Sun-Dried Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Wenago Cooperative Specialty Coffee Bean Flavor, Taste, and Aroma Characteristics Description

Flavor Profile

The aroma opens with rich, clearly defined notes of fresh strawberry and blueberry, backed by raisin, pineapple and mango. Complex fruit character blends with citrus and berry, lifted by syrupy sweetness, floral hints and juicy May peach. The cup finishes on dried apricot and peach, with sweet, full tropical fruit lingering after.

Product Information

Manufacturer: Dazhen Coffee FrontStreet Coffee
Ingredients: House-roasted coffee beans
Shelf Life: 90 days
Net Weight: 227 g
Packaging: Bulk coffee beans
Processing: Roasted coffee beans
Sugar Content: Sugar-free
Origin: Ethiopia
Coffee Variety: Yirgacheffe
Roast Level: Light roast

Ethiopia Natural Yirgacheffe Wenago G1

Coffee Details

• Country: Ethiopia
• Grade: G1
• Region: Wenago
• Roast Level: Light roast
• Processing Method: Natural
• Variety: Local heirloom
• Processing Station: Wenago Cooperative
• Flavor Notes: Strawberry, fresh blueberry, raisin aroma

Regional Background

Yirgacheffe is a small town of roughly 20,000 people. Its three neighboring districts, Wenago, Kochere and Gelena Abaya, produce coffee whose flavor is nearly identical, so they too sit inside the Yirgacheffe regional category. Yirgacheffe shares a similar culture and geography with neighboring Sidamo, but its conditions are especially favorable. Top-quality Yirgacheffe shows floral notes, bright citrus acidity, a lemon-like edge and a silky mouthfeel.

Introduction

This coffee comes from a single farm in Ethiopia and is processed by the Wenago Cooperative.

The cooperative sits in the southern part of the Gedeb district. It was established in 2005 and joined the renowned Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (YCFCU) the same year. It is known for producing high-quality natural processed Yirgacheffe coffee. The Wenago Cooperative takes in approximately 300 coffee farmers. The YCFCU was established in 2002 and includes 26 other cooperatives, serving over 45,000 coffee farmers.

Wenago belongs to the YCFCU union and was set up in 2005 as one of 22 primary cooperatives. It lies in the Gedeb area of the Gedeo administrative zone, a remote stretch of Yirgacheffe some 75 kilometers from the local coffee collection center in Dilla town. Road connections are poor, with a 20-kilometer dirt road linking the cooperative to the main paved highway. The altitude is very high, around 1,800-1,900 meters. Because no chemical fertilizer or pesticide is used in cultivation, the Wenago smallholders have obtained Skal organic coffee certification recognized by the European Union. Just as Kochere is famous for washed processing, Wenago stands out for natural processing, though both offer green beans in either style. In recent years natural processing has become far more refined, improving greatly on the rougher traditional methods used for hundreds of years. More attention now goes to picking ripe cherries and tending the drying beds, so the beans keep the sweetness of the fruit pulp and subtle, charming wine-like fermented notes that washed processing cannot produce.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If Wenago's natural character appeals to you, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe line lets you taste the same region from several angles. The entry-level FrontStreet Coffee washed Yirgacheffe is the classic introduction, with white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity and a clean tea-like body, all at an approachable price.

For the fruit-forward side of Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet Coffee Red Cherry is a natural-processed coffee made only from fully ripe red cherries, with citrus acidity, berry-juice sweetness, honey-like sugar and a creamy texture. FrontStreet Coffee Gedingding, from the Gedingding cooperative in the Worka area at Yirgacheffe's southeastern edge, follows the traditional washed route and shows delicate jasmine and a bright citrus-lime acidity with a green-tea and honey finish.

Yirgacheffe rewards careful brewing: use a V60, 15 g of coffee at a 1:15 ratio, water at 90-91°C, and a grind around EK43s setting 10, roughly fine-sugar size. Bloom with 30 g of water for 30 seconds, then build to 125 g before a final pour to 225 g, finishing the brew in roughly 2:00 to 2:10.