Coffee Bean Recommendations for Beginners? How to Choose Coffee Beans for Pour-Over? Characteristics and Flavor Profiles of Different Coffee Beans

Today, FrontStreet Coffee will discuss how beginners making their first pour-over should choose coffee beans.

Since pour-over coffee uses a drip extraction method that can effectively present the flavor profile of coffee beans in the cup, FrontStreet Coffee recommends prioritizing single-origin coffee beans that showcase individuality. These beans can maximally express the regional characteristics through adjusted roast levels, allowing us to experience the delicate charm of coffee. At FrontStreet Coffee, there are nearly 50 single-origin options available for everyone to choose from, each with unique aroma and taste.

Before diving into the main topic, let's first understand where coffee beans are grown worldwide. These areas collectively form what the industry calls the "Coffee Golden Belt." From 25° North latitude to 25° South latitude, 79 countries and regions worldwide grow and produce coffee. Different countries/regions have formed different climates and terroirs due to their geographical environments, resulting in varied coffee flavors. Therefore, when choosing which coffee beans to buy, we need to start with deciding which continent and which country to select.

When selecting, we can first determine what kind of coffee flavor we prefer - whether it's more acidic, more bitter, or a more balanced coffee.

If you want to experience bright acidity and coffee with floral and fruity notes, you can choose lightly to medium-roasted coffee beans from African countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, or Panama. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Guodingding, FrontStreet Coffee's Red Cherry, FrontStreet Coffee's Little Tomato, and FrontStreet Coffee's Boquete Geisha.

If you want to enjoy a rich body and can accept bitterness, you can try beans from countries like Brazil, Indonesia, and Jamaica, which typically use deep roasting. The overall flavor expression is generally nutty, with notes of dark chocolate and hot cocoa. Representative coffee beans include FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Cerrado, FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling, and FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain No. 1.

If you want coffee beans that are neither too acidic nor too bitter, you can try beans from Papua New Guinea, China's Yunnan, or Costa Rica. Beans like FrontStreet Coffee's Bird of Paradise, FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan Xiao Li, and FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Candy are very suitable. These coffee beans generally exhibit a balanced taste with a slight fruity acidity, making them very comfortable to drink. (Therefore, when selecting the origin, you are also choosing the roast level to some extent.)

Processing Method Selection

Although the origin has been determined, you'll also find that even for beans from the same farm/processing plant, there are different processing methods. Different coffee processing methods also present different coffee flavors. Traditional processing methods include natural, washed, and honey processing. In recent years, anaerobic processing, enzyme fermentation, and barrel fermentation have also become common on the market.

Natural processing involves drying the entire coffee cherries under the sun after screening for mature and full ones, until the moisture content reaches 12%, then hulling and storing them. Therefore, natural processed coffee beans retain more flavors, with noticeable sweetness and richer, fuller layers.

Washed processing removes the skin and part of the pulp of the coffee cherries, placing them in fermentation pools or tanks, using fermentation to remove the mucilage layer, and finally drying to 12% moisture content. Washed coffee beans will have higher acidity and cleaner flavors. FrontStreet Coffee recommends the Flower Butterfly.

Honey processing can be simply understood as first removing the skin and pulp of coffee cherries while retaining the mucilage for sun drying, with no water used throughout the process. Since the skin is removed before sun drying, the drying time is shorter. Honey processed coffee beans will have relatively higher sweetness and be softer. FrontStreet Coffee recommends Bahia and Mozart.

Anaerobic processing involves placing coffee beans with their mucilage layer in a non-sealed container before and after removing the coffee cherry pulp, extracting oxygen, leaving only carbon dioxide, allowing anaerobic bacteria to assist in fermenting the coffee beans for a period. Anaerobically processed coffee generally shows highly distinguishable berry and floral notes. FrontStreet Coffee recommends Sidra and Big Navel.

Barrel fermentation processing involves placing coffee beans in barrels for fermentation for a period. Coffee processed by barrel fermentation generally shows the wine-like character of the barrel and chocolate notes.

FrontStreet Coffee suggests that beginners can start with the most traditional processing methods: natural and washed. For the same origin, washed processing represents the basic and main flavors of a bean, while natural processing adds aroma on top of the washed base. This is why FrontStreet Coffee prioritizes washed processing batches when customizing daily coffee bean series.

Roast Level Selection

For the same coffee, different roast levels will result in significant flavor differences. Different coffee raw beans have different roast level requirements according to their own characteristics.

For example, to highlight the unique lemon and citrus acidity of Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe region and its rich floral and fruity aroma, roasters use light roasting. With medium roasting, the caramelization and Maillard reactions in the coffee are just right, still retaining some acidic aroma, with overall flavor expression being more balanced. FrontStreet Coffee's Papua Bird of Paradise is roasted to this level, with toasted bread sweetness, nutty sweetness, and a slight fruity acidity, creating a rich sweet and sour layering with a rich and balanced mouthfeel.

Deep roasted beans have longer roasting times, higher temperatures, and more pronounced bitterness. FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling from Indonesia is a heavyweight representative of dark roasting, with strong caramel flavor and a full, smooth, and rich body.

Price Selection

As a beginner player, if your brewing theory is not solid enough, your technique is not stable enough, and your flavor appreciation ability is still insufficient, you might worry about not brewing expensive beans well and not being able to identify the flavors. But you still want to help yourself practice, so a package of cost-effective beans becomes particularly important.

From FrontStreet Coffee's experience, instead of challenging expensive estate beans, beginners should start with representative and relatively affordable batches. This way, you don't have to worry about failed brews while they can also serve as daily coffee. After mastering brewing techniques proficiently, you can continue to explore your favorite origins or estates, try higher-priced (higher-grade) beans, and gradually develop your own bean list.

On FrontStreet Coffee's bean list, there are 6 daily coffee beans, each selected from currently representative origins, suitable for beginners to try. They are Ethiopian washed Yirgacheffe, Colombian Huilan, Brazil Cerrado, Yunnan Xiao Li coffee, Indonesian Mandheling, and Costa Rican Tarrazú. FrontStreet Coffee introduced daily coffee beans to allow coffee enthusiasts to enjoy cost-effective coffee while also getting to know the basic flavors of different origins.

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