How to Properly Enjoy Sidamo Guji Coffee and Guji Coffee Bean Prices

The Flower Queen processing station sits in the village of Buku Abel, at an altitude of 2200 meters. From the very start, it was chosen for its noble "family environment" — rich, humus-filled reddish-brown soil, with shade provided by Enset trees. This lets Flower Queen receive ample sunlight and develop rich flavor without drawing off too many nutrients, so more of the essence stays inside the coffee cherries. During the harvest and processing season (December to January), this unique growing environment and natural climate create the distinctive flavors of Flower Queen. Sun-drying begins only once the sugar content of the harvested red cherries reaches above 30. Over the first two days of drying, we maintain the moisture of the cherries so their fructose can begin fermenting fully. At the same time, the high altitude drops the processing station's nighttime temperature to around 12 degrees Celsius, preventing the over-fermentation aromas that heat can cause. When noon temperatures rise, shade is provided promptly to keep the cherries from sun-scalding. Only fully red, completely ripe cherries are selected, all hand-picked, dried on African raised beds with a limited cherry-layer thickness and turned every 24 hours to ensure even drying and ventilation, allowing the degree of fermentation to be controlled more precisely.

For a hand-poured Flower Queen: 15g of coffee, medium-fine grind (small 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 stop. When the water level in the coffee bed drops to half, continue pouring slowly until you reach 225g. Discard the tail end. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

At night, thick plastic sheets are used to guard against sudden rain, letting the red cherries ferment and dehydrate at relatively low temperatures. After 18 days of sun-drying, when the moisture content of the green beans falls to around 13%, drying stops. The beans are packed into jute bags and rested in a warehouse at 12-22°C and 40-50% humidity for about 50 days for further dehydration. When the moisture content reaches around 10%, they are shipped to the processing plant for hulling, screening, and sale.

Coffee Information

Coffee Producing Country: Africa, Ethiopia

Coffee Estate: Guji, Hambella Wamena region, Dimtu city, Buku Abel estate

Coffee Variety: Heirloom, Ethiopian native variety

Production Altitude: 2250-2350M

Quality Grade: G1

Processing Method: Natural sun-dried (African drying beds)

Ethiopian Sidamo Shakisso Natural

Country: Ethiopia

Region: Guji Zone

Altitude: 2250-2350 meters

Processing Method: Natural

Variety: Local native Heirloom

Producer: Local small farmers

Flavor Notes: Passion fruit, rose floral, strawberry jam

Regional Characteristics

Sidamo coffees vary widely in flavor because of different soil compositions, regional microclimates, and countless native coffee varieties, which create clear differences among the towns of the area. The Sidamo production area lies in southern Ethiopia, where agriculture dominates the economy and the coffee-growing areas sit around the Great Rift Valley.

Hambella (generally translated as "Hanbella") is located in Guji, Ethiopia's largest coffee-producing region, and administratively belongs to the Oromia Region. To the west, Hambella faces Yirgacheffe's Kochere across the mountains, the two areas separated by highland terrain 3200 meters in altitude and about 30 kilometers wide. It borders Guji's Shakiso, Uraga, and Kercha sub-regions to the southeast, east, and north respectively, making it Ethiopia's highest-altitude coffee sub-region (Harrar is Ethiopia's highest-altitude main producing region).

Currently there are about 20 processing stations of various scales in the Hambella region. DW Company has four estate processing stations in Hambella's core Dimtu area — "Buku Abel," "Buku Saysay," "Haro Soresa," and "Tirtiro Goye" — with an annual coffee production of about 1100 tons.

Among all these estates and processing stations, only the natural-processed coffee from the "Buku Abel" estate and processing station is called "Flower Queen."

Awards

Cupping Flavor Notes: Passion fruit, rose floral, strawberry jam, berry sweet-and-sour, peach flesh, black tea finish

2016/2017

Ethiopia National Taste of Harvest Competition — Champion

2016/2017 Harvest Season Ethiopia Coffee Competition — Champion

2017

Regional Africa Taste of Harvest Competition — Runner-up

2017 Africa Coffee Competition — Runner-up

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Hambella is exactly where FrontStreet Coffee's sun-dried Flower Queen comes from. The farm covers 200 hectares and uses a traditional natural method: ripe cherries are laid out on raised beds to dry for 21 days, turned constantly for even drying, and cleaned of defective or moldy beans every three to five days; once the skins harden they are hulled, and the green beans are sorted one final time. Because the fruit and skin stay with the bean through the whole dry, a medium-light roast drinks with a light fermented wine aroma, florals, citrus, and mango, a dense and complex body, honeyed sweetness, cocoa, a touch of spice, and a long finish.

If you want to explore Guji further, FrontStreet's Hambela also comes in a washed lot from the Hamasho processing station, built mainly on JARC 74-series disease-resistant varieties such as 74158 — small beans with a bold floral-fruit profile, full of perfumed lemon, strawberry, and starfruit aromas over a sweet strawberry, starfruit, and green-grape entry, with delicate florals rising afterward. Both are lovely as pour-over.