The Story and Origins of Ethiopian Washed Yirgacheffe Aricha G1 Specialty Coffee Beans

About Project Origin

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

Part of the project's original intent was to strengthen the connection between roasters and coffee farmers and to guide farmers toward cultivating 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.

Hand-Pour Yirgacheffe Brewing Guide

For a hand-poured Yirgacheffe, use 15 g of coffee ground medium-fine (Fuji ghost-tooth grinder, setting 3.5) in a V60 dripper, with water at 91-93°C. Start with a 30 g pour and let it bloom for 27 seconds. Pour to 105 g and pause, waiting until the water level drops halfway before continuing. Pour slowly until the total reaches 225 g, then discard the tail end. The water-to-coffee ratio is 1:15, with a 2:00 extraction.

Product Information

Manufacturer: Coffee Workshop FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)
Ingredients: Roasted in-house
Shelf life: 90 days
Net weight: 227 g
Packaging: Bulk coffee beans
Roast level: Light roast
Sugar content: Sugar-free
Origin: Ethiopia
Processing method: Washed

The Washed Processing Method

It begins with happy farmers picking coffee cherries from the trees and tipping them into pools of water. Because ripeness affects density, overripe and underripe cherries, along with leaves and twigs, float to the surface while fully ripe cherries sink. This alone screens out the cherries that fail the first level of selection.

The selected ripe cherries then pass through a depulping machine that removes the skin and pulp.

Next, the beans still coated in mucilage enter the fermentation stage, fermenting with the help of water-borne or airborne microorganisms. Once fermentation is complete, the beans are still wrapped in parchment and are sent down washing channels to be thoroughly cleaned. They then move into drying, where the moisture content of the green beans is brought to around 12%. From there they are packed into jute bags and left to rest for 2-3 months so the green bean quality can stabilize. Finally the parchment is removed, and they are ready for sale.

Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Aricha G1 Washed

Country: Ethiopia
Grade: G1
Region: Yirgacheffe Gediyo
Altitude: 1,900-2,100 meters
Variety: Heirloom
Producer: Kebel Aricha
Flavor Notes: Sweet orange, cherry, honey sweetness

This batch of Yirgacheffe was produced at the Kebel Aricha processing station, where roughly 650-700 smallholder coffee farmers from the surrounding area bring their ripe cherries to be processed in exchange for cash.

Flavor Description: Sweet orange citrus notes, green berries, peach, longan and red date aroma, honey sweetness, cocoa with subtle spice notes, and a full body with a persistent aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If this washed Yirgacheffe is your introduction to Ethiopian coffee, start with FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe, the everyday house lot. It is known for white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity and a tea-like body, and its friendly price has made it the first specialty coffee many drinkers ever buy.

For a more refined example of the same village-level style, FrontStreet Gerdin Cooperative comes from Gerdin village in the Worka area, at the southeastern edge of Yirgacheffe. It follows the most traditional washed processing, which is why the coffee is often called Yirgacheffe's last untouched corner. Clean, bright citrus and lemon acidity and jasmine fragrance appear without the bitter notes typical of older styles.

If you would rather taste the sun-dried side of Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet Sun-Dried Red Cherry uses only fully ripe, defect-free cherries, dried whole on raised beds. Workers turn them every 2-3 hours during the first days, and after three to five weeks of drying the outer fruit is removed mechanically. Because the cherries dry with their fruit still attached, the cup keeps the classic Yirgacheffe character while adding tropical fruit, citrus acidity, berry juice, honey sweetness and a creamy smoothness.

For a starting recipe, use a V60, water at 90-91°C, 15 g of coffee and a 1:15 ratio, ground to an EK43s setting of 10, roughly the texture of fine granulated sugar (80% passing a No. 20 sieve). Pour 30 g of water and let it bloom for 30 seconds, then pour 95 g more (about 125 g on the scale) over roughly one minute. When the water level drops to two-thirds of the coffee bed, add the remaining 100 g (about 225 g on the scale) over about 1 minute 35 seconds. The brew should finish dripping at 2:00-2:10; remove the dripper and the extraction is complete.