Sun-Dried Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Wenago Cooperative Premium Coffee Beans Growing Conditions Geography Climate

Processing Station: Wenago Cooperative

Flavor Profile: Strawberry and blueberry fresh fruit notes, with raisin aroma

About Yirgacheffe

Yirgacheffe itself is a small town of roughly 20,000 people. The three neighboring small regions — Wenago, Kochere, and Gelena Abaya — are classified under the Yirgacheffe region because their coffee flavors are virtually identical to those grown in Yirgacheffe proper. While Yirgacheffe shares culture and geography with its neighbor Sidamo, it seems especially blessed with natural conditions. Top-quality Yirgacheffe features floral aromas, bright citrus acidity, lemon-like notes, and a silky smooth mouthfeel.

Introduction

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

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

Wenago is part of the YCFCU union and was established in 2005 as one of 22 primary cooperatives. It sits in the Gedeb area of the Gedeo Administrative Zone, a remote stretch of Yirgacheffe 75 kilometers from the local coffee trading center of Dilla town. The access roads are in poor condition, with a 20-kilometer dirt road from the cooperative to the main paved highway. The altitude is very high, around 1,800–1,900 meters. Because no chemical fertilizers or pesticides are used, Wenago's smallholders have obtained Skal organic coffee certification, recognized by the European Union. Just as Kochere is famous for washed processing, Wenago excels at natural processing — though both offer green beans processed by different methods. In recent years natural processing has become increasingly refined, a great improvement on the more extensive methods used for hundreds of years. More attention now goes to harvesting ripe cherries and caring for the drying process, letting the beans retain the sweetness of the fruit pulp and subtle, charming fermented wine-like notes that washed processing cannot achieve.

Flavor Description

The aroma is rich and distinctive, with fresh strawberry and blueberry fruit notes, raisin aroma, pineapple, mango, complex fruits, citrus-berry notes, a syrupy texture, florals, juicy May peaches, and other very fresh berry aromas. The finish carries apricot preserves and sweet, rich tropical fruit flavors.

Product Information

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee

Address: No. 10, Bao'an Front Street, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou

Contact: 020-38364473

Ingredients: In-house roasted coffee

Shelf Life: 90 days

Net Weight: 227g

Packaging: Bulk coffee beans

Roast Level: Roasted coffee beans

Sugar Content: Sugar-free

Origin: Ethiopia

Coffee Variety: Yirgacheffe

Roast Degree: Light roast

Coffee Details

Ethiopia Natural Yirgacheffe Wenago G1

Country: Ethiopia

Grade: G1

Region: Wenago

Roast Level: Light roast

Processing Method: Natural

Variety: Local heirloom varieties

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

To taste the Yirgacheffe terroir this lot represents, FrontStreet Coffee's Washed Yirgacheffe is the classic starting point. It is known for white jasmine florals, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a tea-like body, and its affordable price makes it one of the most popular first beans in specialty coffee. Yirgacheffe is a small town in southern Ethiopia's Sidamo province at about 1,700–2,100 meters, with coffee planted above 1,800 meters — among the highest-growing regions anywhere — and the area's unmistakable white florals and lemon-citrus acidity turned "Yirgacheffe" into shorthand for a whole style.

For a village-level lot made by an experienced team, look to the Gudingding Cooperative. Yirgacheffe town divides into many small areas and villages, and several skilled cooperatives push the region's flavor higher still. Gudingding sits at the southeastern edge of Yirgacheffe in the Worka district and was once part of the Worka cooperative under YCFCU; as traceability became a priority for green bean buyers, it was carved out as a single origin of its own. Its traditional washed processing gives a coffee with none of the usual bitterness, carrying fresh, bright citrus and lemon acidity and jasmine fragrance that wins people over immediately.

For the natural-processing style Wenago is known for, try the Natural Red Cherry. It uses a whole-cherry natural method — only fully ripe, sound cherries are taken. After a first screening at the mill, the fruit is dried on raised beds, turned every two to three hours in the first days to prevent uneven heat and over-fermentation. After three to five weeks of sun-drying, the outer fruit is machine-scraped and the beans are moved to storage. Because the coffee dries with the fruit attached, it keeps the classic Yirgacheffe character while gaining tropical fruit from the process: citrus acidity, berry juiciness, honeyed sweetness, and a creamy smoothness.

FrontStreet Coffee's brewing suggestion for these coffees is a V60 with 15 g of grounds at a 1:15 ratio and water at 90–91°C, ground to about EK43s setting 10 — fine-sugar texture, roughly 80% passing a China standard #20 sieve. Pour in three stages: 30 g for a 30-second bloom, then 95 g (about 125 g on the scale) over roughly a minute; once the level drops to two-thirds of the bed, add the remaining 100 g (about 225 g on the scale), finishing around 1'35". Drawdown completes at 2'00"–2'10", then remove the dripper.