A Brief Introduction to the Origin, Development, History, and Culture of Ethiopian Natural Yirgacheffe Aricha G1 Specialty Coffee Beans

About Project Origin

Sasa Sestic, the 2015 World Barista Champion, launched a green coffee sourcing project called Project Origin three years ago with his business team at ONA Coffee. The project works directly with coffee farming households in impoverished countries and regions, improving their production conditions and paying them purchase prices 20% higher than fair trade prices.

The original intent also includes strengthening the connection between roasters and coffee farmers while guiding growers toward producing high-quality beans. To date, Sasa has built relationships with coffee growers in eight countries, including Brazil, Panama, India, Ethiopia, El Salvador, and Costa Rica.

Flavor Profile

Light fermented wine aroma, jujube, sweet citrus, dark berries, lychee, starfruit, peach, juicy peach, longan and red date fragrance, honey sweetness, cocoa with a subtle spice note, full body with a persistent aftertaste

Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Aricha G1

Country: Ethiopia

Grade: G1

Region: Yirgacheffe, Gedeo

Altitude: 1900-2100 meters

Process: Natural

Variety: Heirloom

Producer: Kebel Aricha

Flavor: Light fermented wine aroma, sweet citrus, spice, honey sweetness

This lot of Yirgacheffe was produced at the Kebel Aricha processing station, where roughly 650-700 smallholder farmers from surrounding areas deliver ripe coffee cherries for processing in exchange for cash. After usable cherries are selected, the station lays them straight onto drying racks. During the first few days of drying, the cherries are turned every 2-3 hours to prevent over-fermentation. After four to six weeks of natural drying-depending on weather and temperature-workers strip away the dried outer fruit by machine and move the beans to Addis Ababa for storage. Natural lots are typically kept in parchment until export, when they are hulled to protect the green bean quality. This natural Aricha has been graded G1 by the ECX, the highest grade, excelling in green bean appearance, consistency, freshness, dry aroma, and flavor. If you love bright acidity and rich berry flavors, this is one you cannot miss!

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Yirgacheffe is a small town in the Sidamo province of southern Ethiopia, sitting at roughly 1700-2100 meters, with coffee trees planted above 1800 meters-one of the highest coffee-growing regions in the world. So distinctive is its white floral character paired with lemon-citrus acidity that the town's name has become shorthand for Ethiopian specialty coffee itself; in 2010 the Ethiopian commodity exchange finally split Yirgacheffe off from Sidamo as its own designation.

FrontStreet Coffee offers both faces of Yirgacheffe. The everyday washed Yirgacheffe is the classic entry point: white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a tea-like body at an affordable price-most specialty coffee drinkers' first bean. The natural Red Cherry lot is the fruit-driven counterpart: only fully ripe, flawless cherries are harvested, sorted again at the station, and dried on raised beds, turned every 2-3 hours during the first days to avoid over-fermentation, then dried for three to five weeks before the pulp is removed. Because the cherries dry whole, the cup combines classic Yirgacheffe character with tropical fruit-citrus acidity, berry juiceiness, honeyed sweetness, and a creamy smoothness.

Brewing suggestion for a natural Yirgacheffe on a V60: use 90-91°C water, a 15g dose, and a 1:15 ratio; grind to fine-granulated-sugar texture (80% passing a #20 sieve). Pour 30g of water to bloom for 30 seconds, then pour 95g (to about 125g on the scale) finishing around the 1-minute mark; once the water level drops to two-thirds of the coffee bed, pour the remaining 100g (to about 225g), finishing around 1:35. Drainage finishes between 2:00 and 2:10-lift the dripper and enjoy.