Ethiopian Sidamo Natural Guji Premium Coffee Beans Flavor Profile Aroma Characteristics Brief Description

Ethiopian Sidamo Shakisso Natural

Country: Ethiopia

Region: Guji Zone

Altitude: 2250-2350 meters

Processing Method: Natural

Variety: Local Heirloom

Producer: Local smallholders

Flavor Notes: Passion fruit, rose floral, strawberry jam

Sidamo coffee offers an astonishing range of flavors. Differences in soil composition, regional microclimates, and countless native coffee varieties give coffee from each town and district its own distinct character. The Sidamo region sits in southern Ethiopia, where agriculture is the dominant industry, and its coffee-growing areas cluster around the Great Rift Valley. It is precisely this diversity of soils, microclimates, and indigenous varieties that creates such pronounced variation and such unique signatures from one locality to the next.

Awards and Recognition

Cupping Notes: passion fruit, rose floral, strawberry jam, berry sweetness with a bright acidity, peach flesh, and a red tea finish

Achievements:

2016/2017 Ethiopia National Taste of Harvest Competition - Champion

2017 Regional Africa Taste of Harvest Competition - Runner-up

Processing Details

The Shakisso processing station is located in Buku Abel village at an altitude of 2,200 meters. During the harvest and processing season (December to January), the station's unique growing environment and natural climate are what shape Shakisso's distinctive flavors. Natural processing only begins once the harvested red cherries reach a sugar content of 30 or higher. Over the first two days, the moisture of the red cherries is carefully maintained to ensure thorough fermentation of their fruit sugars. Meanwhile, the high-altitude site lets nighttime temperatures fall to around 12 degrees Celsius, preventing the off-flavors of over-fermentation that excessive heat can cause; during warmer midday hours, the cherries are shaded in time to protect them from sun damage.

At night, thick plastic sheeting is draped over the cherries to guard against sudden rainfall, allowing them to ferment and dehydrate at lower temperatures. After 18 days of natural processing, once the moisture content of the green coffee beans has dropped to around 13%, drying stops. The beans are then packed in jute bags and rested in warehouses held at 12-22 degrees Celsius and 40-50% humidity for roughly 50 days of resting and further drying. When green bean moisture reaches about 10%, the lots are transported to the mill for hulling, screening, and sale.

Origin Information

Coffee Origin: Africa, Ethiopia

Coffee Estate: Guji, Hambella Wamena region, Dimtu city, Buku Abel estate

Coffee Variety: Heirloom, Ethiopian native varieties

Production Altitude: 2250-2350 meters

Quality Grade: G1

Processing Method: Natural (African drying beds)

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, home to countless native varieties, and a treasure trove for flavor-chasing coffee lovers. This natural Shakisso lot, with its passion fruit, rose, and strawberry jam profile, sits right alongside FrontStreet Coffee's natural Hambella flower-queen coffee from the same Guji highlands — a 200-hectare farm where cherries dry for 21 days on raised beds to produce a richly layered cup of fermented wine notes, florals, citrus, and mango with honeyed sweetness and a thick, lingering body. If you prefer washed clarity instead, FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe delivers jasmine fragrance and bright citrus acidity in a light, elegant, tea-like cup. For something fruit-forward but differently accented, the FrontStreet Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Project natural offers peach, cocoa, honey, and lemon in every carefully hand-sorted bean.