What are the Characteristics, Origin, and Flavor Profile of Yirgacheffe Coffee Beans?

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Yirgacheffe

About Yirgacheffe?

Yirgacheffe grows in the Sidamo region of southwestern Ethiopia. The coffee beans are small to medium in size, with raw beans showing a light yellow-green color and beautiful, intact shapes. It holds a representative position among premium coffees in East Africa.

Under the current ECX system, the Yirgacheffe area has been divided into four sub-regions: Yirgachefe, Wenago, Kochere, and Genlena Abay. The soil here is fertile, with an average altitude of over 1,800 meters, making it a high-altitude region with significant temperature differences between day and night. The production methods of each region, combined with local unique native tree coffee gardens, result in different flavor profiles for each batch of coffee beans, making them quite distinctive and unique.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe is a high-quality washed Arabica bean with unique and bright fruit acidity. Upon the first sip, you can immediately feel the fresh and bright aroma. This very distinctive Yirgacheffe, with its bold floral notes and lemon acidity, richly layered flavors perfectly interpret the coffee's characteristics. Drinking it gives an illusion similar to tea. Therefore, many people also say that FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe doesn't taste like coffee, but rather like a soft and pleasant fruit tea. It can be both elegant and bold, with a precise balance between simplicity and complexity, and has been beautifully described by the Japanese as the queen of coffees.

Originally, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe was famous and primarily produced using the washed processing method, but now natural-processed Yirgacheffe has gained enthusiastic market acceptance due to its rich berry sweetness. Because of the significant increase in demand, the production of natural-processed Yirgacheffe has also greatly increased.

Ethiopia is the first country where coffee was discovered, and there are still many wild coffees in the original forests that farmers harvest and use. Ethiopia is a country plagued by poverty, drought, and constant civil war, but it remains one of the most important coffee-producing countries in terms of coffee quality and quantity. Ethiopian coffee can be divided into two main processing methods: 1. Natural washed processing method 2. Natural sun-dried processing method. Today, every region, cooperative, and even small coffee farm in Ethiopia produces both types of processed coffee beans. Whether it's the Yirgacheffe region or the Sidamo province well-known in Taiwan, not only that, in Ethiopia's current fastest-developing coffee scene, different regions not only create differences in coffee through processing methods, but the same processing method can also produce different aromas and tastes due to different technique adjustments, often creating illusions. The natural-processed beans from Yirgacheffe and Sidamo have different aromas, but both preserve the characteristics of washed-processed coffee beans: mild and low-key aromas, soft and understated lemon acidity, high flavor consistency, and winning with mouthfeel. Meanwhile, natural-processed coffee beans have strong and prominent aromas, weak and unobvious lemon acidity, complex and varied flavors, and excel in floral or fruity aromas.

In recent years, many emerging small regions or cooperatives in Ethiopia's Sidamo and Yirgacheffe areas have sold under their own cooperative or farm names in the international market. This shows confidence in their produced coffee and hopes to establish brand and loyalty in the international coffee market. Coffee farmers insist on harvesting mature coffee beans and rigorously handling every process. Whether using natural washed or natural sun-dried methods, they perform outstandingly, producing unexpectedly fragrant aromas and excellent mouthfeel. I believe this is why Ethiopian coffee makes coffee enthusiasts look forward to it every year. For example, the Red Cherry Project (Operation Cherry Red) assisted by the Dutch government—the intense strawberry cookie aroma from 2008's Korati and 2009's Kembata Estate left a deep impression on the world. In recent years, Ethiopian natural-processed beans have further strengthened this aspect.

Ethiopian coffee grading is G1, G2 for washed beans—G1 is the highest grade for washed beans, G3, G4 for natural-processed beans—G3 is the highest grade for natural-processed beans. Ethiopian raw coffee beans are divided into five levels, based on the number of defective beans in 300 grams:

Grade 1 0—3

Grade 2 4—12

Grade 3 13—25

Grade 4 26—45

Grade 5 46—90

Light roast (City): Pick up a handful of natural-processed Yirgacheffe beans and smell the rich fermented plum and strawberry aroma. During roasting, it emits a sweet roasted cookie aroma. After grinding, the strawberry cookie aroma can be smelled from far away. After brewing, the coffee has a soft and comfortable strawberry fruit wine aroma. The bright fruit acidity at the front end quickly moderates to maximize the aroma. As the coffee cools, the plum and strawberry wine fermentation flavors begin to show layers, with the aftertaste filling the mouth with sweet kumquat preserves. Storing the coffee beans appropriately for 7—9 days allows the strawberry aroma to slowly awaken and become vibrant and prominent, making the fruit acidity gentle and gradual.

Dark roast (Typically C): 20—40 seconds after the first crack ends is the darkest roast level for natural-processed Yirgacheffe beans. It won't produce bitterness due to the characteristic of large moisture content differences in natural-processed beans. At this point, the coffee has a chocolate chiffon cake aroma, with the sweetness of tropical fruits pineapple and mango, and a smooth mouthfeel with a milky candy-like creaminess. The cooled natural-processed Yirgacheffe beans have a refined, sweet chocolate syrup smoothness that brings happiness.

Yirgacheffe was originally the finest region for Ethiopian washed beans. In the past year or two, because natural-processed beans from Misty Valley have been very popular in the coffee market, many farms that originally produced washed beans have also started producing natural-processed beans. This has allowed Yirgacheffe natural-processed beans to develop bolder, stronger, and more dazzling coffee beans that attract all coffee lovers who enjoy natural-processed beans, continuously breaking all aroma limits.

