What is Sidamo Coffee? Is Sidamo Flower Queen Black Coffee? Introduction to Flower Queen Coffee Bean Region and Varieties

What is Sidamo Coffee?

FrontStreet Coffee believes that strictly speaking, Sidamo is not a coffee itself but a premium coffee-producing region in Ethiopia. Ethiopian coffees are typically named after their producing regions, which is why they are also called Sidamo coffee. The most famous example is Sidamo Hua Kui coffee. Like Yirgacheffe, Sidamo has long been world-renowned. On the international stage, Sidamo frequently appears at the top of award lists in various coffee competitions. In recent years, Sidamo has been notably featured in prestigious green bean competitions such as COE and TOH.

Understanding the Sidamo Region

Sidamo is located on the fertile highlands south of Lake Awasa in the East African Rift Valley. With abundant rainfall, suitable climate, and elevations ranging from 1,500 to 2,200 meters, it is a perfect location for coffee cultivation. The high altitude combined with moderate shade growing allows coffee cherries to mature slowly in cool temperatures, accumulating more nutrients that transform into flavor compounds. Like Yirgacheffe, Sidamo is one of Ethiopia's most renowned specialty coffee regions. The most distinctive characteristic of Sidamo coffee is its bright citrus acidity and smooth black tea mouthfeel, with a fuller body and more prominent tropical fruit notes compared to Yirgacheffe.

Similar to other Ethiopian regions, Sidamo coffee is predominantly cultivated by small-scale farmers with limited production. Local villages and communities are dotted with various coffee cooperatives and processing stations responsible for handling green coffee processing in the area. During the coffee cherry harvest season, nearby farmers deliver their harvested coffee fruits to nearby water-proximate processing stations (cooperatives) for unified processing, which is then sold under the processing station's name. With the development of specialty coffee, many producers now purchase directly from farmers, strengthening management and traceability of coffee micro-lots, thereby further improving coffee quality and yielding more meticulously processed micro-lots.

Historically, Sidamo was the name of an old Ethiopian province before the 1995 administrative reorganization. The Sidama people have settled in southern Ethiopia since the 9th century, possessing their own culture, religion, and language. In the late 19th century, following the invasion by Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II, the Sidama were defeated and incorporated into the Ethiopian Empire. The name "Sidamo" was a new designation given to the Sidama people by the Ethiopian imperial rulers, thus carrying somewhat derogatory connotations.

After 1995, Ethiopia adopted a federal system and, out of respect for various ethnic cultures within its borders, the local government reorganized administrative regions according to major ethnic residential areas and languages. Consequently, Sidama was incorporated into the newly formed Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region, and the area was officially renamed to its original historical name: Sidama.

However, before the administrative reorganization, Sidamo Coffee had already gained worldwide fame for its unique aroma. Therefore, compared to "Sidama," people are more accustomed to calling it Sidamo. Additionally, when the Ethiopian government registered trademarks to protect coffee from this region, they chose the old name Sidamo® as the registered trademark for Sidama coffee. To this day, domestic consumers, like FrontStreet Coffee, are accustomed to calling coffee from this region "Sidamo."

From 2010 to 2012, Sidamo coffee consistently achieved high scores of 92-94 on CR (Coffee Review), a authoritative American coffee evaluation website, demonstrating the exceptional quality of green beans from this region. Sidamo's coffee flavors are incredibly diverse, with various soil types, microclimates, and countless native coffee varieties. The region features towering mountains, highlands, plateaus, valleys, and plains, creating diverse topography. The local geology consists of fertile, well-drained volcanic soil with depths reaching nearly two meters, with surface soil appearing dark brown or brown. The region's greatest advantage lies in maintaining soil fertility through organic matter cycling, using fallen leaves from surrounding trees and plant residues as fertilizer.

Due to Ethiopia's significant variations in terrain and elevation, along with various variants and unclassified native species, Ethiopian regional differences are substantial. The cupping flavor profiles of coffee produced in each region, micro-region, or even farm vary considerably. This leads coffee buyers to base their purchasing decisions on region, altitude, and cupping scores rather than using varieties to distinguish Ethiopian coffees. For this reason, FrontStreet Coffee has sourced over ten different Ethiopian single-origin coffee beans, primarily from Yirgacheffe and Sidamo regions.

