Have you tried making coffee using matcha brewing methods? What country does matcha originate from? How do you make matcha coffee?

Recently, matcha lattes seem to have become popular again, appearing so frequently that FrontStreet Coffee couldn't help but recall a particularly distinctive coffee brewing method shared years ago. This technique is quite interesting, so today FrontStreet Coffee will share it again with everyone. If you have some free time at home, you can definitely give it a try!

Since the matcha brewing method will be needed during the process, FrontStreet Coffee will first briefly introduce matcha and its brewing method before the formal introduction. Matcha originates from the Diancha method of China's Song Dynasty and eventually evolved into the unique Japanese tea ceremony culture after localization. What differs from the Diancha method is that matcha places more emphasis on the tea ceremony spirit of "harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility." The traditional matcha brewing method uses a small amount of matcha powder, combined with a small amount of warm water (70°C~80°C) in a bowl, first blended with a chasen, and then a fixed amount of warm water is added again to whip up a thick and delicate foam by whisking.

The method FrontStreet Coffee is sharing today uses the whisking action from matcha preparation to stir the coffee. By incorporating this action, the coffee can develop a dense and thick foam, which not only amplifies the aroma but also enhances the tactile sensation of the coffee. Interestingly, the creator of this distinctive method is not a professional barista but rather Hiroshi Fujioka, whose main profession is acting. According to sources, what initially sparked his interest in coffee was that when he was traveling around the world for work and volunteer activities, people in most regions would share their local specialty coffees with him. This gave him the opportunity to taste coffees with various different characteristics, gradually inspiring his interest in coffee. So after returning to his home country, he began thinking about how to create coffee with Japanese local characteristics.

Finally, inspired by his mother's tea ceremony, Mr. Fujioka thought of applying the whisking method from matcha preparation to coffee. This not only improved the texture of the coffee but also gave it Japanese local characteristics - truly achieving two goals with one action. So next, FrontStreet Coffee will share how this distinctive coffee brewing method works!

Brewing Method

First, we need to extract the coffee. The coffee beans used by Mr. Fujioka in the video clips are traditional Japanese dark roast, paired with the drip brewing method. As you can imagine, this cup of coffee will have impressive concentration and mouthfeel. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee here uses a method that can also produce a rich and mellow coffee taste (the drip method is too troublesome), and uses Blue Mountain beans with a relatively lighter roast degree because Blue Mountain will have more outstanding aroma performance. The parameters are as follows:

Coffee Parameters

• Coffee amount used: 15g
• Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:12
• Grind level: Ek43 setting 10.5, 75% pass-through rate with #20 sieve
• Brewing water temperature: 88°C
• Dripper used: Kono

First, use twice the amount of water as the coffee grounds to bloom the coffee, with a bloom time of 30 seconds.

After the bloom ends, we use a small water flow throughout the entire brewing process. Divide the remaining 150ml of water into three equal segments, with each segment being 50ml of hot water. After each segment of hot water has fully permeated, we then connect and pour the next segment of hot water.

After extraction is complete, we pour the coffee into a bowl with a relatively wide opening and deep height. Since FrontStreet Coffee's store is not equipped with professional matcha bowls, we use the "versatile" cupping bowl as a substitute here.

The amount of coffee poured depends on the size of the bowl. Since the cupping bowl is not very large, FrontStreet Coffee only poured 80ml here. Afterwards, we use a chasen to whisk the coffee.

It should be noted that you cannot stir the coffee in a clockwise or circular manner here. Because foam needs to be created, we need to whisk the coffee back and forth in a front-to-back or up-and-down direction to bring air into the coffee, which is how foam is created. When you whisk until the foam layer can completely cover the coffee and you can feel significant resistance while whisking, it's basically complete. Of course, you can also choose to continue whisking - the longer you whisk, the thicker and denser the foam will become.

FrontStreet Coffee first tasted the unwhisked coffee. Because the concentration was relatively high, the taste was quite intense. For friends who don't prefer such strong flavors, it might not be very palatable without diluting with water. Based on the impact from the former, FrontStreet Coffee approached tasting the whisked coffee with a rather apprehensive mindset. Unexpectedly, hey! It was actually quite good. Although the concentration was relatively high, this cup of coffee didn't taste as intense as the former one; instead, it was very smooth. Just as FrontStreet Coffee mentioned earlier, the coffee's aroma was very rich, with a mellow and full mouthfeel, and an extremely delicate tactile sensation - it was a very pleasant experience. So if you have some free time at home, you can definitely try making this! But to be honest, it's quite tiring on the hands. If FrontStreet Coffee were to make it again, FrontStreet Coffee would definitely choose to use technology (electric milk frother)!

(This coffee is not available at our coffee shop)

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Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473