Ethiopian Washed Sidamo G1 Shakisso Premium Coffee Beans - Grind Size, Roast Level, and Processing Method

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee
Ingredients: House-roasted coffee
Shelf Life: 90 days
Net Weight: 227g
Packaging: Bulk coffee beans
Roast Level: Green/Raw beans
Sugar Content: Sugar-free
Origin: Ethiopia
Coffee Type: Other
Roast Degree: Light roast

Ethiopian Sidamo Shakisso Washed

Country: Ethiopia

Grade: G1

Region: Guji Zone, Shakisso Region

Roast Degree: Light roast

Processing Method: Washed

Washed coffee rarely shows wild flavors; it is clean and refreshing, suited to City through Full City roast levels. The finest Ethiopian washed lots can reveal vivid notes of uplifted lemon and citrus oils, jasmine fragrance, and honey, with pronounced acidity and a lighter body.

"Ethiopian Sidamo" is a single-origin designation for Arabica coffee grown in Ethiopia's Sidamo province. Like most African coffees, Sidamo features small, grayish-green beans, but it is distinguished by its rich, spicy, wine-like or chocolate-like flavors and floral notes. The most distinctive characteristics across all Sidamo coffee are lemon and citrus tones with a bright, crisp acidity. Sidamo coffees include Yirgacheffe and Guji, both of outstanding quality.

Variety: Local native heirloom

Producer: Local smallholder farmers

Flavor: White grape juice, citrus, Earl Grey tea sensation

Sidamo

Sidamo's flavors are extremely diverse: different soil compositions, regional microclimates, and countless native coffee varieties give each town's coffee its own distinct character. The Sidamo region lies in southern Ethiopia, where the local economy is primarily agricultural and the coffee-growing areas sit around the Great Rift Valley.

Region Introduction

Shakisso lies in the Guji zone of southern Oromia, bordering Sidama and Gedeo. The area is dotted with old mining pits — originally dug for gold — so there are numerous holes throughout this coffee-growing region, which can make walking the plantations hazardous. Shakisso is a unique corner of Guji/Sidamo, remote from most other coffee-producing areas, and its other famous product is gold. Tensions involving miners, land, and ethnic groups left the region unstable in 2006, and today its biggest challenge remains finding enough labor to maintain the plantations and harvest the coffee.

Smallholder farmers here began growing organic coffee in 2001, working closely with mid-sized producers experienced in cultivating forest coffee at high elevations. It is one of the most distinctive micro-regions within Sidamo, and its coffees have repeatedly drawn market attention. The legendary Ninety Plus bean "Nekisse" originally meant "nectar from Shakisso" — both its origin and its name trace back here.

Flavor description: lemon and citrus, bright and crisp acidity, white grape juice, blackcurrant, and an Earl Grey tea sensation in the finish.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe (daily-drinker lot) — For a classic washed Ethiopian starting point, FrontStreet's everyday Yirgacheffe is the pick: clear white jasmine florals, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a light, elegant, tea-like body many tasters compare to clean, refreshing lemon tea. Its friendly price has made it the first specialty bean for countless coffee drinkers, and the town it comes from — in Sidamo province at roughly 1,700-2,100 meters, with coffee planted above 1,800 meters — is so famous that in 2010 the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange formally separated the Yirgacheffe name from Sidamo.

FrontStreet Natural Red Cherry Yirgacheffe — To compare natural processing from the same country, try the Red Cherry natural. Defective or moldy fruit is removed first, then the cherries sun-dry for two weeks so the fruit's sugars and essence soak into the bean; once moisture falls to 12%, the hardened skin, mucilage, and pods are machine-scraped off. The beans then pass density and color checks, with workers hand-removing any remaining defects — layer after layer of sorting. The result is a bean that is both intensely fruity and remarkably clean, with peach, cocoa, honey, and lemon flavors.