Sidamo G2 Bean Flavor and Aroma: Sidamo Coffee Varieties and Prices

Farmers harvest bright red cherries daily, and every two days' worth of picking forms one unit of coffee fruit sent or sold to washing stations for processing. Coffee fruit that never reaches a washing station typically undergoes about 12 hours of natural fermentation, then sun-drying, drying, and hulling. Even so, farmers with slightly better means always try to send their coffee to a washing station, since the "washed process" label commands a better price. At the washing stations, 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. The pulp is discharged through gates.

Sidamo G2 Washed

Country: Ethiopia
Grade: G2
Region: Sidamo
Roast Level: Light roast
Processing Method: Washed
Variety: Local landrace
Flavor Notes: Honey, citrus, lemon

Brewing Instructions

Hand-pour Sidamo. 15g of coffee, ground to medium-fine (Fuji hand grinder at a 3.5 setting), 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 slow pouring until you reach 225g total. Avoid the tail section. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Ethiopian Coffee Industry

Today, Ethiopia's washing stations are growing in number and sophistication. Smallholders sell their harvested cherries to processing plants, where the beans are hulled before being resold through the auction system, then shipped out through Eritrea's Assab port on the Red Sea and Djibouti port near the Gulf of Aden. Although coffee is the country's main agricultural export, 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 highlands and is mostly hand-picked. Unfortunately, many local people destroy naturally formed rainforest areas through logging or burning to reach rugged, hard-to-access mountain areas, seriously affecting ecological balance.

Both washed and natural coffee destined for export is 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 that region. At the auction house, daily information about coffee from different farms is available to help traders buy. Several Ethiopian government officials also move in and out of this center each day for inspection and grading. Each time, 3kg of raw beans are randomly sampled from the same shipment for inspection.

Today, large quantities of wild Arabica coffee trees still grow across much of Ethiopia, cultivated at average elevations between 4,200-6,800 feet. There is now a gradual trend toward small-scale cultivation, usually with banana trees planted alongside for shade. Because of limited agricultural technology, herbicide and pesticide use is minimal. Coffee is Ethiopia's main economic crop and its largest agricultural export, accounting for 60% of the country's total export value and sustaining the livelihoods of many small farms. Other crops include sugarcane, bananas, and cotton. Coffee is also the country's largest and most important commodity export 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 are hard to compile. Official Ethiopian statistics show the total coffee cultivation area is at least 400,000 hectares. The Ethiopian government encourages local farmers to improve quality and productivity, helping coffee growers expand commercial scale and increase production and exports.

Sidamo Region

The Sidamo growing region, at elevations of 1,400-2,200 meters, is a famous specialty coffee area in southern Ethiopia, bordering Kenya. Washed Sidamo appears light green with small, oval beans, a full body, and consistently good quality. It is aromatic and mellow — a single drop leaves an endless aftertaste, embodying a wild beauty. Sidamo's flavors are extremely diverse, with different soil types, microclimates, and countless native varieties creating distinct differences between the coffees of various towns. From 2010-2012, it consistently scored 92-94 from the authoritative American coffee review site Coffee Review, demonstrating the exceptional quality of raw beans from this region.

The region features towering mountains, highlands, plateaus, valleys, and plains with diverse topography. The local geology consists of fertile, well-drained volcanic soil nearly two meters deep, with surface soil that appears 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 plant residues as fertilizer.

Flavor Profile

Unlike typical African coffees, Sidamo has clear fruit acidity, a smooth texture, and refined floral and herbaceous aromas. Washed Sidamo is elegant yet playful. A gentle, pleasant entry gives way to bright lemon acidity and a strong flavor impact. The texture is uniquely mellow, with a distinctive, pleasant sweetness in the aftertaste and a slowly rising finish. The raw beans are slightly grayish, some large and some small, with both gentle and bright acidity, an appropriate body balance, and sweet and spicy notes — one of the garden coffees of Ethiopia's southern highlands.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Sidamo is one of Ethiopia's great southern growing regions, and it rewards comparison with the country's other famous terroirs. FrontStreet Coffee's Huakui comes from the Hambella area of Guji in Sidamo, an estate of 200 hectares that uses traditional sun drying: workers spread the ripe cherries on raised beds for 21 days, turn them constantly for an even dry, and hand-sort out any defective or moldy beans every three to five days. Medium-light roasted, it pours with light fermented wine, florals, citrus, and mango — a dense, complex cup with honeyed sweetness, a cocoa accent, a touch of spice, a thick body, and a long finish.

Also from Sidamo is FrontStreet Coffee's Hamashu, a washed coffee from a processing station whose consistent quality and distinctive flavor have made it a regular on Ethiopian green bean competition winner lists. It relies mainly on JARC's 74-series disease-resistant varieties, with 74158's smaller beans and pronounced floral-fruit character; you can smell sweet notes like perfume lemon, strawberry, and starfruit, and the palate opens with clear strawberry, starfruit, and green grape sweetness before a soft floral note emerges. For a cleaner, brighter counterpoint, FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe shows the region's jasmine florals and bright citrus acidity, light and elegant with a tea-like body — like a clean glass of lemon tea.