Ethiopian Washed Sidamo G2 Specialty Coffee Beans: Grading, Pricing, Green Beans and Roast Level

The Sidamo Coffee Region

The Sidamo growing region, at elevations of 1,400-2,200 meters, is a renowned specialty coffee area in southern Ethiopia, bordering Kenya. Washed-processed Sidamo beans show a light green color, are medium-sized with an oval shape, and have a well-filled fruit with consistently good quality. They possess a rich, mellow aroma that leaves an endless aftertaste, embodying a wild beauty. Sidamo's flavors are exceptionally diverse, with different soil types, microclimates, and countless native coffee varieties creating clear differences and characteristics in the coffee produced by different towns. From 2010 to 2012, it consistently scored 92-94 on the authoritative American coffee evaluation website CR, demonstrating the exceptional quality of green beans from this region.

The region features towering mountains, highlands, plateaus, valleys, and plains, creating diverse topography. The local geology consists of nutrient-rich, well-drained volcanic soil with depths reaching nearly two meters, its surface soil dark brown or brown. The region's greatest advantage is that soil fertility is maintained through organic matter cycling, using fallen leaves from surrounding trees or residual plant material as natural fertilizer.

Distinctive Characteristics

Unlike typical African coffees, Sidamo features clear fruit acidity, a smooth mouthfeel, and delicate floral and herbal 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. The mouthfeel is uniquely rich and mellow, with a distinctive and pleasing aftertaste that slowly rises with refined sweetness in the finish. The green coffee beans carry a slight grayish tint and vary in size from coarse to fine. The acidity balances gentle and bright qualities, the body is appropriately moderate, and the coffee offers sweet, spicy aromas, making it one of the garden coffees of Ethiopia's southern highlands.

Pour-Over Brewing Method

For pour-over Sidamo: use 15g of coffee ground to a medium-fine consistency (Fuji ghost tooth burrs set to 3.5), a V60 dripper, and a water temperature of 91-93°C. First pour 30g of water and let it bloom for 27 seconds. Then pour to 105g and pause, waiting until the water level drops to about halfway before continuing to pour slowly until reaching 225g in total. Avoid the tail end. The water-to-coffee ratio is 1:15, with an extraction time of 2:00.

Product Information

Shelf Life: 90 days
Net Weight: 227g
Packaging: Bulk coffee beans
Roast Level: Light roast
Sugar Content: Sugar-free
Origin: Ethiopia
Grade: G2
Processing Method: Washed

Processing Details

Farmers harvest vibrant red coffee cherries daily, collecting the harvest every two days as a unit to send or sell to washing stations for processing. Coffee cherries not processed at washing stations typically undergo about 12 hours of natural fermentation, followed by sun-drying and hulling. Whenever possible, farmers do their best to send cherries to washing stations to command better prices under the "washed process" designation. At washing stations, the 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 beans, with the pulp discharged through gates.

Today, Ethiopia's washing stations are increasingly numerous and growing in popularity. Small farmers sell their harvested cherries to processing plants, which hull them and resell them through the auction system. From there the coffee is transported to the Red Sea port of Assab in Eritrea and the port of Djibouti near the Gulf of Aden. Although coffee is the country's main agricultural export, its annual domestic consumption is also impressive, at approximately 1,500,000 bags (60kg each), accounting for 50% of total production. Wild coffee grows in the tropical rainforests of the southwestern highlands and is mostly hand-picked. However, many local people damage natural rainforest areas, either cutting or burning them, to reach hard-to-reach rugged mountain areas, which severely affects the ecological balance.

Both washed and natural-processed green coffee beans intended for export are sent to Addis Ababa, the capital, and to Dire Dawa in Harar province for auction and export. The Dire Dawa auction center typically exports natural-processed Harar coffee from the region. At the auction site, daily information from different farms is available to help traders make purchases. Ethiopian government officials also pass through this center daily to inspect and grade the coffee, each time randomly sampling 3 kilograms from the same shipment of green beans for inspection.

Variety and Flavor Profile

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

Today, large numbers of wild Arabica coffee trees still grow in many parts of Ethiopia, typically cultivated at elevations between 4,200-6,800 feet. There is now a gradual trend toward small-scale cultivation, generally with banana trees planted simultaneously for shade. Thanks to limited agricultural technology, there is less use of herbicides and pesticides. Coffee is Ethiopia's main economic crop and the country's largest agricultural export and an important industry, accounting for 60% of Ethiopia's total export value and sustaining the livelihoods of many small farms. Other significant exports include sugar, bananas, and cotton. Coffee is also Ethiopia's largest and most important commodity export after oil, and Africa's largest Arabica export; in 1997 the total value was approximately $300 million. 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 figures indicate a total coffee cultivation area of at least 400,000 hectares or more.

The Ethiopian government encourages local farmers to improve quality and productivity to help coffee farmers expand their commercial scale and increase production capacity and exports. During the harvest season,

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you enjoy the clean, elegant acidity of a washed Ethiopian, FrontStreet Coffee roasts several lots that carry the same garden-coffee character as this Sidamo G2. The FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe is the classic introduction: white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a tea-like body at a very approachable price, roasted light to keep the cup transparent.

For a more traceable single lot, the FrontStreet Yirgacheffe Gudingding Cooperative comes from the Gudingding Cooperative in the Woka district at Yirgacheffe's southeastern edge, washed and sorted to G1, showing citrus, lemon, and white florals. Both are at their best with the 1:15, 91-93°C V60 method described here.