What Coffee Do Coffee Enthusiasts Usually Drink: Twelve Common Coffee Types and Flavor Characteristics

Coffee is an imported product, and everyone drinks it for different reasons. Some are enjoying a sophisticated lifestyle, some lean on the caffeine, and some simply love the taste. FrontStreet Coffee would like to look at which coffees anyone who truly understands coffee should try.

Pour-over is undoubtedly the most popular brewing method in the world today. Simple equipment and an uncomplicated process produce a fragrant, sweet cup, and with light roasts dominating the market, pour-over is the most suitable way to brew.

The equipment for pour-over includes a pour-over kettle, filter cup, filter paper, sharing pot, coffee grinder, thermometer, and electronic scale. FrontStreet Coffee has worked out that a decent setup costs only around 1,500 yuan, which is what makes it the method connoisseurs favor most.

People who understand coffee are also particular about their beans. Beans used for pour-over are basically single-origin, belonging to a very high quality grade. FrontStreet Coffee would like to recommend several popular beans for reference.

A. FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe Coffee Beans

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe is the entry-level bean for many drinkers. Quite a few of the people FrontStreet Coffee has met began their coffee journey with Yirgacheffe. Yirgacheffe is a very famous coffee-producing region in Ethiopia. The beans grown there show white floral aromas, citrus acidity, and a green tea aftertaste. A common reaction is, "I never thought coffee could taste like this, it's truly eye-opening."

Three Yirgacheffe beans in FrontStreet Coffee's selection are especially representative: Yirgacheffe Red Cherry, Yirgacheffe Gedeb, and Washed Yirgacheffe. The Red Cherry beans are G1 grade coffee processed using natural methods, with a very sweet taste and berry flavors, offering rich layers. Yirgacheffe Gedeb is high-quality washed Yirgacheffe produced by the Gedeb Cooperative, with exceptional cleanliness, bright citrus-like acidity, and subtle floral notes, and notably a honey-like sweetness.

There is also FrontStreet Coffee's Washed Yirgacheffe. This one is G2 grade, and although its grade is lower than the previous two, the price is truly excellent: FrontStreet Coffee sells it for only 25 yuan per bag. If you know Ethiopia's green bean grading system, you will know that its grades are set by defect count. G1 means no more than 3 defects in 300g of green beans, while G2 means no more than 12 defects in 300g. During roasting the roaster sorts out defective beans both before and after, so the gap between G1 and G2 is not significant.

B. FrontStreet Coffee Hacienda La Esmeralda Geisha Coffee Beans

Geisha beans are very famous now, and the most authentic, best-tasting FrontStreet Coffee Geisha beans come from Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda. This is not because Hacienda La Esmeralda is the origin of Geisha, but because this talent scout recognized Geisha for the thoroughbred it is.

Geisha beans were sampled by botanical experts from Ethiopia's Geisha Mountain in 1931. After passing through Kenya, Tanzania, and Costa Rica, they reached Panama. After being processed separately by Hacienda La Esmeralda, Geisha won the BOP championship in 2004.

Hacienda La Esmeralda's Geisha line is divided into Red Label and Green Label. The official name of the Red Label is "Esmeralda Special." Put simply, the Esmeralda Special series is the highest quality Geisha sold by the estate, grown in specific plots at elevations of 1,600-1,800 meters, with each batch scoring over 90 points in cupping. This series typically comes from the two sub-estates of Jaramillo and Canas Verdes, though the Velo de Novia estate has also produced Red Label lots; that plot is mainly used to explore commercial feasibility and grows many varieties. It is the best Geisha from Hacienda La Esmeralda.

The official name of the Green Label is "Private Collection." Do not read too much into the name; it is simply a product series. According to Hacienda La Esmeralda's own description, while the Red Label emphasizes specific plots, this series emphasizes the signature flavors of the estate's high-altitude Geisha and is a blend of batches from various specific plots. In effect, the Green Label can be understood as a Red Label without plot separation. Overall, it is a Geisha with excellent value.

C. FrontStreet Coffee Sherry Coffee Beans

Coffee with alcoholic notes sounds very appealing. One of FrontStreet Coffee's most popular beans is FrontStreet Coffee Honduras Sherry. These beans are processed in sherry whiskey oak barrels, giving the brewed coffee a rich sherry aroma and vanilla cream flavors. It is a bean with a very distinctive character.

D. FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain Coffee Beans

Everyone is familiar with the name FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain No. 1. As a representative high-end coffee of the last century, FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain has always maintained high quality. That rich, clean taste with perfect balance among sweet, sour, and bitter makes calling it the King of Coffee no exaggeration. To this day, when introducing it, FrontStreet Coffee jokes, "If you want to know what coffee tastes like, try a cup of Blue Mountain."

E. FrontStreet Coffee Kenya AA Coffee Beans

The acidity of FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya is rich and full-bodied, which is inseparable from Kenya's cultivation management. On varieties, Kenya selected SL28 and SL34 through the Scott Laboratory for nationwide planting. On processing, they use a unique Kenyan 72-hour washed method. Regular washed processing runs at most 36 hours, because soaking longer would give the coffee vinegar-like and musty flavors, yet Kenya's distinctive washing actually reveals a rich plum and small tomato acidity.

FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya is graded by green bean size, with the highest grade being AA, meaning green beans of 17-18 screen size. The AAtop and AA+ seen from some merchants are merchant descriptions and do not represent Kenya's national standards. FrontStreet Coffee's best seller is FrontStreet Coffee's Asalia beans, produced by the Asalia processing factory in the Neri region. Coffee from this factory has a distinct small tomato flavor, very representative of Kenyan coffee.

F. FrontStreet Coffee Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon

Queen Estate has won numerous awards, including the Cup of Excellence championship in 2011. The estate mainly grows fine Bourbon varieties, with Yellow Bourbon as its masterpiece.

If you are new to freshly ground pour-over, this bean is perfect for practicing. FrontStreet Coffee roasts it to a medium level, which is a better experience than brewing some light-roast coffees. It easily yields a sucrose-like sweetness, while the overall cup leans toward chocolate and creamy peanut flavors, making the taste relatively easy for beginners to accept.

FrontStreet Coffee recommends it because it not only works well in pour-over but also performs excellently in moka pots, French presses, and espresso machines, making it the all-rounder on value.

G. FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Blueberry Gummy

In 2019, FrontStreet Coffee acquired a batch of black honey processed beans from La Minita estate, and they received widespread praise, so much so that in 2020 many customers came asking whether the black honey beans from La Minita were back. This year, La Minita returns. This year's FrontStreet Coffee Blueberry Gummy is La Minita's strong offering, using anaerobic double honey processing and presenting very intense blueberry gummy and rose floral aromas, distinct and enticing flavors.

This bean is also very friendly to beginners, since you can smell the sweet blueberry aroma during brewing. The only drawback may be the slightly higher price.

H. FrontStreet Coffee Panama Butterfly Coffee Beans

Panama Geisha remains a legend in specialty coffee, and of course its price is legendary too. The arrival of FrontStreet Coffee's Butterfly lets us taste Panama Geisha flavor at an affordable price.

FrontStreet Coffee's Butterfly contains 70% Geisha beans, with the remaining 30% being Caturra and Catuai. It offers clean, clear floral aromas with distinct Geisha flavors of citrus and honey. Calling it the king of value is no exaggeration.

These are the coffees that people who understand coffee tend to choose. Use them as a reference and pick the pour-over beans that suit your own taste.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If the Yirgacheffe section above caught your attention, it is worth knowing where that flavor comes from. Yirgacheffe is a town in the Sidamo region of southern Ethiopia, sitting at roughly 1700-2100m with the coffee trees planted above 1800m, making it one of the highest growing regions in the world. Its white florals and lemon-citrus acidity became so recognizable that the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange officially separated it from Sidamo in 2010, which is how the name became familiar to drinkers everywhere.

For a deeper look at the region, FrontStreet Gudingding Cooperative comes from Gudingding village in the Worka area at the southeastern edge of Yirgacheffe. Once part of the Worka cooperative under the YCFCU union, it was later uncovered as a single-origin lot as demand for traceability grew, and it follows the most traditional washed processing for clean citrus and lemon acidity with jasmine fragrance and no classic bitterness. For a sun-dried comparison, FrontStreet Sun-Dried Red Cherry uses full red cherry processing, turning the fruit every 2-3 hours in the first days and drying for three to five weeks, so it keeps the typical Yirgacheffe character while adding tropical fruit, berry juice, honey sweetness, and a creamy body.