Yirgacheffe Coffee Bean Grades and Characteristics Flavor Differences Between Washed Yirgacheffe Gedeb and Red Cherry Coffee

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When it comes to representative African coffee beans, the most familiar to everyone must be FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe. The elegant floral notes and bright, fresh acidity of FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe coffee beans leave a lasting impression. In FrontStreet Coffee's coffee bean menu, there are several Yirgacheffe coffee beans from Ethiopia. It's important to know that according to FrontStreet Coffee's bean sourcing model, if similar beans (origin and flavor profile) are already available, they won't appear on the same menu. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee will tell you everything about Yirgacheffe coffee.

Yirgacheffe Coffee Region

Yirgacheffe has always been one of Ethiopia's most important coffee regions. It was formerly part of the Sidamo coffee region but later became an independent coffee region due to the unique flavor of Yirgacheffe coffee beans. Yirgacheffe is not just a coffee region name but also a term describing specific coffee flavor characteristics. Yirgacheffe is a high-altitude coffee region, with an altitude of around 2000 meters. The Yirgacheffe coffee region has over 40 cooperatives, mainly managed through family-operated coffee cultivation models.

Beneath the Yirgacheffe coffee region are many well-known micro-regions, such as Kochere, Fog Valley, Gedeb, and others. These micro-regions all have excellent cooperatives, and the Yirgacheffe coffee beans they produce each have their unique Yirgacheffe flavor characteristics. When FrontStreet Coffee selects Yirgacheffe coffee beans, besides valuing their unique characteristics and excellent quality, FrontStreet Coffee also emphasizes their distinctiveness. FrontStreet Coffee believes that each FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe has its unique flavor, such as the prominent tea notes of FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Goditi or the berry-toned profile of FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Red Cherry. Therefore, every coffee bean that FrontStreet Coffee lists, even if from the same coffee region, will show subtle differences due to different micro-climates, management techniques, and cultivation and processing methods. This is also one of FrontStreet Coffee's purposes in selecting coffee beans.

Yirgacheffe Coffee Bean Varieties

Yirgacheffe coffee varieties are local native species, small-seed varieties, with relatively round appearance and very small beans, mostly between 14-15 mesh. Ethiopia is known as the coffee gene pool, with numerous varieties that are difficult to classify and identify. Additionally, the Ethiopian government is unwilling to disclose these variety details to protect natural coffee, so Ethiopian exported coffee beans are often collectively called "Heirloom" native varieties.

However, FrontStreet Coffee has noticed that in this year's Ethiopian COE competition, Ethiopia has also started classifying coffee varieties, with the 13th place going to the Kurume variety from the Yirgacheffe region. Kurume doesn't refer to a single variety but rather coffee varieties in the Yirgacheffe area that have formed over long periods under regional climate and soil environmental conditions. Kurume trees produce small fruits with high annual yields, rich sweetness, and abundant floral notes. Kurume is commonly cultivated in the Guji and Yirgacheffe regions.

In recent years, many numbered coffee varieties have also emerged, such as 74110, 74158, etc. These were actually developed by JARC (Jimma Agricultural Research Center), where 74 represents classification and screening done in 1974, and the following three digits are the screening numbers.

Yirgacheffe Coffee Bean Grading

ECX (Ethiopian Commodity Exchange, established in 2012) classifies Ethiopian coffee beans in two aspects. One aspect defines grading based on defect rates: whether for washed or natural processed coffee beans, export-grade green beans with fewer than 3 defective beans per 300g are graded G1, while export-grade green beans with 4-12 defective beans per 300g are graded G2.

After ECX (Ethiopian Commodity Exchange) was established in 2008, it began using a combination of green bean physical characteristics and cupping flavor profiles for grading.

