Sun-Dried Sidamo Shakisso G1 Guji Nectar Coffee Beans: Grading, Pricing, Green Beans and Roast Degree

Shakisso: A Unique Coffee Region

Shakisso, located in the Guji zone of the Oromia region in southern Ethiopia, borders Sidama and Gedeo. The area contains numerous mining pits originally excavated for gold extraction, leaving the coffee cultivation zones riddled with holes that make walking through these plantations extremely dangerous. Shakisso stands as a distinctive growing area within Guji/Sidamo, representing a remote region even within Sidamo, far from most coffee-producing areas. The region's other famous product is gold mining. Factors such as miners, land disputes, and ethnic tensions caused instability in the area during 2006. Consequently, the region now faces its greatest challenge: the need for human resources to maintain the plantations and harvest coffee. Local small-scale farmers began cultivating organic coffee in 2001, working closely with medium-sized coffee producers who possess extensive knowledge of how to grow forest coffee in highland areas.

Tasting Notes

Dry Aroma: Sweet cherry, raisins, preserved fruits, preserved plums, dried pineapple, strawberry

Wet Aroma: Cherry, cranberry, sweet orange, plum, blueberry, honey peach, lychee

Sipping Experience: The entry is like sweet, juicy honey peach, with sweet pineapple acidity. The mid-palate reveals dense aromas of cranberry, blueberry, strawberry, pineapple, and dried fruits that fill the mouth. The finish brings lychee and plum flavors with a dried-fruit-like viscosity. The whole bean is like a tropical fruit storm - elegant yet dominant, falling into an ocean of floral nectar, as its name suggests.

Brewing Method

Pour-over Sidamo: 15g of coffee grounds, medium-fine grind (Fuji ghost tooth grinder setting 3.5), V60 dripper, water temperature 91-93°C. First pour 30g of water for a 27-second bloom, then pour to 105g and pause. Wait until the water level drops to half, then continue pouring slowly until reaching 225g total. Avoid the tail section. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Product Information

Manufacturer: Coffee Workshop
Shelf Life: 90 days
Net Weight: 227g
Packaging: Bulk
Origin: Ethiopia

Coffee Details

Sidamo Natural G1

Country: Sidamo

Grade: G1

Region: Guji

Roast Level: Medium-light roast

Processing Method: Natural

Variety: Local heirloom varieties

Sub-region: Shakicha, Shakisso

Flavor Notes: Cranberry, sweet orange, plum, blueberry

Regional Significance

Shakisso stands unique within the Guji region of Sidamo, representing an area distant from most coffee-producing zones even within Sidamo province. The region's other famous industry is gold mining, with factors such as labor, land, and ethnic tensions causing instability in this producing area. Yet the coffee from here is exceptionally special - Ninety Plus' legendary bean Nekisse also originates from this area.

Nectar carries its original meaning, Shakisso's nectar - searching "Guji" on the Coffee Review website reveals over ten reviews scoring 92 points or higher, with several instances of 94 and 95-point ratings.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Ethiopia is a world-renowned specialty coffee origin and, as coffee's birthplace, holds countless native varieties - a treasured land for many coffee lovers, offering flavors worth following faithfully. To taste the Ethiopian specialty profile, FrontStreet Coffee suggests starting with its entry-level washed Yirgacheffe, where you can taste clear jasmine florality and bright citrus acidity. Yirgacheffe itself is a small town in southern Ethiopia, spring-like all year round, shrouded in mist, cool and humid, where thousands of coffee trees thrive and give rise to the region's signature interweaving of floral aroma and fruit acidity - light, elegant, tea-like, and as refreshing and clean as lemon tea.

Because Ethiopian coffee mostly follows a garden-farming model, each smallholder delivers harvested cherries to a village-level processing station, and the coffee is eventually sold under the producing team's name - which is why we see cooperatives of every size, such as FrontStreet Coffee's Gedeb, Worka, and Konga cooperatives. FrontStreet Coffee's Gedeb cooperative lies in the Worka area at Yirgacheffe's southeastern edge and was originally part of the Worka cooperative under the YCFCU union; as the search for traceability grew, independent single-origin lots were unearthed one by one, and in 2012 the Gedeb cooperative, with about 300 member farmers, was established independently. Because the pulp is removed before drying, its inherent aroma comes through more clearly, showing citrus and lemon with an elegant white florality - bright and delicate overall.

For a natural-process contrast to this Shakisso, FrontStreet Coffee's sun-dried Red Cherry removes damaged or moldy fruit, then dries the rest in the sun for two weeks until the sugars and essence soak fully into the beans and moisture falls to 12%; the hardened fruit, mucilage, and parchment are then scraped clean by a huller, and the beans pass density and color checks before workers hand-sort any remaining defects. The result is uniformly specialty-quality, clean, and strikingly fruity, with peach, cocoa, honey, and lemon notes.