What's the Difference Between Natural Yirgacheffe and Washed Yirgacheffe? How Do Their Roasting Profiles Differ?

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The Origins of Yirgacheffe Coffee

Coffee originated in Ethiopia, Africa. On this ancient land, magical fruits were cultivated that continue to influence the world today. When people in many parts of the world didn't know what coffee was, the Agaw people of Ethiopia were already growing and drinking coffee. Today, Ethiopia remains the source of many premium coffee beans, with Yirgacheffe coffee beans being one of them.

If someone claims to love specialty coffee but hasn't tried Yirgacheffe, they're certainly not a true coffee enthusiast. If someone loves specialty coffee, even if they can't appreciate its taste, they will definitely try to like it. This is the charm of Yirgacheffe. People who regularly drink coffee have surely heard others mention Yirgacheffe more or less. Many coffee enthusiasts' first introduction to coffee might have been Yirgacheffe.

Although Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe coffee beans are small in size, they possess a gentle, elegant, sweet, and charming character. The phrase "coffee enters the mouth, a hundred flowers bloom" perfectly describes Yirgacheffe. Today, Yirgacheffe coffee has become synonymous with Ethiopian specialty coffee. But do coffee enthusiasts know the difference between washed and natural processed Yirgacheffe?

Different Processing Methods

Washed Processing Method

Yirgacheffe washed processing method: Uses washing and fermentation to remove the fruit pulp and mucilage, washing the coffee beans until smooth and clean. After washing, the coffee beans are still encased in their parchment shell 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. The best processing method is sun drying, which takes 1-3 weeks, but the flavor is excellent and quite popular.

The washed method has good body, high aroma, and lively acidity. Washed Yirgacheffe coffee beans are graded into Gr-1 and Gr-2, where smaller Arabic numbers indicate higher grades. G1 Yirgacheffe has a distinctive style, and the flavor of citrus and flower notes fused in the coffee liquid is a delicious taste that everyone cannot resist.

Natural Processing Method

Yirgacheffe natural processing method: The fruits begin the sun drying process immediately after harvesting without any processing. This is the oldest existing processing method. The drying process typically takes about 4 weeks. The processing method must be very rigorous to ensure the coffee doesn't lose any flavor. Natural processed beans have complete natural body, gentle aroma, and more gelatinous texture.

Natural grades are divided into Gr-1, Gr-3, Gr-4, and Gr-5. Similarly, the highest grade G1 natural Yirgacheffe has rich fruit aroma. Opening a bag of freshly roasted G1 natural Yirgacheffe coffee can subvert everyone's original perception of coffee. Only those who have tasted the highest grade natural Yirgacheffe will believe that coffee is a fruit.

Differences in Coffee Bean Appearance

Generally, washed green beans are bluish-green. After roasting, washed Yirgacheffe has more silver skin, with wrinkles that look like they've been soaked in water. Natural processed green beans are yellowish-green, and natural Yirgacheffe has less silver skin with a smooth appearance.

Differences in Coffee Taste

Natural Yirgacheffe has a faint fermented wine aroma, with slightly more bitterness and a much richer mouthfeel. Honey sweetness, cocoa notes with a hint of spice, full body with persistent aftertaste, rich texture and unique soft flower notes brush across your taste buds, leaving endless回味. Washed Yirgacheffe has brighter acidity, like lemon acidity, with a fresher mouthfeel and more obvious citrus aroma, with some black tea notes in the finish. Both have fruit acidity similar to lemon and citrus fruits.

Such splendidly flavored beans are certainly not suitable for medium-dark roasting. Therefore, this coffee is best roasted using a light slow roasting method to best showcase its rounded, sweet, and rich flower and fruit aroma characteristics.

Hard Bean Characteristics

Hard bean coffee grows at relatively high altitudes, while coffee grown at lower altitudes is usually considered soft bean coffee. Higher altitudes and lower temperatures cause the fruit to mature more slowly, forming harder, less porous coffee beans. Coffee beans grown above 1200 meters altitude are called hard beans.

