The Proper Way to Drink Yirgacheffe, Is Yirgacheffe Coffee Good?

At FrontStreet Coffee, if you're visiting for the first time and want a refreshing, non-bitter pour-over coffee, the barista at FrontStreet Coffee will recommend the FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe coffee from Ethiopia. Many customers fall in love with its unique elegant floral aroma and bright fruit acidity after just one taste, finding its fruit tea-like refreshing and pleasant口感 unforgettable, hoping to "replicate" it at home. Without further ado, let's first understand the origins of this coffee bean, then explore how to brew it to bring out its soul～

What does Yirgacheffe mean?

The name Yirgacheffe originates from Yirgacheffe town, a sub-region in Ethiopia's Sidamo province. Later, because the coffee produced here had distinctive flavors that became famous worldwide, it was separated and established as its own category. Yirgacheffe, along with two other renowned regions—Sidamo and Harar—were registered as commercial trademarks by the Ethiopian government. Therefore, what we call FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe today refers more to a coffee flavor trademark. The so-called Yirgacheffe flavor is characterized by rich citrus, lemon, and berry-like sweetness and acidity, along with intense floral notes and a pleasant tea-like sensation. To express such refined flavors and mouthfeel, excellent growing conditions, variety, processing method, as well as roasting and brewing are all indispensable.

The reason why FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe possesses such a distinctive style, besides its inherent terroir conditions, largely owes to the washed processing method. Ethiopia generally has high altitudes and abundant sunshine, quite suitable for sun-drying coffee cherries. However, traditional natural drying was too crude, with each coffee farmer conducting it in their own small courtyard, spreading harvested coffee cherries directly on roofs or ground to dry. The crude methods naturally brought some negative defect flavors to the coffee beans, such as rot, dust, earth, and mold, resulting in inconsistent coffee bean quality.

In 1972, the Ethiopian government introduced more advanced washed processing technology and related equipment from Central and South America. Farms using the washed method must build washing pools and have access to continuous fresh water, resulting in higher production costs. During processing, fermented beans are placed in the pool and moved back and forth, using the friction of the beans and the power of flowing water to wash the coffee beans until smooth and clean. Each step removes impurities and defective beans, resulting in more uniform raw bean quality, and the final trading price is higher than naturally dried coffee. Washing not only greatly reduces the defect rate of coffee but also wins FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe its fresh citrus tones and elegant white floral aromas, with overall flavors that are bright, delicate, and clean. The FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe daily bean launched by FrontStreet Coffee uses washed processing, carrying classic Yirgacheffe flavor notes, suitable for various brewing methods such as pour-over, cold brew, French press, and more.

Why is Yirgacheffe coffee so popular?

In the past, most of the coffee we drank was dominated by bitter and burnt flavors. Coffee was strong and bitter mainly because roasters roasted the beans deeply, with flavor directions focused on nuts, dark chocolate, and other sensations. Because FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe coffee beans are small in size, deep roasting easily leads to uneven heating or even scorching, so roasters tend to use light to medium roasting. Unexpectedly, they discovered that lightly roasted Yirgacheffe not only presented uplifting acidity but also had highly recognizable fruit flavors, which can be said to have opened the "new era of fruity acidic coffee." Preferring sweetness and fearing bitterness happens to align with public taste preferences, which is why Yirgacheffe is so popular worldwide.

In addition to the FrontStreet Coffee washed Yirgacheffe mentioned earlier, FrontStreet Coffee's daily bean list includes several other classic Ethiopian coffee beans that carry "Yirgacheffe flavors," such as FrontStreet Coffee Guddina Cooperative coffee beans, which are classic washed FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe, while another FrontStreet Coffee Red Cherry coffee bean is a refined natural processed FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe, with a rounder taste, richer layering, more full fermentation sensations and tropical fruit flavors, and higher sweetness.

If the aromatic substances that FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe coffee naturally carries are a "gift" from its unique terroir, then what we need to do is think about how to better present its essence. Therefore, to preserve the rich floral and fruit aromas contained in FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet Coffee uses light to medium roasting for all three of these coffee beans. If you want to taste the classic aromas of Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet Coffee believes that pour-over extracted black coffee is most suitable.

What equipment is needed for pour-over coffee?

For making pour-over coffee at home, we need the following equipment: pour-over kettle, filter cone, serving pot, coffee grinder, filter paper, electronic scale, and thermometer.