ECX classifies all coffees into three types based on processing methods (non-washed and washed):

a. Specialty - Few defects, high cupping quality

b. Commercial - Doesn't meet specialty grade but higher than Local/Domestic consumption grade

c. Local/Domestic - Many defects (unripe beans), off-season, or poorly stored resulting in relatively poor flavor (consumed internally in Ethiopia, not circulated in international markets)

Among these, Specialty and Commercial are for international export markets. Different types have slightly different grading standards.

Yirgacheffe Coffee Processing Methods

Ethiopia traditionally used ancient natural processing methods, but after introducing washed processing in 1972, over several decades, washed processing became much more common than natural processing. Washed processed coffee beans reduce defects and showcase cleaner, brighter flavors.

Natural processing is one of the oldest and most traditional processing methods. Coffee cherries are immediately dried in the sun after harvesting. It's more common in areas with abundant sunlight or scarce water resources. For example, nearly 70% of coffee cherries from all Ethiopian regions are processed naturally. FrontStreet Coffee believes that compared to washed processed coffee, natural processed coffee has lower acidity, higher sweetness, clearer mouthfeel, but slightly less cleanliness. Flavor-wise, it produces more berry tones and greater complexity.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe natural processing involves selecting usable coffee cherries and placing the whole cherries with complete pulp and skin intact on raised beds for natural drying. This intensive labor approach of raised bed drying prevents contact with the ground, avoiding earthy off-flavors during the drying process and creating exceptionally clean fruit flavors. After more than two weeks of natural drying, the dark brown coffee cherries are professionally stored to await full flavor development. Before shipment, the coffee beans are removed from the cherries, resulting in remarkable sweetness.

Washed processing involves using a pulper to first remove the cherry skin/pulp, then letting the beans rest in fermentation tanks for 18-36 hours until the mucilage layer decomposes (duration varies by local temperature and humidity). Next, the parchment beans are washed through channels for 30-60 minutes. Through channel design combined with water flow, low-density, poor-quality beans are removed. The quality parchment beans are then placed on African raised beds to dry for about 14 days. After drying, they are first stored in the processing station's warehouse. Before export, the parchment beans are transported to a Dry Mill for hulling, followed by a series of complex screening processes including foreign matter removal, silver skin polishing, gravity sorting, and color sorting, before finally being bagged for export.

The most fundamental difference between natural and washed processing is that natural processing preserves the pulp's flavor, while washed processing removes the pulp's flavor, representing the coffee bean's most essential flavor. In terms of mouthfeel, there are obvious differences - washed processing is cleaner and brighter, while natural processing offers richer mouthfeel. FrontStreet Coffee precisely because washed processing can showcase the coffee bean's most essential flavor, when recommending coffee beans, if customers are tasting coffee beans from this region for the first time, FrontStreet Coffee will prioritize washed processed coffee beans, allowing people to more clearly understand the region's flavor characteristics.

In appearance, they are also easy to distinguish. Raw washed coffee beans are generally turquoise-green, while natural ones are yellow-green. Roasted washed coffee beans have obvious silver skin, while natural processed coffee beans have almost no silver skin residue, with smoother bean surfaces. Below, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce FrontStreet Coffee's natural and washed coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee · Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry Coffee Beans

Country: Ethiopia
Region: Yirgacheffe
Processing Station: Aricha
Altitude: 2300 meters
Variety: Local Heirloom
Processing Method: Natural Process
Grade: G1
Flavor: Berries, lemon, strawberry, fermented wine notes

Red Cherry Project

The Red Cherry Project, OPERATION CHERRY RED PROJECT, abbreviated as OCR. Today, many coffee shops sell Red Cherry Project coffee beans. The idea was first proposed in 2007 by Dutch green coffee trader Trabocca. Trabocca provides funding for production conditions at origins and offers higher purchase prices to acquire Ethiopian coffee cherries, of course, requiring farmers to harvest only fully ripe cherries.

