[Review] What are the Taste Differences Between Natural and Washed Process Guji Coffee? Which One Tastes Better?

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In March of this year, at the China Brewers Cup held in Shanghai, a coffee bean from Ethiopia, Africa, challenged one expensive Geisha after another with its humble origins, defeating each competitor in turn. It finally lost by a narrow margin to the champion's Finca Deborah Geisha (last year's world champion bean of Wu Tselin), taking second place. This coffee bean is the natural processed Flower Queen from Hambella, Ethiopia.

Origin Information

Continent: Africa

Country: Ethiopia

Origin: Guji Region, Hambella Wamena Area, Dimtu Village, Buku Abel Estate

Coffee Variety: Heirloom (Ethiopian native varieties)

Altitude: 2250-2350m

Buku Abel Estate Introduction

Only natural processed coffee beans from "Buku Abel" in the Hambella region are authentic Flower Queen.

Hambella is located in Ethiopia's largest coffee-producing region, GUJI, facing Yirgacheffe's Kochore across mountains to the west. It is the highest-altitude sub-region in Ethiopia.

Currently, there are nearly 20 processing stations in the Hambella region. Among all estates and processing stations, only natural processed coffee from Buku Abel Estate is what we call this Flower Queen.

Buku Abel is a small village surrounded by mountains at an altitude of 2280 meters on the African continent. December is its coffee harvesting season each year. During this time, the mountains are covered with bright red, mature coffee cherries, neatly arranged on African drying beds in the village. This is where "Flower Queen" is processed.

The coffee trees at Buku Abel Estate are planted at altitudes between 2250 and 2350 meters above the halfway point of the mountains. Coffee farmers only begin natural processing when the sugar content of the harvested red cherries reaches over 30. During the first two days of natural processing, it's essential to maintain the humidity of the red cherries, allowing sufficient time for fermentation. At night, the temperature here drops to around 12 degrees Celsius, which prevents the cherries from over-fermenting.

After 18 days of natural processing, the fruit skin and pulp have completely dehydrated, making it easy to extract the green coffee beans inside. The beans are packaged and stored in warehouses at 12-22 degrees Celsius with 45-55% humidity for about 50 days of resting and further dehydration. When the moisture content reaches around 11%, the beans are hulled and sorted for formal market sales.

Award History

2016/2017 Harvest Season: Champion, Ethiopia National Taste of Harvest Competition

2017: Second Place, Regional Africa Taste of Harvest Competition

Natural Flower Queen vs. Washed Flower Queen

Two different green bean processing methods:

Natural Process (African Drying Beds)

Coffee cherries are directly spread on cement floors or drying racks to dry, with the aim of making the coffee dry and easy to store. The drying time typically ranges from 2-4 weeks, depending on weather conditions.

Coffee for commercial use is usually dried on cement floors, requiring constant and timely turning of the coffee cherries to ensure even heating on all sides, facilitating drying while preventing mold from prolonged contact with the ground.

Hand-selected fruits and coffee beans used for specialty coffee are processed using African Beds for natural drying. Coffee cherries are spread on breathable, mesh-like beds to enjoy sunbathing, with the thickness varying according to local conditions.

Washed Process

This method uses washing and fermentation to remove the fruit skin, pulp, and mucilage. Processing stations using the washed method must rely on water sources, build washing tanks, and have access to continuous flowing water. During processing, the fermented beans are placed in the tanks and moved back and forth, utilizing the friction between the beans and the power of flowing water to wash the coffee beans until they are smooth and clean.

After washing, the coffee beans are still encased in parchment with a moisture content of 50%. They must be dried to reduce the moisture content to 12%; otherwise, they will continue to ferment and become moldy and spoiled.

Due to the relative scarcity of water sources in Africa, many washed processing stations in different regions directly purchase freshly harvested coffee cherries from nearby villages or growing areas for unified processing.

Coffee Bean Appearance

FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Flower Queen Green Beans: Smaller bean size, green with yellow undertones, significant variation in particle size.

FrontStreet Coffee's Washed Flower Queen Green Beans: Green beans with slight gray undertones, uniform particle size.

FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Flower Queen Roasted Beans: Light roast degree, lighter color, no silver skin.

FrontStreet Coffee's Washed Flower Queen Roasted Beans: Slightly darker roast degree, deeper color, silver skin residue on the center line.

