Sidamo Honey Language Coffee Region Introduction Sidamo Coffee Brewing Guide

The Origin of Coffee: Oromia Region

Oromia is one of the world's coffee birthplaces. The indigenous Oromo people here were the first anywhere to use coffee as food, as far back as the 5th century AD. Oromia lies roughly between 3°-15° north latitude and 33°-40° longitude, and the region is world-renowned for the primitiveness of its plant species and its biodiversity. This is where coffee was born. For the local Oromo, coffee is not only a drink but also a food, an important part of their trade, a stimulant, and an important tool for keeping the peace.

Flavor Profile

Pronounced wild ginger and bergamot, with blackcurrant underneath and a sweet raisin finish in the aftertaste. The overall impression is Earl Grey tea.

Ethiopian Coffee Grading System

Ethiopian coffee beans are graded by defect ratio. Indonesian beans are mainly divided into 6 grades, G1-G6, and Ethiopia uses a similar method: washed beans top out at G1 and G2, while natural-processed beans top out at G1 and G3.

Washed: Grade-1, Grade-2 (G1 better than G2)

Natural: Grade-1 and Grade-3 through Grade-5 (G1 better than G3 better than G4 better than G5)

Pour-Over Whisper

15g of coffee, medium-fine grind (Fuji ghost tooth burr grinder setting 3.5), V60 dripper, water temperature 91-93°C. First pour 30g of water and bloom for 27 seconds. Pour to 105g and pause, wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to half before continuing. Slowly pour until you reach 225g in total. Avoid the tail section. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Coffee Details

Origin: Ethiopia, Oromia Region

Variety: Ethiopian heirloom

Altitude: 2000m

Processing: Washed

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee

Shelf Life: 90 days

Net Weight: 227g

Packaging: Bulk coffee beans

Roast Level: Roasted coffee beans

Sugar Content: Sugar-free

Origin: Ethiopia

Roast Degree: Light roast

Ethiopian Coffee Cultivation

Ethiopia holds almost every kind of coffee cultivation at once, from vast wild coffee forests and semi-developed land to traditional small plots and modern plantations. Roughly 50% of the coffee is grown above 1500 meters. By production method, Ethiopia divides into nine major coffee regions: five specialty areas, Sidamo, Yirgacheffe, Harar, Limu, and Lekempti, and four general commercial bean regions, Jimma, Illubabor, Tepi, and Bebeka. Each region uses natural or washed processing, and the method shapes the flavor. At present, natural processing accounts for about 80% of production and washed for about 20%.

Processing Method

This micro-lot is processed with care. The cherries are hand-selected first to ensure 100% red cherry, then an Aagaarde depulper removes the skin and pulp. The beans, still coated in mucilage, ferment for 36 hours in fermentation tanks, followed by 4 hours of soaking. They are then spread on 30×1.8 meter drying beds to dry before hulling. After hand sorting to reach G1 grade, the beans are packed in GrainPro bags inside protective jute sacks.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Oromia's washed coffees, and the citrus-and-floral family they belong to, are best introduced through FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe daily bean. Built on white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a clean tea-like body, it is famous enough that Yirgacheffe has become shorthand for the whole district style, and its modest price makes it the easiest first specialty coffee. Yirgacheffe is a small town in southern Ethiopia, in the old Sidamo province, with trees planted above 1800 meters within a 1700-2100 meter band, and its tradition of washed processing delivers a pure, refreshing cup at light roast.

Higher up the same family tree is FrontStreet Coffee's Gedingding Cooperative, from Gedingding village in the Worka area on the southeastern edge of Yirgacheffe. Ethiopian coffee mostly follows a garden model, with each smallholder sending fruit to a village-level washing station, and Gedingding is a strong example: once part of the Worka cooperative under the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, it was split off as a single-origin lot in 2012 with around 300 farmer members. Because the pulp is removed before drying, the coffee's own aromatics come through more clearly, giving citrus and lemon acidity and elegant white florals with a bright, fine texture; FrontStreet roasts it light-medium so green tea and honey notes appear, and it is every bit as good in cold brew or espresso as in pour-over.

For a fuller, fruitier read on Ethiopia, FrontStreet Coffee's natural Red Cherry trades some of that clarity for tropical intensity. Only sound, fully ripe cherries are picked, sorted once at the mill, and dried in the sun on raised beds for about two weeks, turned regularly and turned every 2-3 hours in the earliest days so nothing overheats; once moisture falls to about 12% the hardened pulp, mucilage, and parchment are scrubbed off, and the beans pass density and color checks before hand sorting. The result is a clean, characterful cup with peach, cocoa, honey, and lemon.