Ethiopia Sidamo Coffee Beans Flavor Profile - Ethiopia Coffee Characteristics and Stories

FrontStreet Coffee recently launched two competition-grade Ethiopian coffee beans: one is the natural process Typica that ranked 22nd in the COE cupping competition, and the other is the Heirloom variety that won the washed category championship in the TOH cupping competition. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will examine the performance of these two Ethiopian coffee beans from multiple perspectives including competition projects, growing regions, varieties, green bean processing methods, roasting, cupping, and brewing.

Differences Between COE and TOH Cupping Competitions

COE: C.O.E. stands for Cup of Excellence, an international coffee cupping competition. C.O.E. judging is the most credible among top-tier coffee competitions. Those who stand out from the strict competition are the highest quality coffees from that country that year. They must maintain high scores consistently in each cupping to rank among the top, and only then can they receive the C.O.E. award designation. The coffee beans from winning estates are auctioned through a unified specific online platform, allowing buyers worldwide to bid on coffee beans in an open and transparent manner. This approach rapidly spreads the reputation of excellent award-winning farms while enabling the competition batches to achieve better prices.

TOH: The TOH green bean competition is the most important green bean competition held annually for African coffee-growing countries, with the full name "Taste of Harvest" (East Africa Taste of Harvest competition; TOH). This competition is similar to the Cup of Excellence (COE) in Central and South America. Since its establishment, the TOH green bean competition has become a platform for discovering the best coffees from 12 African producing countries including Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Congo. Simply put, the COE cupping competition is a coffee bean cupping competition facing all countries globally, while TOH exclusively focuses on coffee bean cupping competitions in the African region.

Differences in Growing Regions

The FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopian COE #22 comes from the Arsi region in Sidamo. Coffee cultivation in the Sidamo Arsi region follows a smallholder model, where each smallholder's farm is not large, averaging about 2-3 hectares. Even so, their farms are often slightly larger than the usual 1.5-2 hectares typical in most Ethiopian regions. Although current coffee cultivation techniques are still developing, compared to other regions, coffee cultivation technology in the West Arsi region is developing very rapidly. Coffee farmers don't need to hire temporary or full-time workers; instead, they select coffee with help from family members. This allows them to better control coffee quality, and processing stations typically pay extra fees for fully ripe red cherries, greatly increasing farmers' motivation. Fully ripe coffee fruits naturally have much higher sugar content. Through cupping, FrontStreet Coffee found that coffee beans from this region tend to be sweeter than those from other regions.

The other bean acquired by FrontStreet Coffee, the Ethiopian TOH Washed Category #01, comes from the Uraga region. Uraga is a sub-region within the Guji region, with an altitude of up to 2300m. Although Uraga town is located within the Guji region, geographically it's closer to the high-altitude mountain area of Yirgacheffe at 2200m. Before the Guji region became famous, coffee beans processed by Uraga's processing stations were mostly sold under the name of Yirgacheffe.

After the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) designated Guji as an independent region, the western highland areas of Uraga or directly use villages or cooperative names as production units, marked on gunny sacks. The Uraga region has also won TOH championships multiple times in recent years. Because the Uraga region is close to the Yirgacheffe region, through cupping coffee beans from this region, FrontStreet Coffee found that Uraga region coffee has the citrus acidity and jasmine flower aroma characteristics of the Yirgacheffe region.

Differences in Coffee Varieties

The FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopian COE #22 natural process coffee has official variety information listing it as Typica. The oldest heirloom variety in Ethiopia, all Arabica varieties are derived from Typica. Typica has bronze-colored young leaves and oval or slender pointed beans; its flavor is elegant, but it has weak physical constitution, poor disease resistance, and low fruit yield. Through cupping Typicas from different origins, FrontStreet Coffee found that regardless of where they're grown, Typica carries its characteristic subtle, clean flavor, balanced qualities, and mouthfeel characteristics that have spread to coffee-growing regions worldwide.

The FrontStreet Coffee TOH Washed Category #01 washed coffee has official information listing it as Ethiopian heirloom varieties. The Erecha coffee bean variety is a heirloom variety, and most Ethiopian coffee varieties are named this way because there are simply too many varieties. It's like a natural gene bank for Arabica—on one hand, there are numerous varieties making classification difficult, and on the other hand, the Ethiopian government, for protection reasons, is unwilling or unable to disclose this variety information. This is also why Ethiopian coffee beans vary in size.

