Ethiopian Washed Sidamo G2 Specialty Coffee Beans: Flavor Profile, Growing Region, and Brewing Parameters

The Unique Character of Sidamo Coffee

Unlike typical African coffees, Sidamo shows clear fruit acidity, a smooth texture and delicate floral and grassy aromas. Washed Sidamo is elegant yet playful. The first sip is mild and pleasant, creating a strong contrast with the bright lemon acidity that follows. Its distinctive mouthfeel is rich and mellow, with a characteristic, pleasant finish in which refined sweetness rises slowly. The raw beans look slightly grayish, with some beans large and others small. The acidity is both gentle and intense, the body is well balanced, and it is sweet and spicy — one of the garden coffees of the southern Ethiopian highlands.

Pour-over Brewing Method

For pour-over Sidamo: use 15 g of grounds with a medium-fine grind (3.5 on a Fujiyama ghost-tooth grinder), V60 filter cup, water at 91-93°C. First pour 30 g of water for a 27-second bloom, then pour to 105 g and pause. Wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops halfway before pouring again. Slowly pour to a total of 225 g, avoiding the final tail. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Product Information

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee
Shelf Life: 90 days
Net Weight: 227 g
Packaging: Bulk coffee beans
Roast Level: Roasted coffee beans
Sugar Content: Sugar-free
Origin: Ethiopia
Roast Degree: Light roast

Coffee Details

Sidamo G2 Washed

Country: Ethiopia
Grade: G2
Region: Sidamo
Roast Level: Light roast
Processing Method: Washed

Farmers pick bright red cherries daily, and each two-day harvest forms one unit of coffee fruit that is delivered or sold to washing stations for processing. Cherries that don't go through a washing station typically undergo about 12 hours of natural fermentation before being sun-dried and hulled. Even so, farmers with a little more means always try to send their cherries to washing stations, since the "washed processing" label earns a better price. At the station, the cherries soak and ferment for about 12 hours to soften the pulp, then pass through agitated water channels that separate the pulp from the beans; the pulp is discharged through gates.

Today Ethiopia's washing stations continue to grow and develop. Smallholders sell their harvested cherries to the stations, which hull them before reselling through the auction system. The coffee then travels to the Eritrean port of Assab on the Red Sea and to Djibouti port near the Gulf of Aden. Although coffee is the country's main agricultural export, domestic consumption is striking too — roughly 1,500,000 bags of 60 kg a year, accounting for 50% of total production. Wild coffee grows in the tropical rainforests of the southwestern plateau and is mostly hand-picked. Because of this, some local people recklessly clear naturally formed rainforest — by logging or burning — to reach hard-to-access rugged mountain areas, seriously harming the ecological balance. Whether washed or natural, all exported coffee is sent to the capital Addis Ababa and to Dire Dawa in Harar province for auction and export. The Dire Dawa auction center typically exports natural Harar from the region. Daily information about different farms' coffee is posted at the auction site to help traders buy. Several Ethiopian government officials also pass through the center daily for inspection and grading, randomly sampling 3 kg of raw beans from each shipment.

Variety: Local native varieties
Flavor: Honey, citrus, lemon

Today, large numbers of wild Arabica coffee trees still grow across many parts of Ethiopia, at average elevations between 4,200 and 6,800 feet. There is now a trend toward small-scale cultivation, generally planting banana trees alongside for shade. With little access to agricultural technology, herbicide and pesticide use is also lower. Coffee is Ethiopia's main economic crop, its largest agricultural export and an important industry, accounting for 60% of the country's total export value and sustaining many small farms. Other major exports include sugar, bananas and cotton. Coffee is also Ethiopia's most important commodity export crop and Africa's largest Arabica export, valued at approximately $300 million in 1997. In terms of total production, 94% comes from small farms and 6% from government institutions. Because many farms are scattered and also grow other crops, accurate statistics have been hard to compile, but official figures put the country's total coffee cultivation area at at least 400,000 hectares. The Ethiopian government encourages farmers to improve quality and productivity, helping them expand their commercial scale and increase both output and exports.

Sidamo Region Characteristics

The Sidamo region sits at 1,400-2,200 meters and is a famous specialty coffee area in southern Ethiopia, bordering Kenya. Washed Sidamo beans look light green, are not large, and grow in elongated oval shapes. The cherries are full, of average quality, with a fragrant, mellow aroma and an endless finish full of wild beauty. Sidamo's flavors are highly varied, with different soil types, microclimates and countless native varieties creating clear differences between the coffees of different towns. From 2010 to 2012 it repeatedly earned high scores of 92-94 from the authoritative American coffee review site CR, showing just how extraordinary the raw beans from this region can be. The area takes in towering mountains, highlands, plateaus, valleys and plains, with diverse topography. The local geology is fertile, well-drained volcanic soil nearly two meters deep, its surface dark brown or brown. The area's greatest advantage is that soil fertility is maintained through the cycling of organic matter, using fallen leaves from surrounding trees and plant residues as fertilizer.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Washed Ethiopian coffee is prized for exactly the clarity and bright, floral acidity described here, and FrontStreet's Ethiopian lineup is the ideal place to explore it. FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe is the classic entry point, with clear jasmine aroma and bright citrus acidity in a light, elegant, tea-like cup — like a clean glass of lemon tea. FrontStreet Gudingding Cooperative, from the Worka area at the southeastern end of Yirgacheffe, is washed and shows citrus and lemon notes with elegant white flowers for a bright, delicate cup. If you want to compare a natural process from the same country, FrontStreet Sidamo Natural Hamasho (74158) offers strawberry, carambola and green grape sweetness with delicate florals, and the medium-light roasted FrontStreet Kafa Forest brings clear white flowers, bright lemon acidity and sweet orange and bergamot notes with a green-tea-like body.