Guji Region - Hambella - Hua Kui Coffee

In China, when mentioning representative types of Sidamo coffee, it must be Natural Hambella - Hua Kui coffee. Hua Kui refers to a natural processed coffee bean from Ethiopia's Hambella region, with the full English name "Ethiopia Guji Hambella Buku Abel." Broadly speaking, it's a champion bean from Ethiopia's Guji region; more specifically, it's a natural processed batch produced by the smaller Hambella Buku Abel processing station.

Hambella is located at the junction of Sidamo and Guji regions, administered under the Guji region. It is adjacent to Yirgacheffe's Kochere across mountainous terrain, separated by highlands with an altitude of 3,200 meters and approximately 30 kilometers in width. To the southeast, north, and south, it borders Guji's Shakiso, Uraga, and Kercha sub-regions, making it Ethiopia's highest altitude coffee-producing sub-region.

Hua Kui coffee was introduced in 2017 when DW company entered it in that year's TOH (Ethiopia National Taste of Harvest competition), where it won championship honors and thus debuted. In English, Hua Kui is called Hambella, derived from the Hambella region name. In the same year, this batch of coffee beans was selected by a Beijing trading company. Due to its championship status, it was named "Hua Kui" when introduced to the domestic market,寓意着"百花魁首，艳压群芳" (meaning "the best among hundreds of flowers, surpassing all others in beauty"). With continuously rising popularity, this traditional natural processed bean from Buku Abel processing station successfully "debuted." Coupled with its affordable price and pleasant flavors, it quickly became widely recognized in the coffee circle as a high-quality Ethiopian coffee.

During each annual coffee harvest season (December-January), Buku processing station organizes farmers to pick fully ripe coffee cherries with sugar content values above 30 degrees. The selected coffee fruits are placed on African drying beds for sun drying. Due to the significant day-night temperature difference in the local area, farmers use shading during noon hours to avoid excessive heat and over-fermentation. At night, plastic sheeting is used to wrap the cherries to prevent sudden rain showers. Continuous turning throughout the day ensures coffee cherries don't pile too thickly, allowing even drying while preventing sun damage or unpleasant fermentation flavors. After approximately 18 days of natural processing, when the green beans' moisture content reaches only 13%, machines are used to remove the outer hulls.

What Does Hua Kui X.0 Mean?

Currently, there are about 20 processing stations of various scales in the Hambella region. In 2017, Ethiopia's DW green bean company submitted their coffee beans to the TOH (Taste of Harvest) green bean competition organized by the African Fine Coffee Association. A natural processed batch from "Buku Abel" processing station won the Ethiopia championship with its rich strawberry and cream aroma.

That year, this batch of green beans was imported to China by Beijing green bean trader Hongshun. In the same year, Li Jianfei used this bean to win second place in the 2017 World Brewers Cup China competition. This Ethiopian bean stood out particularly among many Geisha competition entries, thus earning the name "Hua Kui." (Geisha in Japanese refers to geisha, while Hua Kui means the leader among geishas, indicating this bean's outstanding quality.)

Subsequently, DW company established additional processing stations in Hambella's core Dimtu region: "Buku Abel," "Buku Saysay," "Haro Soresa," and "Tirtiro Goye," with an annual coffee production of about 1,100 tons. In terms of growing regions and processing stations, only coffee from the "Buku Abel" processing station's processing area covers the original small-producing area that yielded the natural processed coffee bean "Hua Kui." This means: only coffee produced by Buku Abel and processed using natural methods can be called "Hua Kui."

The area where Hua Kui is cultivated reaches altitudes over 2,000 meters, with coffee trees surrounded by tropical plants like sugarcane and bananas that provide appropriate shade. Coffee is an agricultural crop naturally directly related to climate and environment, so each year's flavors will be somewhat different. The Hua Kui X.0 naming system is based on the year: Hua Kui 2.0 was launched in 2018, Hua Kui 3.0 and 3.1 in 2019, Hua Kui 4.0 in 2020, Hua Kui 5.0 in 2021, and Hua Kui 6.0 in 2022. By 2024, it naturally became Hua Kui 8.0.

Hua Kui Coffee Varieties

As the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia possesses an enormous number of coffee varieties, both known and unknown. Ethiopia is like a treasure trove of varieties. Many varieties remain undiscovered, and of course, the Ethiopian government, for the protection of species genetic information, collectively refers to them as local native varieties. Therefore, Hua Kui's variety is also a local native variety.