Coffee turning red is a sign of maturity, but cherries on a single tree don't all mature at the same time - it spans about three months. Because harvesting is troublesome without this requirement, farmers for convenience would harvest both red (ripe) and green (unripe) coffee cherries together for processing. Sometimes when seeing photos of machine harvesting in South America, you'll often notice many unripe cherries among them. When green coffee buyers are willing to pay higher prices for these beans, farmers want higher income, and the Red Cherry Project emerged accordingly.

The Red Cherry Project is also an enhancement approach that makes farms invest more effort in the screening and selection process. These coffees also command relatively higher prices. In 2008, the Red Cherry Project invested $5,000 to purchase new natural drying beds. In 2009, another $8,000 was invested for new natural drying beds and shade nets. In 2010, a $9,000 generator was invested, and in 2011, another $10,000 was invested to improve some local coffee transport roads, making coffee transportation more convenient and efficient. Trabocca provides interest-free loans to purchase new coffee cherry depulpers and coffee bean sorters. To facilitate supplier procurement, in 2012, $14,000 was invested to build a high-quality Addis Ababa coffee cupping laboratory.

Trabocca provides financial loan support, new hardware equipment, and production processing knowledge and technology to help farmers improve production levels. They promise to offer generous purchase prices as long as the actual output quality meets cupping standards in both Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Amsterdam, Netherlands cupping labs. Trabocca's passing standard is 88 points.

Red Cherry Project coffee beans are immediately packaged in separate Grain Pro bags or vacuum-sealed bags after processing at origin, then transported to Djibouti to await shipping. Through real-time monitoring, safe transportation, and timely appropriate processing methods, they strive to pursue perfect quality. Roasters can also purchase high-quality coffee beans through the Red Cherry Project, which also improves Ethiopian coffee quality and fetches better prices. Trabocca can then return profits to farmers, continuously improving and enhancing quality.

The Red Cherry Project is mainly implemented in regions including Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, Bench Maji, Lekempti, Kembata, Illubabor, Harar, Limu, etc. These all have unique flavors that can fully showcase Ethiopian coffee characteristics. However, FrontStreet Coffee believes that now any coffee beans that can be called specialty coffee grade are basically operating using the Red Cherry Project model for coffee production.

FrontStreet Coffee · Yirgacheffe Aricha Coffee Beans

Region: Yirgacheffe Adorsi Processing Station
Altitude: 1900-2000m
Processing Method: Natural
Grade: G1
Variety: Heirloom
Flavor: Ripe fruits, green grapes, lemon, cream, grapes

In the 2019 Ethiopian harvest season cupping competition, the natural processing category was won by Adorsi Processing Station.

Adorsi Processing Station is owned by Testi Coffee, a coffee export company operated by the Yonis family, established in 2009 by Faysel A. Yonis. In terms of competition results, this championship batch scored 91 points, while last year's Mulan scored 88 points in the same competition. Adorsi's 2019 score was 3 points higher.

This batch of FrontStreet Coffee's beans comes from FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Konga Cooperative natural processed beans at an altitude of 1850-2050 meters. Konga Cooperative consists of 1,556 small coffee farmer family members, located 5 kilometers south of Yirgacheffe. The coffee cultivation altitude averages above 1800 meters, with harvest periods from October to February each year. Konga Cooperative was established in 1994 and joined the YCFCU cooperative union in 2002 as one of 26 unions. It's located in the Gedeo region of southern Ethiopia, named after the nearby Konga River and local Konga village.

FrontStreet Coffee · Yirgacheffe Washed Goditi Coffee Beans

Country: Ethiopia
Region: Yirgacheffe Gedeo Zone
Altitude: 1900-2300m
Variety: Heirloom
Processing Method: Washed
Grade: G1
Flavor: Citrus, black tea, cream, caramel, almonds

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Goditi Cooperative is located in the Worka region at the southeastern end of Yirgacheffe. It was originally part of the Worka Cooperative under the Yirgacheffe Union YCFCU. Later, as more people emphasized coffee bean origins, distinctive small regions were gradually discovered by coffee hunters worldwide. In 2012, Goditi, with about 300 members, became independent from the Worka Cooperative and established Goditi Cooperative. Goditi village was one of the first independent village areas, and many small farmers were originally members of the Worka Cooperative, so their coffee production skills are excellent. Goditi Cooperative is known as the last pure land of Yirgacheffe, so it also uses very traditional processing methods (washed and natural processing).

