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Detailed Introduction to Yirgacheffe-Michelle Coffee Cooperative

Published: 2026-01-28 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/28, For professional barista discussions, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style). Ethiopia Yirgacheffe-Michelle Coffee Cooperative. Ethiopia is the first country where coffee was discovered, and there are still many wild coffee plants in the primeval forests today that allow farmers to harvest them. This is a poor

For professional barista exchanges, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopian Yirgacheffe-Michelle Coffee Cooperative

Ethiopia is the first country where coffee was discovered, and today there are still many wild coffee plants in the original forests that farmers harvest. This is a country plagued by poverty, drought, and constant civil war, but it remains one of the most important coffee-producing countries in terms of quality and yield, as well as the best and top-tier coffee producer. Most coffee is of the traditional Arabica variety, with an annual output of about 350,000 tons, over 70% of which is exported to countries worldwide. Approximately 15 million people nationwide are engaged in coffee-related industries, and over 90% of farms or cooperatives are small-scale cultivation.

In 2008, Ethiopia's agricultural products, including wheat, corn, sesame, and coffee, were comprehensively integrated into the ECX trading system (Ethiopian Commodity Exchange) to replace existing auction and export methods. The approach involves coffee farmers or cooperatives delivering coffee to centralized ECX warehouses, where beans of the same grade and from the same producing region are mixed together and then directly auctioned. You won't know which specific farms or cooperative producing regions produced them. Originally, farms that cooperated with foreign green bean merchants could no longer continue to develop, such as the Misty Valley Estate. This practice actually has no impact on production and quality, making it easier to distinguish good coffee from bad by price ["you get what you pay for"]. Coffee merchants cannot track and freely obtain satisfactory profits [low price, high quality] because coffee beans not traded through the ECX system will be heavily taxed. Today, over 90% of coffee is traded through this system, but for buyers who love specialty coffee, the ECX trading system is not a good thing. Therefore, starting from early 2010, ECX launched the DST (Direct Specialty Trade) system. The DST system holds Ethiopian auctions irregularly, and only specialty coffees that score over 80 points on the SCAA cupping standard can bear the name of their own farm or cooperative to trade with foreign green bean merchants, while small-scale estates with consistently high-quality and well-regarded products are the targets for purchase.

Ethiopian Coffee Processing Methods

Ethiopian coffee can be divided into two major processing methods: 1. Washed processing method 2. Natural dry processing method. Today in Ethiopia, every producing region's cooperatives and even small coffee farms produce both types of processed coffee beans, whether in the Yirgacheffe region or the Sidamo province, both well-known in Taiwan. Moreover, in Ethiopia, currently the fastest-developing country in terms of coffee, not only do processing methods create differences in coffee, but even the same processing method can produce different aromas and tastes due to different techniques and process adjustments. Ethiopian coffee beans using the washed method have gentle, low-key aromas, soft lemon acidity, understated flavors, high consistency, and excel in mouthfeel. Meanwhile, Ethiopian coffee beans using the natural method have strong, prominent aromas, less obvious lemon acidity, complex and varied flavors, and are characterized by floral or fruity notes.

Michelle Coffee Cooperative Location and Operations

The Michelle Coffee Cooperative is located in the Dilla Zuria district on the north shore of Lake Abaya in Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia. It has 2,191 members who produce 7,900 bags of coffee beans annually (about 475 tons), including both natural and washed beans. The coffee grows at high altitudes of 1,900-2,300 meters and consists of local traditional coffee varieties. It is a partner of the Fair Trade Association in Ethiopia.

From the rice-shaped appearance of the coffee beans, one can identify them as Ethiopian coffee beans, and by observing the color, one can understand that these are washed beans.

Smelling the unique jasmine tea fragrance and the very clean, long-lasting sweetness, one completely understands the difference between FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe and FrontStreet Coffee's Sidamo washed beans.