Is Sidamo Natural Guji Coffee Delicious? Guji Coffee Brewing Methods

Flavor Profile

Lemon, mango, blueberry, wine-like fragrance.

Pour-Over Sidamo Brewing Method

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

Coffee Information

Producing Station: Ethiopian Sidamo Shakisso Natural

Country: Ethiopia

Region: Shakisso, Guji Zone

Altitude: 1800-2000 meters

Processing Method: Natural

Ingredients: In-house roasted

Shelf Life: 90 days

Net Weight: 227g

Packaging: Bulk

Taste: Mellow and aromatic

Roast Level: Roasted coffee beans

Sugar Content: Sugar-free

Origin: Ethiopia

Coffee Type: Other

Roast Degree: Light roast

Shakisso Region

Shakisso coffee is quite distinctive, and the coffee produced here frequently draws market attention. The legendary Ninety Plus bean (Nekisse) originally means "Nectar from Shakisso," and both its growing region and its name derive from Shakisso.

Variety: Local heirloom varieties

Producer: Local smallholder farmers

Sidamo coffee flavors are extremely diverse, as different soil compositions, regional microclimates, and countless native coffee varieties create obvious differences and characteristics in the coffee produced by each town and area. The Sidamo growing region lies in southern Ethiopia, where agriculture dominates the economy, and the coffee-growing areas sit around the Great Rift Valley.

Shakisso, in Guji in the southern Oromia region, borders Sidamo and Gedeo. The area has many mining pits that were previously used for gold mining, so there are many holes throughout this coffee-growing region, making it dangerous to walk between the coffee plots. Shakisso is a distinctive growing region within Guji/Sidamo; even within Sidamo it is a remote area far from most coffee-producing districts, and the region's other famous product is gold. Factors such as miners, land, and ethnicity also made the region unstable in 2006. As a result, the biggest problem the region now faces is the need for manpower to maintain the growing areas and harvest the coffee. Local smallholder farmers here began growing organic coffee in 2001 and work closely with medium-sized coffee producers because they know how to cultivate forest coffee in highland areas.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you enjoy the juicy, berry-forward character of a natural Guji, FrontStreet Coffee has several Ethiopian beans in the same family. FrontStreet Sun-Dried Huakui comes from the Hambella area of Guji, Sidamo—a 200-hectare farm worked in the traditional natural style, where ripe cherries are dried on raised beds for 21 days with constant turning and regular hand-sorting before hulling, then lightly-medium roasted to reveal a light fermented wine aroma, florals, citrus, and mango with a honeyed sweetness, cocoa, and spice over a thick body and long finish. For a Sidamo natural built on the JARC 74 series of disease-resistant varieties, FrontStreet Sidamo Natural Hamasho 74158—the small-beaned 74158 in particular—brings a perfume-lemon, strawberry, and starfruit fragrance, with strawberry, starfruit, and green grape sweetness up front and a faint floral note rising behind it. If you would rather explore the region's washed side, FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe is the classic entry point, with clear jasmine florals and bright citrus acidity that drink like a clean, refreshing lemon tea, while FrontStreet Kafa Forest, grown wild at 1400-2100 meters under shade, offers white florals, bright lemon acidity, sweet orange and bergamot, and a green-tea-like finish after a medium-light roast.