FrontStreet Coffee · Yirgacheffe Kochere Washed Coffee Beans

Region: Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Kochere
Variety: Heirloom
Altitude: 1650-1800 meters
Processing Method: Washed
Grade: G1
Flavor: Citrus, berries, tea notes, cream, light nuts

Kochere is located 25 kilometers southeast of Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia, a small micro-region at an altitude of 1650-1800 meters. It's a prosperous region known for coffee production and one of Yirgacheffe's three famous micro-regions. The local population is about 100,000 people, with coffee beans as their main source of income. The processing equipment in this region is very advanced. The renowned coffee review website Coffee Review gave Kochere washed beans a high rating of 94 points.

Kochere is one of the 77 Woredas (Ethiopian administrative divisions) in Ethiopia's SNNPR. In the coffee field, Kochere belongs to the Gediyo part of Yirgacheffe and is one of Yirgacheffe's most important regions. Kochere can be further divided into several micro-regions. Coffee produced in these areas is sometimes named more specifically by source town (such as Chelelektu or Teklu Dembel), processing station (such as Teklu Dembel processing station and Alimu processing station for this batch), or micro-region (such as Banko Gutiti), aligning with current coffee trends regarding traceability. Of course, batches with stronger traceability have more specific origins, with higher annual flavor stability and reproducibility, and naturally higher prices.

Kochere's production model mainly involves local small farmers sending batches to cooperatives for unified processing. The local Chalalacktu village has about 100,000 people who rely on coffee for their livelihood, with related production activities becoming their main source of income. Due to revenue from coffee production, local living standards are much better than many Ethiopian villages, with complete health facilities, higher education institutions, etc. Advanced processing equipment has always given Kochere region coffee high-level performance in washed processing, featuring clean sweetness with complex molasses and citrus tones.

FrontStreet Coffee's FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe washed Kochere differs from general batches of green coffee beans, belonging to the highest specification G1 grade batch, with strong regional flavor characteristics, featuring clean, fresh lemon aromas and elegant jasmine flowers, cantaloupe, citrus, ginger, spice tea, and other rich aromas and flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee · Yirgacheffe Konga Cooperative

Country: Ethiopia
Estate: Konga Cooperative
Region: Yirgacheffe
Altitude: 1300-2000m
Variety: Ethiopian Heirloom
Processing Method: Washed
Flavor: Berries, cream, honey, citrus, bright juicy notes

Konga Cooperative consists of 1,556 small coffee farmer family members, located 5 kilometers south of Yirgacheffe. It was established in 1994 and joined the YCFCU cooperative union in 2002. These small coffee farmers' coffee cultivation areas average less than 1.25 hectares, with cultivation altitudes of about 1800-2000 meters. Coffee varieties are mainly a mix of Typica and Heirloom (local native varieties).

Every one to two years, cooperative members conduct elections to select an executive committee, which can make decisions on new equipment purchases, exchange business information with members, and determine payment methods. Additionally, YCFCU assigns professional managers to cooperatives to provide guidance and opinions on harvesting, production, and other procedures to increase yield and improve quality. The establishment of cooperatives allows farmers to avoid low-price exploitation by buyers. When facing economic difficulties, cooperatives can also provide loan assistance, bringing positive benefits to both farmers and coffee production.

FrontStreet Coffee Washed Yirgacheffe G2

FrontStreet Coffee also has another FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe, which is G2 washed processed. G2 represents the coffee grade. Ethiopia grades by defect rate, with G1 being the best - green beans have fewer than 4 defects per 300g, while G2 has fewer than 13 defects per 300g. Many people think G1 must be better than G2. In terms of quality, with more green beans, G1 is indeed higher than G2, and the price is also several times that of G2. But when it comes to roasted beans, this difference won't be too significant, though the price gap is larger.