Besides being famous worldwide for Mocha beans from the Harar region, Ethiopia's Arabica washed coffee beans produced in the small, high-altitude area of Yirgacheffe in south-central Sidamo are rated as the finest among African coffee beans.

The name Yirgacheffe means a single ethnic community settlement. The production area is located in the Sidamo growing region of south-central Ethiopia, at an altitude of over 2,000 meters, in the homeland of the Gedecha people. It is one of the few washed Arabica coffee beans in Ethiopia. After medium roasting, it perfectly presents fruit acidity, with a unique aroma similar to floral tea and lemon peel.

Yirgacheffe inherits the characteristic of Mocha series beans having uneven-sized particles. However, because it uses washed processing in the Sidamo region, the bean appearance is more beautiful than dry-processed Mocha beans, yet it retains the Mocha bean's floral aroma and Yirgacheffe's unique wine-like mellow feeling.

FrontStreet Coffee's natural-processed Yirgacheffe G-1 from the Idido processing plant is the highest grade Yirgacheffe on the market. Yirgacheffe's grading system separates natural-processed and washed beans for grading. The highest grade for natural-processed beans is usually G3 or G4, while washed beans are mostly G2 grade. However, Idido processing plant owner Abdullah Bagersh adopted a new processing method. After harvesting the coffee cherries, he places them on drying racks for 48 hours, constantly turning the beans by hand, then manually sorts out defective beans, successfully creating Yirgacheffe natural-processed G1 grade coffee beans and the highest grade washed G1.

On the raw bean sacks, you can see the word Bagersh printed. Bagersh has now been passed down to the third generation, planted in the Aricha Yirgacheffe area at an altitude of about 6,000 feet / 1,800 meters, and the Idido processing station is also the exclusive processing station name of the Bagersh family.

Dry aroma: Fresh lemon sweetness, citrus aroma, berry acidity. When hot water is added, milk candy, lemon sweetness with milky aroma, citrus, and long-lasting sweet notes emerge.

Slurping: Clean, plum aroma, very refreshing sweetness, with some citrus aroma. After slurping, the aftertaste still retains lemongrass aroma.

Kochere is located in the Gedeo region of southern Ethiopia. This region administers areas where Yirgacheffe and Kochere are relatively well-known. Because the coffee produced by Yirgacheffe has special, unique flavors that are widely loved, it forms its own category in product classification and has always occupied a place in the global specialty coffee market.

Yirgacheffe itself is a small town located in the Sidama province, with three neighboring small producing areas: Wenago, Kochere, and Gelena Abaya. Because the coffee flavors produced are almost on par with Yirgacheffe, Kochere is also classified into the Yirgacheffe region. In November 2009, Ethiopia implemented a new trading and grading system. Besides Yirgacheffe, three sub-producing areas were added: Wenago, Kochere, and Genlena/Abaya, indicating that the flavors of these three producing areas are extremely refined and can be further subdivided.

Kochere is a small producing area located about 25 kilometers southeast of Yirgacheffe. The harvested coffee beans come from local small-scale coffee farmers, composed of numerous individual small coffee farmers. These small farmers' coffee cultivation areas average about 1 hectare, planted at altitudes of about 1,800-2,000 meters, with coffee varieties mainly Typica and Heirloom (local native varieties) mixed. Because this region has more advanced raw bean water processing equipment, it has always shown high-level performance in washed processing, praised for its clean sweetness with complex honey and citrus notes. The main local production model involves small coffee farmers directly delivering each harvest of red cherries to nearby cooperatives' washed processing stations for unified processing. Starting in the 1970s, Ethiopia introduced washed processing technology. Currently, the raw bean processing in the Kochere producing area is mainly washed. After washed processing plants screen and grade red cherry-colored coffee fruits, they directly remove the pulp for washing and fermentation. After washing, the parchment raw beans are placed on drying racks for natural sun exposure. When humidity reaches 12% or below, they are directly sent to the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) warehouse in Awassa. Cupping grading and quantity are usually performed—washed processed beans are typically stored in parchment form until dehulling is done before export.

This batch of Kochere has been rated G1, the highest grade by ECX. From raw bean appearance, consistency, freshness to dry aroma and flavor, all are quite excellent. The aroma performance is very rich, with Yirgacheffe's regional characteristics, emitting elegant and charming flower-like perfume fragrance, with floral notes, bright citrus fruit acidity, lemon, berries, and honey's sweet and sour aromas emerging. Jasmine, orange, caramel, grapes, vanilla, honey and floral notes, with a clean and balanced mouthfeel, and a long, lively, and varied sweet fruity aftertaste.

About Misty Valley?

Growing in Misty Valley, this bean thus has a beautiful name. In the town of Yirgacheffe in Ethiopia's Sidamo province, many coffee trees are planted. Abandoning the natural processing method used by Sidamo ten years ago, Misty Valley farmers switched to the washed method to process coffee beans, and because of using washed processing, Yirgacheffe's fame grew greatly. Now, Yirgacheffe is not just a place name, but has become a well-known synonym for coffee beans.

According to local elders, although Misty Valley's Yirgacheffe is famous worldwide for washed processing, the area still mainly uses traditional natural processing methods because local residents believe natural processing can produce an indescribably beautiful flavor in coffee beans. And because of Yirgacheffe's great fame, the country has included the coffee brewing ceremony in banquets for foreign guests. They don't care whether the beans are complete and full, directly putting coffee beans into iron pans for roasting. As for the big taboo of over-roasting beans, at this moment there's no need to pay much attention. Under this traditional and wonderful ceremony, even if the beans have different colors, they can still brew an unforgettable wonderful taste.

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