Sidamo G2 Proper Brewing Method and Sidamo Coffee Bean Price

Sidamo G2 Washed

Country: Ethiopia

Grade: G2

Region: Sidamo

Roast Level: Light Roast

Processing Method: Washed

Variety: Local Indigenous (Heirloom)

Flavor Notes: Honey, Citrus, Lemon

Pour-Over Brewing Guide

For pour-over Sidamo: use 15g of coffee, ground medium-fine (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. Once the water level drops to half, slowly pour until reaching 225g. Avoid the tail section. Coffee-to-water ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Ethiopian Coffee Industry

Today, Ethiopia's washed processing stations keep multiplying. Small farmers sell their harvested cherries to processing plants, where they are prepared and sold through the auction system, then shipped to the Red Sea port of Assab in Eritrea and Djibouti port near the Gulf of Aden. Although coffee is the country's most important agricultural export, domestic consumption is astonishing too — approximately 1,500,000 60kg bags annually, about 50% of total production. Wild coffee grows in the tropical rainforests of the southwestern highlands and is mostly hand-picked. Precisely because of that, some locals maliciously destroy naturally formed rainforest areas — logging or burning to reach rugged, hard-to-access mountain terrain — seriously affecting the ecological balance.

Whether washed or natural, all exported coffee passes through the capital Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa in Harar province for auction export. The Dire Dawa auction center typically exports natural Harar from that region. At the auction house, daily information about coffee from different farms is posted to help traders buy, and several government-appointed officials enter the center daily for inspection and grading, randomly sampling 3kg of green beans from the same shipment each time.

Today, large numbers of wild Arabica trees still grow across Ethiopia, cultivated at average elevations between 4,200-6,800 feet, with a gradual trend toward small-scale cultivation — usually interplanted with banana trees for shade. Owing to the lack of agricultural technology, herbicides and pesticides see little use. Coffee is Ethiopia's main economic crop, its largest agricultural export, and a vital industry: it accounts for 60% of the country's total export value and sustains many small farms. Other crops include sugarcane, bananas, and cotton. Coffee is also Ethiopia's largest and most important commodity export after petroleum, and Africa's largest Arabica export, with a total value of approximately $300 million in 1997. By production volume, 94% comes from small farms and 6% from government institutions. Because farms are scattered and intercropped, accurate statistics are hard to compile, but official figures put total coffee cultivation area at no less than 400,000 hectares. The Ethiopian government encourages farmers to improve quality and productivity to expand commercial scale, capacity, and exports.

Sidamo Region Characteristics

Sidamo, at elevations of 1,400-2,200 meters, is a famous specialty coffee area in southern Ethiopia bordering Kenya. Washed Sidamo beans are light green, modest in size, and oval-shaped. The beans brew a full-bodied cup of consistently good quality with rich, aromatic flavor — one sip leaves an endless aftertaste, with a certain wild beauty. Sidamo's coffee flavors are remarkably diverse: different soils, microclimates, and countless native varieties give each town's coffee its own distinct character. From 2010-2012, Sidamo coffees continuously earned scores of 92-94 from the authoritative American evaluation site Coffee Review — proof of the extraordinary quality of the region's green beans. The landscape spans towering mountains, highlands, plateaus, valleys, and plains. The geology is fertile, well-drained volcanic soil nearly two meters deep, with dark brown or brown surface soil. The region's greatest advantage is that soil fertility is maintained through organic matter cycling — fallen leaves from surrounding trees and plant residues serve as fertilizer.

Flavor Profile

Unlike typical African coffees, Sidamo shows clear fruit acidity, a smooth texture, and delicate floral and herbal aromas. Washed Sidamo is elegant yet playful: the gentle, pleasant entry contrasts strikingly with the bright lemon acidity that follows, creating a mellow texture and a distinctive, pleasant sweet aftertaste. The slowly rising finish carries a special sweetness. The green beans are slightly grayish, with some areas coarse and others fine. The acidity is both soft and intense, the body appropriately rich, with sweet-spicy notes — one of the courtyard coffees of Ethiopia's southern highlands.

Processing Method

Farmers harvest bright red cherries daily, with every two days of harvest forming one unit of cherries sent or sold to washing stations. Cherries that bypass the stations typically undergo about 12 hours of natural fermentation, then sun-drying and hulling. Even so, farmers with slightly more means always try to send their cherries to washing stations to earn the "washed" designation and better prices. At the stations, cherries soak and ferment for about 12 hours to soften the pulp, then pass through water channels while being stirred to separate pulp from beans; the pulp is discharged through gates.

Product Information

Factory Name: Coffee Workshop (FrontStreet Coffee)
Factory Address: No. 10 Bao'an Qianjie, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou
Factory Contact: 020-38364473
Shelf Life: 90 days
Net Weight: 227g
Packaging: Bulk Coffee Beans
State: Roasted Coffee Beans
Sugar Content: Sugar-free
Origin: Ethiopia
Roast Degree: Light Roast

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If this washed Sidamo G2 whets your appetite for Ethiopia, you're in luck — the country is a treasure trove for coffee lovers. As the world's best-known specialty coffee origin and the birthplace of coffee itself, Ethiopia holds countless native varieties, and its flavors reward a lifetime of exploration.

FrontStreet's Washed Yirgacheffe is the classic gateway: clear jasmine florals and bright citrus acidity — the very character baristas mean when they say "Yirgacheffe." The town sits in southern Ethiopia at about 1,700-2,100 meters, with coffee planted above 1,800 meters — among the highest coffee terrain on earth. Cool, misty, and spring-like year-round, it produces a light, elegant, tea-like cup like a refreshing lemon tea. For deeper traceability, FrontStreet's Guodingding cooperative lot — in Yirgacheffe's Worka area, independent since 2012 with about 300 member farmers — delivers citrus, lemon, and white florals with exceptional clarity thanks to pulping before drying. And for naturals, FrontStreet's Natural Red Cherry dries only fully ripe, defect-free cherries whole for three to five weeks on raised beds, turned every 2-3 hours at first: the cup keeps classic Yirgacheffe character while gaining tropical fruit aromas, berry juiciness, honeyed sweetness, and cream-smooth texture.

For a distinctive Sidamo lot, try FrontStreet's Sidamo Natural Hamasho. The Hamasho washing station is a perennial fixture on Ethiopian green bean competition win lists, and its coffee is built mainly on JARC 74-series disease-resistant varieties — the 74158 lot has small, compact beans and outstanding floral-fruit character. Expect sweet aromas of perfumed lemon, strawberry, and starfruit, with vivid strawberry, starfruit, and green grape sweetness on the palate and gentle florals unfurling behind. Or explore the wild side of Ethiopia with FrontStreet's Kaffa Forest beans, from the UN-recognized Kaffa Biosphere Reserve at 1,400-2,100 meters — the birthplace of Arabica and home to over five thousand wild gene lines, including the ancestors of Gesha. Medium-light roasted, it offers white florals, bright lemon acidity, sweet orange and bergamot, a faint melon-and-nut finish, and a green-tea texture.