FrontStreet Coffee understands that defective beans affect coffee roasting, so before roasting, they always manually select green beans once to remove obvious defects. After this process, G1 and G2 coffee beans can be said to have no difference. Those who understand coffee might unhesitatingly choose G2, one reason being the attractive price of 25 yuan/100g, with roasted beans being 30 yuan cheaper than G1. The second reason is that if you're familiar with Ethiopian coffee beans, you'll find that the sweet fruity flavors actually come from small coffee beans, while G1 tends toward larger beans, and G2 is more of a mix of large and small beans. This反而 better highlights Yirgacheffe's unique flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Analysis

FrontStreet Coffee plans to use FrontStreet Coffee's Red Cherry and FrontStreet Coffee's Goditi as examples from Yirgacheffe natural and washed processing.

FrontStreet Coffee's natural Red Cherry - FrontStreet Coffee conducts two rounds of manual defect selection before roasting. Pre-roasting manual selection lays the foundation for roasting high-quality coffee. This FrontStreet Coffee natural Red Cherry coffee has extremely low defects. Using Yangjia 800N, with 600g input: heat the roaster to 200°C to load beans, damper set to 3.5. After 1 minute, adjust heat to 160°C, damper unchanged. Adjust heat once at 148°C, reducing to 130°C. Roast to 5'03'', temperature 151°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration complete. Adjust heat to 105°C, damper to 4. At the 8th minute, bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast aroma clearly transitions to coffee aroma - this can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the first crack sound. At 9:07, first crack begins, adjust heat to 70°C, damper fully open (adjust heat very carefully, not so low that crack sounds disappear). Unload at 194°C.

FrontStreet Coffee's roaster considers that this FrontStreet Coffee Goditi batch is mainly characterized by fruit acidity tones, making it more suitable for light roasting, which will highlight FrontStreet Coffee Goditi's clean mouthfeel, bright fruit acidity, and obvious aftertaste.

Using Yangjia 800N, input: 480g. Heat roaster to 175°C to load beans, damper set to 3, heat at 120. Return to temperature at 1'32", roaster temperature 140°C, heat unchanged, damper to 4. At this time, bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, entering dehydration stage. At 166°C, heat reduces to 100, at 176°C, heat reduces to 80, damper unchanged. At 8'28", bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast aroma clearly transitions to coffee aroma - this can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for first crack sound. At 9'38", first crack begins, adjust damper to 5 (adjust heat very carefully, not so low that crack sounds disappear). Develop for 1'30" after first crack, unload at 193.5°C.

Brewing Method

FrontStreet Coffee recommends using a V60 dripper, water temperature at 90°C (can start at 90.5°C), water-to-coffee ratio of 1:15, 15g coffee, grind size BG#6M (Chinese No.20 standard sieve 80% pass rate). FrontStreet Coffee wants to mention one point here: why grind size needs to be screened before determination. This is actually a grinding suggestion provided by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) for pour-over coffee. FrontStreet Coffee has verified extensively that using different grind sizes for brewing produces significantly different results, and each coffee bean's grind size will vary, which is the significance of screening. If you don't have a sieve at home, FrontStreet Coffee suggests observing water flow speed to judge - if water flows too fast, the grind is too coarse; if water flows too slow, the grind is too fine.

First wet the filter paper and preheat the dripper and coffee pot. For the first pour, inject 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then inject 95g (scale shows around 125g), finishing in about 1 minute. When the water level drops to 2/3 of the coffee bed, inject the remaining 100g (scale shows around 225g), finishing in about 1 minute 35 seconds. Complete drip extraction at 2 minutes 5 seconds, remove the dripper, and complete extraction.

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