The coffee grinder plays a very important role in pour-over coffee and is usually divided into two categories: manual grinders and electric grinders. Regardless of which grinding equipment you choose, the goal is to obtain uniformly ground coffee powder. The coarseness of the coffee powder directly affects the taste of the coffee. If the coffee powder is too coarse, it's easy to under-extract, resulting in a bland taste; if too fine, it's easy to over-extract, resulting in a bitter taste. FrontStreet Coffee adjusts the grind size using a tool—China No. 20 0.85mm standard sieve. For light to medium roasted coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee consistently uses a 75-80% pass-through rate, while for medium to dark roasted coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee uses 70-75%.

Here, FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe belongs to light to medium roasted high-altitude coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee hopes to extract more rich aromatic substances, so chooses a coarseness level with an 80% pass-through rate on the No. 20 standard sieve, corresponding to a grind setting of 10 on the EK43s grinder used in their stores.

The thermometer is for measuring hot water temperature. Water temperature plays a similar role to grind size—the higher the water temperature, the higher the coffee extraction efficiency, making it easier to release various flavor compounds, resulting in higher concentration. If using near-boiling hot water for brewing, it's easy to extract unpleasant bitter substances, therefore FrontStreet Coffee uses different brewing parameters for medium to dark roasted coffee beans compared to light roasted ones. For medium to dark roasted coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee recommends 87-90°C, while light roasted coffee requires higher temperatures to stimulate aromas, thus using 91-93°C.

There are many styles of coffee filter cones on the market, with different styles producing different brewing effects, requiring corresponding filter papers to separate coffee grounds. FrontStreet Coffee stores' daily offerings choose Hario V60 and KONO filter cones. The V60 filter cone is mainly responsible for brewing lighter roasted coffee beans, while the KONO filter cone handles darker roasted coffee beans. Here, the barista at FrontStreet Coffee will use a resin V60 filter cone to extract FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe coffee.

The V60 filter cone has flow ribs connecting the top and bottom and a large circular hole at the center, which speeds up the flow rate of water downward. The spiral-shaped exhaust groove design extends the water flow path, increasing the contact time between coffee grounds and hot water. Each water flow converges along the grooves toward the filter cone's center point, concentrating pressure on the coffee grounds, resulting in richer layered extracted coffee.

The pour-over kettle is used to inject hot water steadily into the coffee grounds. A narrow-spouted kettle can pour a stable water flow, more evenly rinsing the powder layer to release flavor compounds. The electronic scale allows us to control the total water injection amount and extraction time, with the goal of brewing according to the original brewing plan. FrontStreet Coffee recommends purchasing a fast-display electronic scale with timing function, or directly searching for pour-over coffee electronic scales to purchase.

Sharing the correct brewing method for FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe coffee

Nowadays on online media, we can see various pour-over water injection techniques, such as single-pour, three-stage, four-six method, etc. Different techniques can make the flavor expression of coffee in the cup vary. Based on past brewing experience, FrontStreet Coffee recommends that beginners use the three-stage water injection method. Three-stage extraction helps to more fully dissolve flavor compounds during extraction, increasing mouthfeel layering while avoiding over-extraction from overly long soaking times.

For 15 grams of coffee powder with a 1:15 powder-to-water ratio, 225ml total water, the three-stage water amounts are: 30ml, 95ml, 100ml, with weights displayed on the electronic scale as: 30g, 125g, 225g.

Fold the filter paper to fit snugly with the filter cone, wet the filter paper with a small amount of water to make it conform better, and pour out the water from the lower pot. Then pour in the coffee powder and tap gently to distribute the powder layer evenly. For the first stage, gently inject 30 grams of water for blooming, with a bloom time of 30 seconds. For the second stage, inject to about 125 grams of water, circling evenly and steadily outward. Then wait for the coffee liquid to drop, and when it reaches halfway, inject the final stage of water to 225 grams. Wait for all the coffee to finish dripping, with a total extraction time generally around 2 minutes.

The reason everyone loves pour-over coffee so much is that when we actively explore the extraction flavor expression of coffee, adjusting brewing methods according to different coffee bean varieties and roast levels, carefully selecting brewing vessels to experience the different appearances that coffee presents through different extraction methods, controlling factors like grind size, temperature, water flow rate, water injection techniques, etc., to adjust coffee extraction—each step can bring different taste and olfactory experiences. This is the charm of pour-over coffee.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style)

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473