The Story Behind 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 with his business team at ONA Coffee three years ago. The project works directly with coffee-farming households in impoverished regions to improve their production conditions, and it pays growers prices 20% above fair trade rates.

The project's founding purpose also includes tightening the bond between roasters and coffee farmers, and guiding growers toward producing higher-quality lots. To date, Sasa has built relationships with coffee growers in eight countries, including Brazil, Panama, India, Ethiopia, El Salvador, and Costa Rica.

Brewing this hand-poured sun-dried Yirgacheffe Aricha: 15g of coffee, medium-fine grind (on Fuji Royal's ghost-tooth burr grinder, setting 3.5), V60 dripper, water at 90-92°C. First pour 30g of water for a 27-second bloom, then pour to 105g and pause. Wait for the water level in the bed to drop to halfway, then continue slowly up to 225g total, discarding the tail end. Water-to-coffee ratio of 1:15, total extraction time 2:00.

Processing Method: Natural

This Yirgacheffe lot is produced at the Kebel Aricha processing station, where roughly 650-700 smallholder farmers from the surrounding area bring their ripe cherries for processing in exchange for cash. After the station sorts out usable cherries, they go straight onto raised drying beds. During the first days of drying, the cherries are turned every 2-3 hours to prevent over-fermentation. After four to six weeks in the sun — depending on weather and temperature — workers mechanically strip away the dried outer fruit pulp before the beans are moved to Addis Ababa for storage. Typically, naturally processed coffee is stored in parchment and hulled just before export to protect green bean quality. This natural Aricha was graded G1 (Grade 1) by the ECX, reflecting excellent quality in bean appearance and consistency as well as in freshness, dry aroma, and flavor. If you love bright acidity and rich berry character, this one is not to be missed.

Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Aricha G1

Country: Ethiopia

Grade: G1

Region: Yirgacheffe, Gedio

Altitude: 1,900-2,100 meters

Variety: Heirloom

Producer: Kebel Aricha

Flavor: Light fermented wine aroma, sweet orange, spices, honey sweetness

Tasting notes: Gentle winey fermentation, jujube, sweet citrus, dark berries, lychee, starfruit, peach, nectarine, longan and red date aromatics, honeyed sweetness, cocoa with a whisper of spice, full body, and a long finish.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If this natural Aricha wins you over, FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopia lineup offers a natural and a washed take on the same terroir. The FrontStreet Red Cherry natural uses fully ripe, hand-sorted cherries dried whole on raised beds — turned every 2-3 hours in the early days to avoid uneven fermentation — for three to five weeks of sun. Because the fruit dries on the bean, it keeps classic Yirgacheffe citrus acidity while adding tropical fruit: berry-like juiciness, honeyed sweetness, and a cream-smooth body.

On the washed side, the FrontStreet Yirgacheffe Guodingding from the Guodingding cooperative in the Worka area shows the cleaner face of the region: jasmine florals, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and zero traditional bitterness — a favorite first step into specialty coffee. To brew either one, FrontStreet recommends a V60 at 90-91°C, 15g of coffee at a 1:15 ratio: bloom with 30g of water for 30 seconds, pour to 125g within a minute, then top up to 225g by about 1:35, with drawdown finishing between 2:00 and 2:10.