How to Brew Coffee with Rich Body! What Brewing Parameters Should You Use for Medium-Dark Roast Coffee Beans?

Finding the Perfect Balance: Medium Roast Coffee Recommendations

"I want coffee that's not too acidic and not too bitter. Any bean recommendations?"

This is one of the most common questions FrontStreet Coffee hears when selling beans. Not everyone can appreciate the "extreme" flavors of light and dark roasts — either too sour or too bitter. These drinkers want coffee with more harmonious, balanced flavors, which typically come with higher sweetness. For them, FrontStreet Coffee generally recommends medium roast beans.

Because a medium roast doesn't break down all the acidic compounds in the bean, the subtle acidity that remains keeps the brew from being uniformly bitter or overly sour — the flavor profile stays balanced and gentle. And "FrontStreet 2013" from FrontStreet Coffee's bean list is an excellent traditionally processed medium roast. "FrontStreet 2013" is a Typica that FrontStreet Coffee planted in Yunnan in 2013. We originally started growing coffee to learn more about cultivation and green beans, first planting Catimor in "Dazhen" for half a year. As our understanding deepened, we realized that growing genuinely delicious specialty coffee requires three essentials: variety, growing environment, and processing method. So before long, FrontStreet Coffee established a plantation in Yunnan and planted its first batch of Typica.

Starting in 2020, the trees planted in 2013 began yielding a good harvest. For processing, FrontStreet Coffee chose traditional natural processing to preserve more of Yunnan's regional character. For roasting, we chose a medium roast, letting the coffee keep its original flavors while gaining an even richer body.

Mastering Medium Roast Brewing

But brewing a good cup of medium roast isn't that simple! Like its flavor profile, medium roast coffee calls for a balanced, gentle extraction. Under-extract and the cup turns thin; over-extract and the bitterness takes over — none of that balanced sweet-sour-bitter harmony with a rich body. Don't worry: today FrontStreet Coffee will share the parameters and techniques you need for a medium roast cup with aromatic richness and balanced flavors!

Brewing Recommendations

For the dripper, FrontStreet Coffee recommends one with a slower flow rate. Medium roast beans expand more, and water tends to rush through the bed. A slow-flow dripper like the Kono extends the contact time between water and grounds, making it easier to pull out richness and body.

On grinding: medium roast makes beans more brittle than light roast, so at the same grind setting, medium roast particles come out finer. That means you should grind coarser to increase particle size and reduce the coffee bed's resistance to water flow. (If you're brewing with a V60 dripper, no need to adjust coarser.) For water temperature, drop it slightly: the longer extraction time raises the extraction rate considerably, and medium roast coffee releases its flavors more easily — so go 2-3°C below what you'd use for a light roast.

That covers the theory — now FrontStreet Coffee will demonstrate how to brew this medium roast "FrontStreet 2013"!

Practical Brewing Demonstration

Putting it all together, our extraction parameters are: 15g coffee dose, Ek43 grind setting 10.5, 80% pass-through rate on a #20 sieve, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, water temperature 88-90°C, three-pour method, Kono dripper. As always, we start with a bloom — pouring twice the coffee's weight in water (30ml) in circles from the center outward, for 30 seconds!

Then pour the second stage of hot water: a small flow in large circles to add 120ml. Once the water has mostly drained, get ready for the final pour.

Finally, use a large flow in small circles to add the third stage of hot water (75ml), then simply let the coffee finish dripping and end the extraction!

Brewed this way — and we're not just tooting our own horn — FrontStreet 2013 is genuinely rich and beautifully balanced between acidity and bitterness. The profile shows chocolate and nutty depth, subtle berry and apricot acidity, brown sugar sweetness, and a black tea aftertaste. Distinct layers, rich and delicious!

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FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Want to explore more of Yunnan's character? FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan Small Bean comes from Baoshan, washed-processed and roasted medium, with soft nut and chocolate sweetness and a touch of plum acidity — an easy, affordable introduction to the region's terroir.

And if you'd like Yunnan flavors in an espresso, FrontStreet Coffee's Dark Cocoa Blend pairs Yunnan Small Bean with Brazil Cerrado: Brazil supplies mixed-nut aroma and a balanced body, while Yunnan contributes chocolate and citrus. The resulting Americano balances sweet, sour, and bitter with nut and brown sugar notes, and the latte is silky with almond and cream — ideal for beginners and daily drinkers alike.