Sidamo vs Yirgacheffe: Flavor and Taste Differences, Yirgacheffe Coffee Bean Characteristics and Story

As the homeland of coffee, Ethiopia is a country with a vast number of wild coffee tree varieties. The Sidamo region, as one of Ethiopia's important coffee-producing areas, offers extremely diverse coffee flavors. Due to abundant rainfall, fertile soil, ideal climate conditions, and post-processing methods, coffee beans from Sidamo present a clean, smooth mouthfeel and bright acidity with distinctive characteristics. Yirgacheffe was originally a sub-region under Sidamo, but gradually became independent due to its突出的 citrus and jasmine floral characteristics.

Comparing FrontStreet Coffee's Sidamo and Yirgacheffe Coffee Beans

Many people are not clear about the differences between FrontStreet Coffee's Sidamo region coffee beans and FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe region coffee beans, so FrontStreet Coffee would like to discuss the differences between FrontStreet Coffee's Sidamo coffee beans and FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe coffee beans today.

Introduction to Sidamo Region Coffee Beans

FrontStreet Coffee will first introduce Sidamo region coffee beans! The two most famous coffee-producing areas in the Sidamo region are Guji and West Arsi. Most coffee beans in the Sidamo region are processed using the natural method, which gives Sidamo region coffee beans rich fruity aromas and a smooth mouthfeel.

This year, FrontStreet Coffee launched a FrontStreet Coffee Uraga from the Guji sub-region, a coffee bean that won the washed category championship in the TOH competition. The TOH (Taste of Harvest) green bean competition is the most important green bean competition in Africa each year, with the full name "East Africa Harvest Season Flavor Competition." After FrontStreet Coffee acquired this FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia TOH washed category champion bean, FrontStreet Coffee immediately roasted it.

After roasting, FrontStreet Coffee immediately entered the cupping phase. FrontStreet Coffee's barista used a 200ml standard cupping bowl, with a grind size that achieved 70%-75% pass-through rate on a #20 standard sieve, 11.1g of coffee, and water temperature of 94°C. First, grinding to smell the dry aroma, FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopia TOH washed category champion bean had very intense floral notes in its dry aroma. Then, water was added to fill the bowl for wet aroma confirmation, which revealed a fresh citrus aroma, somewhat similar to coffee beans from the Yirgacheffe region. After 4 minutes, the crust was broken and cleared for flavor evaluation. FrontStreet Coffee's cupping results showed that this FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia TOH washed category champion bean's overall flavor profile included: jasmine, lemon, berries, grapefruit, honey, and green tea notes.

After FrontStreet Coffee completed the cupping, FrontStreet Coffee brewed this FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia TOH washed category champion bean from the Sidamo Guji region. First, FrontStreet Coffee wet the filter paper and preheated the dripper and coffee pot. Using 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, FrontStreet Coffee poured with a small circular flow to 125g, then continued pouring to 225g when the water level was about to expose the coffee bed, stopping the pour. When the water level was about to expose the coffee bed again, FrontStreet Coffee removed the dripper. The extraction time (timed from the start of blooming) was 2'05".

The flavor profile of this coffee bean from the Sidamo region shows citrus acidity and jasmine floral notes in the front, grapefruit tea and honey sweetness in the middle, with a lingering honey aftertaste. This bean, processed using the washed method, highlights the bright acidity of Uraga region coffee beans, with an overall profile leaning toward the floral characteristics and citrus acidity of Yirgacheffe region coffee beans.

Strict Processing Methods

This FrontStreet Coffee Sidamo coffee bean's washed processing is more rigorous than the processing methods used in the Yirgacheffe region. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee believes that for a coffee bean to win a championship, great effort must be put into the coffee processing stage, with strict control over every processing and selection step. For example, this FrontStreet Coffee TOH washed category champion bean uses fully manual harvesting of completely ripe coffee cherries, followed by careful selection before the washing process.

Washed processing: The selected coffee cherries are put into a depulper to initially remove the skin and pulp; the coffee beans with remaining pulp and mucilage are placed in water to ferment for about 18-36 hours; after fermentation, the coffee beans with parchment are placed in flowing water channels to wash away the pulp and mucilage; after washing, the coffee beans are dried either by sun-drying or with drying machines until the moisture content reaches about 12%. Finally, the parchment is removed from the green coffee beans.

Yirgacheffe Region Excellence

Of course, as a long-established region in Ethiopia, Yirgacheffe region's coffee quality is also very high. Coffee beans produced in the Yirgacheffe region, whether processed by washed or natural methods, are very popular in specialty coffee shops. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe region FrontStreet Coffee washed bean Kochere and FrontStreet Coffee natural bean Red Cherry both have very high click-through rates. The lemon-citrus profile of the Yirgacheffe region has always been deeply loved by coffee enthusiasts who enjoy acidic flavors.

The reason why FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe can have such a distinctive style, aside from innate terroir conditions, FrontStreet Coffee believes it largely owes to the washed processing method. In 1972, the Ethiopian government introduced more advanced washed processing technology and related equipment from Central and South America. Because washed processing requires the construction of wet mills and access to continuous flowing water, the production cost is higher. During processing, the fermented beans are placed in pools and moved back and forth, using the friction between beans and the power of flowing water to wash the coffee beans until they are smooth and clean.

Because each step removes impurities and defective beans, the quality of the green beans is more uniform, and the final trading price is higher than naturally processed coffee. Washing not only significantly reduces the defect rate of coffee but also gives FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe a fresh citrus character and elegant white floral notes, with an overall flavor that is bright, delicate, and clean.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Cupping Results

FrontStreet Coffee cupped this washed bean from the Yirgacheffe region. After grinding 11.3 grams of coffee beans, the dry aroma emitted fresh passion fruit acidity, citrus, and berry fruit aromas. The wet aroma was citrus and berries. On tasting, there was citrus acidity, berry sweetness, almond, tea-like notes, and a honey-sweet aftertaste. Light body, bright acidity, clean and refreshing.

Brewing Parameters Used:

Dripper: V60 #01
Water temperature: 90-91°C
Coffee dose: 15g
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Grind size: BG6m / fine sugar size (80% pass-through on #20 sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee typically starts the first pour with 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then pours 95g (showing about 125g on the scale), completing in about 1 minute. When the water level drops to 2/3 of the coffee bed, FrontStreet Coffee pours the remaining 100g (showing about 225g on the scale), completing in about 1 minute 35 seconds. Drip completion at 2'10", remove the dripper, and finish extraction. The brewed FrontStreet Coffee Kochere coffee has citrus and black tea notes on entry, with cream, caramel, and almond aftertaste as the temperature changes, with obvious sweet aftertaste and a clean, sweet mouthfeel.

Conclusion

Therefore, through cupping and brewing of Sidamo and Yirgacheffe coffee regions, FrontStreet Coffee consistently finds that FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe has more prominent jasmine floral notes in aroma and citrus-like fruit acidity in flavor, while FrontStreet Coffee's Sidamo has flavors leaning toward tropical fruit characteristics.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on WeChat: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473