Research Institute, and introduced to Uganda and Tanzania around 1936. It was introduced to Costa Rica in 1953. Panama only began growing Geisha coffee in the 1970s. It wasn't until Hacienda La Esmeralda owner Daniel Peterson participated in the 2004 Panama Cupping Competition and became an overnight sensation that Geisha began its legendary journey—no, its bean life. Geisha has full sweetness, an extremely clean taste, and rich aromas that extend from berries and citrus to mango, papaya, and peach flavors. A very distinct bergamot-like aftertaste is also its typical cupping characteristic. Geisha coffee beans are often champions among coffee varieties. Geisha coffee beans are cupped with moderate body, sweet, multi-layered tropical fruit flavors, and a rose-like aromatic aftertaste.

Representative Coffee - FrontStreet Coffee · Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda Green Label Geisha

Region: Boquete, Panama

Estate: Hacienda La Esmeralda

Altitude: 1600-1800m

Processing: Washed

Variety: Geisha

Brewing Flavor: Rich jasmine floral aroma on entry, high sweetness, citrus, berries, juice sensation, cream, green tea, orange peel, cantaloupe, with rich flavor layers overall, and persistent floral and citrus aftertaste.

6. Guatemala Coffee Beans (Mellow and thick, soft fruit acidity)

Guatemala features high-altitude volcanic terrain, and these volcanoes provide an excellent home for coffee cultivation. Guatemala has seven main coffee-producing regions, and the flavor of coffee from each region varies, but generally, Guatemalan coffee beans present a gentle and mellow overall texture, with elegant aromas and a special, pleasant acidity similar to fruit acids. They have become the aristocrats of coffee. Highly recommended by coffee connoisseurs worldwide.

Representative Coffee - FrontStreet Coffee · Guatemala Antigua Flor

Region: Antigua Region

Altitude: 1200-1600m

Variety: Bourbon, Caturra

Processing Method: Washed

Grade: SHB

Brewing Flavor: Berry acidity, citrus, light chocolate, with rich layers and a smooth taste.

7. Kenya Coffee Beans (Full-bodied texture like cherry tomato juice)

AA is the highest quality grade of Kenyan coffee, and this grade of coffee is the cream of the crop—so much so that FrontStreet Coffee deeply loves the AA TOP from the Thika region. TOP is marked by Kenyan coffee merchants after cupping. This FrontStreet Coffee Kenya Asalia AA bean uses the K72 double washed fermentation processing, with very bright and lively acidity, as delicate and tempting as berries and red wine. During brewing, a rich berry aroma instantly emerges, with distinct cherry tomato and preserved plum flavors on entry. The aroma and acidity coexist in the mouth for a long time without dissipating, with a creamy sweetness in the aftertaste and a persistent sweet return.

Representative Coffee - FrontStreet Coffee · Kenya Asalia AA

Region: Thika, Kenya

Processing Station: Asali Honey Processing Station

Altitude: 1550-1750 meters

Grading: AA TOP

Variety: SL28, SL34

Processing: Kenya 72-hour Washed

Brewing Flavor: Mature tomato and floral notes, with cherry tomato and preserved plum flavors on entry, bright acidity, clean and the most solid and rich texture, with prominent mid-palate sweetness, juice sensation, berry aroma and brown sugar sweetness in the aftertaste, with green tea fragrance.

8. Indonesia Coffee Beans (Mellow, low acidity, noticeable sweetness)

Indonesian Mandheling coffee has low acidity and high concentration, with a grass-like aroma. It tastes rich and full-bodied, with a sweet aftertaste that leaves a deep impression. Recommended for those who don't like acidity. Since opening its doors, FrontStreet Coffee has always been a loyal fan of Mandheling coffee, and FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling from PWN company has also been deeply loved by FrontStreet Coffee's fans.

Representative Coffee - FrontStreet Coffee · Indonesia PWN Golden Mandheling

Country: Indonesia

Company: PWN

Region: GAYG Mountain, Aceh, North Sumatra

Processing: Wet-Hulled

Variety: Ateng

Altitude: 1100-1600 meters

Brewing Flavor: Varied layers, mellow and clean, high balance, rich nut and caramel aroma, with chocolate notes, and a persistent aftertaste.

9. Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Beans (Perfect balance of acidity, bitterness, and sweetness)

The Blue Mountains are located in the eastern part of Jamaica. When the weather is clear, the sun shines directly on the azure sea surface, and the peaks reflect the brilliant blue light of the seawater—hence the name. The highest peak of Blue Mountain reaches 2256 meters, making it the highest peak in the Caribbean region and a famous tourist destination. Located in the coffee belt, it has fertile volcanic soil, fresh air without pollution, humid climate, and is foggy and rainy throughout the year (average rainfall of 1980mm, temperature around 27°C). Such climate has created the world-renowned Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee and also the world's highest-priced coffee. This coffee possesses all the characteristics of good coffee—not only is it rich and mellow in taste, but the perfect combination of coffee's sweetness, acidity, and bitterness means it has no bitterness at all, only moderate and perfect acidity. The Jamaica Blue Mountain that FrontStreet Coffee acquired is exported through designated export companies of the National Coffee Board, with raw beans packed in wooden barrels and Rainforest Alliance certified Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee beans.

Representative Coffee - FrontStreet Coffee · Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1

Farm: Clifton Farm

Farm Owner: The Sharp family

Certificate: Rainforest Alliance Certified

Location: Newcastle Region

Total Area: 250 acres

Coffee Cultivation Area: 180 acres

Average Altitude: 4300 feet (1310.64 meters)

Processing Method: Washed

Variety: 100% Arabica Typica

Brewing Flavor: Clean taste, not as rich as the previous cup, with prominent chocolate and nutty flavors, and balanced acidity, bitterness, and sweetness.

10. Honduras Coffee Beans (Rich wine aroma)

FrontStreet Coffee's refined washed whiskey sherry barrel fermented Sherry has always been representative of Honduras. Freshly picked coffee cherries first undergo refined washing, then are placed in sherry barrels that have aged sherry wine for low-temperature fermentation for 30-40 days (temperature approximately 15-20°C), followed by shade drying. Sherry barrels are those used by sherry distilleries in the whiskey industry for aging. The sherry-making process includes the Solera System aging process. This process refers to the process of blending sherry of different vintages for aging after fortification, which is also what creates the unique sherry flavor. Rich whiskey aroma and vanilla cream-like texture are the characteristics of this FrontStreet Coffee Sherry bean.

Representative Coffee - FrontStreet Coffee · Honduras Sherry

Region: Marcala

Estate: Moca Estate

Altitude: 1500-1700 meters

Variety: Caturra, Catuai, Pacas

Processing: Refined Washed Whiskey Sherry Barrel Fermentation

Brewing Flavor: Vanilla and cream aroma on the nose, with whiskey, berry, almond, and dark chocolate flavors on entry, and maple sweetness in the aftertaste.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473