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

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The Unique Character of Sidamo Coffee

Unlike typical African coffees, Sidamo features clear fruit acidity, smooth texture, and delicate floral and grassy aromas. Washed Sidamo is elegant yet playful. The initial entry is mild and pleasant, creating a strong flavor contrast with the subsequent bright lemon acidity. Its unique mouthfeel is rich and mellow, with a distinctive and pleasant aftertaste. The slowly rising finish contains refined sweetness. The raw coffee beans have a slightly grayish appearance, with some areas being large while others are small. The acidity is both gentle and intense, the body is appropriately balanced, and it's sweet and spicy—making it one of the garden coffees from the southern highlands of Ethiopia.

Pour-over Brewing Method

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

Product Information

Manufacturer: Coffee Workshop
Address: Bao'an Qianjie No. 10, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou
Manufacturer Contact: 020-38364473
Shelf Life: 90 days
Net Weight: 227g
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 harvest bright red cherries daily, with each two-day harvest forming a unit of coffee fruit that is sent or sold to washing stations for processing. Coffee cherries that don't go through washing stations typically undergo about 12 hours of natural fermentation, then are sun-dried for drying and hulling. Regardless, farmers with slightly more capability always try to send their cherries to washing stations for processing to earn better prices under the "washed processing" label. At washing stations, coffee cherries undergo about 12 hours of soaking and fermentation to soften the pulp, then pass through water channels with agitation to separate the pulp from the coffee beans. The pulp is discharged through gates.

Today, Ethiopia's washing stations are increasingly growing and developing. Small farmers sell their harvested coffee cherries to processing plants, which hull them before reselling through the auction system. The coffee then travels to the Red Sea's Eritrea Assab port and Djibouti port near the Gulf of Aden. Although coffee is the country's main agricultural export, its domestic consumption is also astonishing—approximately 1,500,000 bags of 60kg annually, 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, many local people maliciously destroy naturally formed rainforest areas—through logging or burning—to reach difficult-to-access rugged mountain regions, severely affecting ecological balance. Whether washed or natural, all exported coffee is sent to the capital Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa in Harar province for auction export. The Dire Dawa auction center typically exports natural Harar from the region. Daily information about different farms' coffee can be seen at the auction site to facilitate traders' purchases. Several Ethiopian government officials also enter and exit this center daily for inspection and grading, randomly sampling 3kg of raw beans from each shipment for inspection.

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

Today, large numbers of wild Arabica coffee tree species still grow in many parts of Ethiopia, planted at average elevations between 4,200-6,800 feet. There is now a trend toward small-scale cultivation, generally planting banana trees simultaneously for shade. Due to lack of agricultural technology, there is also less use of herbicides and pesticides. Coffee is Ethiopia's main economic agricultural crop, the country's largest agricultural export and important industry, accounting for 60% of Ethiopia's total export value and sustaining the livelihoods of many small farms. Other major exports include sugar, bananas, and cotton. It is also Ethiopia's largest and most important commodity export crop after petroleum, 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 difficult to compile, but the country's official statistics show the total coffee cultivation area is at least 400,000 hectares or more. The Ethiopian government encourages local farmers to improve quality and productivity to help coffee farmers expand commercial scale, increase production capacity, and exports.

Sidamo Region Characteristics

The Sidamo region has an elevation of 1,400-2,200 meters and is a famous specialty coffee area in southern Ethiopia, bordering Kenya. Washed Sidamo beans appear light green, are not large, and grow in elongated oval shapes. The cherries are full, with average quality, aromatic and mellow fragrance, and endless aftertaste with wild beauty. Sidamo's coffee flavors are very diverse, with different soil types, microclimates, and countless native coffee varieties creating clear differences and characteristics in coffees produced by various towns. From 2010-2012, it continuously achieved high scores of 92-94 from the authoritative American coffee evaluation website CR. This demonstrates the extraordinary nature of raw beans from this region. The area contains towering mountains, highlands, plateaus, valleys, and plains, with diverse topography. The local geology consists of fertile, well-drained volcanic soil with soil depth of nearly two meters, with surface soil appearing dark brown or brown. The area's greatest advantage is that soil fertility is maintained through organic matter cycling, using fallen leaves from surrounding trees or plant residues as fertilizer.

Important Notice :

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Tel:020 38364473