Cupping Session

Cupping Preparation

Water ratio: 8.2-8.3 grams of coffee beans with 150ml of water, water-to-coffee ratio of 1:18.18, water temperature should be 94°C.

Cupping glasses: Should use tempered glass or ceramic materials.

Cupping capacity: Between 207ml to 266ml.

Rim diameter: 76-89mm, all cups should be made of the same volume, size, and material.

Cupping spoons: Should use anti-static metal material (mostly stainless steel), with each spoon holding 4-5ml.

Cupping Process

1. Grind the beans to be cupped into powder (grind setting: BG: 3B).

2. Smell the dry aroma.

3. Pour hot water (94°C) into the cup until full, while timing for 4 minutes.

4. At 2 minutes, smell the wet aroma.

5. At 4 minutes, break the crust.

"Breaking the crust": Use the cupping spoon to push away the floating coffee powder on the surface layer, allowing the trapped aroma underneath to burst out, confirming the coffee's aromatic performance. Gently stir with the cupping spoon for about 3 circles and let it rest for 2 minutes.

6. At 2 minutes, you can skim the crust.

"Skimming the crust": Use the cupping spoon to scoop up the surface foam. Each time you scoop, clean the cupping spoon to avoid leaving bad flavors that could affect the coffee.

7. Use the cupping spoon to scoop up the coffee liquid and cup by slurping. Slurping causes the coffee liquid to disperse as a mist in the oral cavity, allowing flavor molecules to be more distinctly perceived.

8. Spit the coffee liquid from your mouth into the spittoon.

Cupping Results

Dry and Wet Aroma

FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Flower Queen: Passion fruit, jackfruit, strawberry.

FrontStreet Coffee's Washed Flower Queen: Tea aroma, green tangerine.

Flavor Description and Scoring

FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Flower Queen: Rose floral aroma, passion fruit, jackfruit, sweet and sour strawberry.

• Cleanliness: 6 points
• Sweetness: 6 points
• Acidity: 6 points
• Mouthfeel: 5 points
• Flavor: 6.5 points
• Aftertaste: 6 points
• Balance: 6 points
• Overall impression: 6 points
• Total score: 83.5 points

FrontStreet Coffee's Washed Flower Queen: Green tea aroma, green tangerine, floral notes, black tea finish.

• Cleanliness: 6.5 points
• Sweetness: 6.5 points
• Acidity: 6 points
• Mouthfeel: 6.5 points
• Flavor: 6 points
• Aftertaste: 6 points
• Balance: 6 points
• Overall impression: 6 points
• Total score: 85.5 points

Pour-over Parameters

FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Flower Queen: Recommended to use 15g of coffee at 90°C water temperature, Fuji grinder setting 3.5, V60 dripper, water-to-coffee ratio 1:15. First pour 30g, bloom for 30s. Second pour to 104g then stop. Third pour to 225g. Don't use the tail end water. Extraction time around 2:02s.

FrontStreet Coffee's Washed Flower Queen: Recommended to use 15g of coffee at 92°C water temperature, Fuji grinder setting 3.5, V60 dripper, water-to-coffee ratio 1:14. First pour 30g, bloom for 30s. Second pour to 110g then stop. Third pour to 215g. Don't use the tail end water. Extraction time around 2:05s.

Final Conclusion

From the cupping results analysis, FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Flower Queen truly lives up to its reputation as an excellent champion bean. Its flavor richness is remarkably prominent, and it also shows outstanding performance in balance. I believe many people will love this coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee's Washed Flower Queen shows significant flavor differences compared to its natural processed counterpart. This is related to Ethiopia's coffee varieties (heirloom) and the harvesting and processing systems of the processing stations. However, this doesn't diminish the excellent quality of this bean. The explosive sweet and sour sensation, unique mouthfeel, and distinct black tea texture might even momentarily make people mistake it for a bean from the Kenya region.

The choice between washed or natural processing undoubtedly confuses countless coffee enthusiasts. However, "different strokes for different folks" - whether it's the explosive flavors of natural processed beans or the never-tiring appeal of washed processed beans, both are very worthwhile for everyone to try and share. Therefore, in the cupping comparison between FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Flower Queen and FrontStreet Coffee's Washed Flower Queen, there are only differences in scores, but no distinction in quality between good and bad.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473