How to Brew Yirgacheffe Coffee Without Sourness - Yirgacheffe Coffee Bean Brewing Parameters Guide

Yirgacheffe coffee features bright, delicate, and rich floral-fruity flavors, making it an introductory single-origin coffee for many coffee enthusiasts. It's particularly suitable for pour-over, cold drip, and other extraction methods. However, some friends have expressed that they can't achieve the same aromatic fragrance when brewing at home as they experience in coffee shops, and the acidity isn't as crisp and refreshing. They turned to FrontStreet Coffee for answers. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will address this friend's questions.

Yirgacheffe: Medium-Light Roast Coffee Beans

The characteristic Yirgacheffe flavor profile presents elegant citrus, lemon, berry notes, and rich floral aromas, along with a clear tea-like sensation that leaves a lasting impression. To express such refined flavors and textures, excellent growing conditions, varieties, processing methods, as well as roasting and brewing are all indispensable elements.

Located on the African continent, Ethiopia has underdeveloped water resources, so traditionally it used ancient natural drying methods to process green beans—that is, direct drying in sunlight. Due to the rough handling techniques, coffee quality was generally low. It wasn't until 1972 that Ethiopia introduced washed processing technology and equipment from Central and South America to improve coffee bean quality. Unlike other producing regions, Yirgacheffe is a wetland area more suitable for washed processing methods.

What is the Washed Method?

Production areas using the washed method must build washing pools capable of introducing continuous fresh water, resulting in higher production costs. During processing, fermented beans are placed in the pool and moved back and forth, utilizing the friction between beans and the power of flowing water to wash the coffee beans until smooth and clean. In the washing steps, multiple stages of eliminating defective beans significantly reduce the defect rate, resulting in higher cleanliness and clearer, more transparent inherent aromas. This approach also amplifies the citrus and lemon notes inherent in Yirgacheffe coffee beans, making the taste fresher and brighter.

In the past, most coffee we drank was dominated by bitter and burnt flavors. Coffee's bitterness mainly stems from roasters deep-roasting coffee beans, with the primary flavor direction being nuts and dark chocolate. Due to the small size of Yirgacheffe coffee beans, if deep roasting is used, they can easily heat unevenly or even burn, so roasters prefer medium-light roasting. Unexpectedly, they discovered that lightly roasted Yirgacheffe not only presents uplifting acidity but also highly distinctive fruity flavors, essentially ushering in "the new era of fruity-acidic coffee." Preferring sweetness and avoiding bitterness happens to align with public taste preferences, which is why Yirgacheffe is so popular worldwide.

FrontStreet Coffee wants everyone to experience the classic Yirgacheffe flavor profile, so all Yirgacheffe coffee beans on their menu are medium-light roasted. Here, FrontStreet Coffee uses washed beans from the Gedeb cooperative to demonstrate how to brew classic Yirgacheffe flavors.

Yirgacheffe Brewing Parameters

• Dripper: V60
• Water Temperature: 92-93°C
• Coffee Dose: 15g
• Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
• Grind Size: Fine sugar size (78% retention on #20 sieve)
• Pouring Method: Three-stage pour

Since Yirgacheffe coffee beans grow at high altitudes and have a harder texture, FrontStreet Coffee uses high-temperature water at 92-93°C for extraction to release more floral and fruit notes from the coffee. FrontStreet Coffee recommends a medium-fine grind (78% pass-through rate on Chinese standard #20 sieve). Too coarse a grind won't extract enough body, resulting in thin coffee. Too fine a grind can easily lead to over-extraction at high water temperatures, producing bitter and astringent coffee.

During cupping, FrontStreet Coffee noticed that this bean exhibits different flavors at various temperatures, so the brewing technique uses three-stage extraction, allowing different flavor compounds to better express themselves during the gradual temperature increase of the coffee bed. To highlight the fresh and captivating aroma of washed Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet Coffee uses a V60 dripper for brewing. The dripper's spiral rib design allows coffee grounds to degas better, maximizing the activation and dissolution of acidic aromatic compounds.

Regarding brewing ratios, FrontStreet Coffee believes both 1:15 and 1:16 work well. If you want a richer mouthfeel, use 1:15. If you want to more clearly perceive floral aromas and sweetness, use 1:16 to allow the flavors to disperse more.

FrontStreet Coffee Barista's Brewing Technique Reference

Based on past brewing experience, FrontStreet Coffee recommends that beginners use the three-stage pouring method. Three-stage extraction facilitates more complete dissolution of flavor compounds during extraction, enhances mouthfeel complexity, while avoiding over-extraction caused by overly long immersion times.

For 15g of coffee grounds with a 1:15 ratio and 225ml total water, the three-stage water distribution is: 30ml, 95ml, 100ml, with the scale showing: 30g, 125g, 225g.

First, place the folded filter paper in the dripper and wet it with water to better conform to the dripper. Prepare hot water and a thermometer, while pouring 15g of ground coffee into the dripper and zeroing the scale.

For the first stage, pour 30g of water for a 30-second bloom. Start timing while pouring, using a small water stream from the center point and spiraling outward, ensuring you wet the entire coffee bed.

After 30 seconds, begin pouring the second stage of 95g water with a slightly larger, steady stream to raise the entire coffee bed. The water column needs to be poured vertically and evenly, with the timer showing 125g, completing around 55 seconds.

When the water level drops to about halfway, begin using a small water stream in small circles to pour the third stage of 100g. Try to control the water stream to not spiral too widely, as this can easily disperse the coffee bed and cause under-extraction. The total final pour should be 225g, with completion time around 2 minutes. After removing the dripper, shake the coffee in the sharing pot evenly before tasting.

The amount of water for each stage is not fixed. We can adjust based on our accumulated pour-over experience and understanding of the coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee understands coffee brewing as a scientifically-based experiment. To master pour-over brewing, we need to deeply understand the true meaning of each brewing parameter. This way, we can more easily find experimental methods and establish a brewing framework suitable for ourselves.

This brewed Yirgacheffe presents bright lemon, citrus, and green tea notes, with berry, cream, and sugarcane undertones emerging as the temperature changes. The aftertaste is distinct, with a clean, sweet mouthfeel.

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 :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473