Differences in Green Bean Processing Methods

The FrontStreet Coffee COE #22 Typica coffee uses natural processing. Unlike traditional natural processing, more effort was invested in the natural processing to ensure this coffee bean could have sufficient stability. Before the moisture content drops to 25%, manual and even turning is required every 30 to 60 minutes to avoid unpleasant over-fermentation flavors, which results in higher labor costs for natural processing. Additionally, due to weather risk factors and longer natural processing days, producing high-quality natural processed coffee beans requires more human resources and resources. Looking at the scores of the top 28 natural processed coffee beans in this COE competition, good natural processing is indeed a method where risk and reward coexist. Natural processing makes coffee beans sweeter and the mouthfeel smoother.

The FrontStreet Coffee TOH Washed Category #01 heirloom variety coffee uses washed processing. After careful selection of harvested coffee fruits, they enter the washed processing stage. The selected coffee fruits are put into a depulper to initially remove their skin and pulp; the coffee beans with remaining pulp and mucilage are placed in water to ferment for about 18-36 hours; after fermentation, the coffee beans with parchment are placed in flowing water channels to wash away their pulp and mucilage; after washing, the coffee beans are dried or using drying machines to reduce moisture content to around 12%. Finally, the parchment is removed from the coffee beans. Through cupping, FrontStreet Coffee believes that washed processing highlights the brightness of acidity in Uraga region coffee beans and the overall cleanliness of the coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Records

FrontStreet Coffee COE #22 Roasting Record:

Yangjia 800N semi-direct flame, roasting amount: 480g. Heat at 170°C into the drum, fire power 130, damper setting 3; Return temperature at 1'32", when drum temperature reaches 100.2°C, fire power unchanged; at 3 minutes, damper adjusted to 4, at 4 minutes increase fire power to 140. When drum temperature reaches 150.5°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy aroma completely disappears, entering dehydration stage. At 8'36", bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, toasted bread aroma clearly transforms to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the first crack sound, which starts at 9'10". After first crack, develop for 1 minute 30 seconds, drop beans at 192.5°C.

FrontStreet Coffee TOH Washed Category #01 Roasting Record:

Yangjia 800N semi-direct flame, roasting amount: 300g. Heat at 180°C into the drum, fire power 130, damper setting 3; Return temperature at 1'36", when drum temperature reaches 140°C, damper opened to 4, fire power unchanged; when drum temperature reaches 151°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy aroma completely disappears, entering dehydration stage, fire power reduced to 110. At 8'37", bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, toasted bread aroma clearly transforms to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the first crack sound, which starts at 9'39". Damper not opened to 5, after first crack develop for 1'00", drop at 193.2°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Reports

FrontStreet Coffee conducts cupping within 8-24 hours after roasting coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee's baristas use 200ml standard cupping bowls, with a grind size that has 70%-75% pass-through rate on standard #20 sieve, using 11.1g of coffee, water temperature 94°C. First grind to smell dry aroma, then add water to fill the bowl. Confirm wet aroma, break crust and remove grounds after 4 minutes for flavor evaluation. From the cupping reports, we can notice that FrontStreet Coffee COE #22's flavor profile tends toward gentle and smooth, while FrontStreet Coffee TOH #01's flavor profile tends toward fresh and clean.

FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopian COE #22 Cupping

Dry Aroma: Citrus

Wet Aroma: Citrus, camellia

Flavor: Citrus, lychee, honey, cream, wine aroma, mango, strawberry

FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopian TOH Washed Category #01

Dry Aroma: Floral

Wet Aroma: Citrus

Flavor: Jasmine, lemon, berries, pomelo, honey, green tea

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Suggestions

Dripper: V60 #01

Dose: 15g

Ratio: 1:15

Temperature: 91°C

Grind Size: Medium-fine (80% pass-through rate on #20 sieve bowl)

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Method: First wet the filter paper and preheat the dripper and coffee pot. Use 30g of water for bloom for 30 seconds. Pour with small water flow in circular motion to 125g, then segment. When water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop. When water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper (timing starts from bloom). Extraction time is 2'02".

FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopian COE #22 Natural Typica Brewing Flavor: Sweet and sour of strawberry and lychee, fermented wine aroma, creamy smoothness, honey-like aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopian TOH Washed Category Champion Brewing Flavor: Bright citrus acidity, jasmine flower aroma, mid-palate pomelo tea, honey aftertaste.

Friends who prefer smooth mouthfeel can choose FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopian TOH Washed Category #01 coffee beans, while those who prefer full-bodied coffee beans can choose FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopian COE #22 coffee beans.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473