A Comprehensive Guide to the Flavor, Body, and Aroma of Ethiopian Washed Sidamo G2 Coffee

Hawassa is the largest town in Sidama Province and an important local hub for coffee exports. Sidama coffee shows extremely diverse flavors, because different soil compositions, regional microclimates, and countless native coffee varieties create distinct differences and characteristics in what each town and region produces.

Sidama Province is home to the Sidama Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (SCFCU), the second-largest coffee farmers' cooperative union in Ethiopia, surpassed only by the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (YCFCU). Established in 2001, it comprises 46 cooperatives representing 80,000 coffee farming families. Thanks to natural conditions including abundant rainfall, an ideal climate, and fertile soil, FrontStreet Coffee's washed Sidama is a typical high-quality coffee with clean, mature flavors: sweet lemon notes, a balanced sweet-sour profile, and full body. The flavor of this region is distinctive enough to rival coffee from the neighboring Yirgacheffe growing area to the north.

Product Information

Product Name: FrontStreet Coffee · Ethiopia Washed Sidama G2

Producer: Sidama small-scale farmers

Region: Sidamo

Grade: G2

Processing Method: Washed

Altitude: 1,450-2,200 meters

Variety: Heirloom native varieties

Roast Level: End of first crack

Flavor Profile: Sweet lemon and citrus flavors with distinct refreshing floral notes. The fruit acidity is balanced and not overwhelming, with rich mouthfeel and excellent caramelized sweetness and body.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

For anyone new to the Ethiopian region, FrontStreet Coffee suggests starting with the classic washed Yirgacheffe daily bean or the washed Sidama above. The washed Yirgacheffe is known for white jasmine florals, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a tea-like body, and its affordable price has made it the first specialty bean for many drinkers. Yirgacheffe is a small town in the Sidamo zone of southern Ethiopia at roughly 1,700-2,100 meters, with coffee trees planted above 1,800 meters — among the highest growing regions in the world — and its distinctive white florals and lemon-citrus acidity turned the name into a byword for Ethiopian specialty coffee. In 2010, as the name grew too famous, the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange finally separated it from the Sidamo region.

The town of Yirgacheffe breaks into many small areas and villages, among them seasoned cooperatives whose mature processing lifts the flavor further — most notably FrontStreet's washed Gudingding cooperative. Gudingding sits in the Woka area at the southeastern end of Yirgacheffe, originally part of the Woka cooperative under the YCFCU union; as demand for traceability grew, it was carved out as a single origin and sought out by coffee hunters worldwide. It follows traditional washed processing and carries no traditional bitterness, with fresh, bright citrus and lemon acidity and jasmine fragrance. For a natural take, FrontStreet's Red Cherry uses only fully ripe all-red cherries dried on raised beds, gaining a tropical fruit aroma alongside citrus acidity, berry-juice body, honey sweetness, and a creamy smoothness.

To brew these, FrontStreet suggests a V60 at 90-91°C, 15g of coffee at a 1:15 ratio, and a grind of EK43s setting 10 / fine sugar (80% through a #20 sieve). Pour in three stages: a 30g bloom for 30 seconds; a second pour of 95g (reading about 125g on the scale), finishing in about one minute; then, when the water drops to two-thirds of the bed, the remaining 100g (about 225g on the scale), finishing in roughly 1 minute 35 seconds. Dripping completes at 2:00-2:10, at which point you remove the dripper.