In Ethiopia, the garden cultivation system is the survival-based planting model for the vast majority of small-scale coffee farmers. Heirloom native varieties come from the "unknown varieties" in their backyards. Coffee trees might have been left by previous landowners, shared among neighbors, or possibly grown from seeds from another producing region. Various coffee plants are intercropped with other economic crops on the land, harvested and sold only when ripe.

Therefore, Heirloom does not refer to a specific coffee variety but represents a green bean blend from the producing area. The coffee combines harvests from multiple small farmers during the same period, mixed together to form a single batch that might encompass dozens or even hundreds of undifferentiated varieties. It is precisely because of differences between varieties and each mixing method being different that these coffee beans vary in particle size, dimensions, and shape - some large, some small, some long, some round - which can be understood as "blended batches."

Sidamo Coffee Bean Processing Methods

Yirgacheffe coffee's processing method is washed, but actually, Yirgacheffe's traditional processing method is natural processing. Currently, natural processed coffee beans account for over 70% in Ethiopia. Coffee beans from the Sidamo region are predominantly natural processed.

Natural processing is one of the oldest and most classic processing methods. Compared to other processing methods, natural processing steps are simpler. Coffee fruits are sun-dried for several weeks until the coffee's moisture content drops to about 11%, at which point machines can remove the coffee fruit's skin and pulp simultaneously. The beans are then stored in warehouses awaiting export.

Sidamo green beans appear slightly grayish, with some areas large and others small. They possess both gentle and bright acidity, appropriate body intensity, sweet and spicy flavors, and are one of the garden coffees from Ethiopia's southern highlands. Unlike typical African coffees, Sidamo has clear fruit acidity, smooth mouthfeel, and delicate floral and herbal aromas.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Parameters for Natural Hua Kui Coffee:

For light-roasted Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet Coffee chooses: V60 dripper, water temperature 90°C, water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, coffee dose 15g, grind size (80% pass-through rate on China #20 standard sieve).

Using segmented extraction, bloom with twice the coffee dose in water, i.e., 30g water blooming for 30 seconds. The blooming process is necessary to allow coffee grounds to release internal carbon dioxide, ensuring more stable extraction in subsequent stages. Using a small water flow, pour in circles to 125g for segmentation, then continue pouring to 225g and stop. When the water finishes dripping from the dripper, remove it. Timing from the start of pouring, extraction time is 2'00". Next, take the entire cup of coffee and shake it evenly before pouring into cups for tasting.

Natural Hua Kui 5.0 Coffee Flavors: Very distinct floral and fruit aromas, with citrus, passion fruit, strawberry, oolong tea, and high sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Suggestions:

The above introduces the three original coffee varieties. Regardless of what coffee you brew, FrontStreet Coffee has always believed that coffee bean freshness greatly affects coffee flavor. Therefore, coffee beans shipped by FrontStreet Coffee are all roasted within 5 days. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy is "Freshly Roasted Good Coffee," ensuring every customer who places an order receives the freshest coffee upon receipt. The coffee resting period is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive their coffee, it's at peak flavor.

For friends who need ground coffee, FrontStreet Coffee kindly reminds: if coffee beans are pre-ground, there's no need for a resting period, because during transportation, the pressure from carbon dioxide buildup in the packaging also helps round out the coffee flavors, so you can brew a cup immediately upon receiving the ground coffee. However, ground coffee needs to be brewed promptly, because coffee grounds oxidize quickly when exposed to air, meaning coffee flavors dissipate relatively rapidly, and the coffee won't taste as good. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee suggests purchasing whole beans and grinding fresh before brewing to better appreciate the coffee's flavors.

Coffee flavors from different Ethiopian regions vary. For example, FrontStreet Coffee carries: Yirgacheffe Washed Kochere, Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry, Washed Yirgacheffe, Sidamo Natural Hua Kui, Sidamo Washed Kochere, Yirgacheffe Gesha Village Natural Red Label, Yirgacheffe Gesha Village Natural Gold Label, Yirgacheffe Washed Gedeb, etc. Each bean has different flavors, but Ethiopian coffees predominantly feature floral aromas and fruit acidity. Now coffee enthusiasts have fallen in love with this light and refreshing floral-fruity tea-like coffee!

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style).

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: qjcoffeex

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