Hard beans have better heat absorption capacity (response to heat energy) than soft beans, so their flavor development is more complete. On the other hand, hard beans, due to their high density and moisture content, also hinder heat transfer. (During roasting, higher heat and higher drop temperature are needed).

Roasting Method

Extend the roasting time longer, so adjust the heat once when dehydration is complete, open the damper to maximum at first crack, and drop the beans after developing for 1'48''.

Roasting Equipment and Process

Roasting machine: Yangjia 600g semi-direct heat.

Using fast stir-fry mode, set furnace temperature to 200°C when beans enter, damper set to 3.5. After 1 minute, adjust heat to 160°C, damper unchanged. Adjust heat once at 148°C, reduce to 130°C. Roast until 5'03", temperature reaches 151°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration complete. Adjust heat to 105°C, damper open to 4.

At the 8th minute, ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, toast smell clearly transforms to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. At 9'07" first crack begins, reduce heat to 70°C, damper fully open (adjust heat very carefully, not so low that crack sounds disappear), drop beans at 194°C.

Roast Level: Light Roast

Cupping Notes

Roast one: strawberry, raspberry, vanilla, honeydew, juicy.

Strawberry, raspberry, vanilla, honey, juice.

Rounded and sweet, rich in flower and fruit aroma, prominent sweet aftertaste, weak acidity, overall presenting a gentle, red wine character.

Wet aroma: Ripe berries, fermented fruit wine.

From the extremely smooth entry to the delicate body, the emergence of ripe fruit's sweet and sour flavors is truly amazing. The sweetness exceeds any Yirgacheffe I've tasted before. The aftertaste performance is also quite good, worthy of its "fruit bomb" reputation. After drinking, you can basically guarantee that the sweetness in your mouth will last for half an hour.

Best Brewing Methods

Yirgacheffe coffee beans are most suitable for pour-over and siphon brewing. When grinding, you can smell the fragrant natural fruit aroma, with obvious sweetness. There's also the signature citrus and jasmine flower aroma of washed Yirgacheffe, leaving an endless aftertaste.

Gentle, elegant, sweet, and charming. Yirgacheffe emits extremely complex aromas, showcasing exceptionally outstanding mouthfeel that is difficult to describe.

V60 Pour-over Recipe

V60 dripper, 15g coffee, water temperature 87°C, grind setting 4, water-to-coffee ratio close to 1:15.

31g water for bloom, bloom time 29s.

Stages: Pour water to 99ml, stop pouring, slowly pour to 230ml.

That is: 31-99-100.

Taste: Obvious strawberry fruit acidity, tea notes in the finish.

I've always felt that natural processed beans have challenging roasting and brewing techniques, but their unique rich fruit fermentation flavor fascinates many enthusiasts. This natural Yirgacheffe Aricha, after V60 pour-over extraction, presents a unique translucent orange-red color and sweet-sour fruit flavor. From hot to cold, it shows different layers of drinking experience. After finishing, the residual aroma in the empty cup should have wintry fruit-like fragrance.

How to Properly Taste Yirgacheffe

To learn how to brew coffee, you must first learn to taste coffee, and also try different types of coffee. Yes, different types of coffee.

Today, let's discuss how a complete coffee beginner should gradually step-by-step learn to taste a cup of Yirgacheffe.

Yirgacheffe has one characteristic: citrus flavor, but this is very general. This is a regional characteristic, and coffee beans will have different flavors due to different processing methods.

Harvested coffee beans must immediately enter processing, otherwise they will start to ferment and produce off-flavors. There are two processing methods: "natural method" and "washed method," and these two methods create different flavors.

Natural processed beans have complete natural body, gentle aroma, and more gelatinous texture; the washed method has good body, high aroma, and lively acidity.

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