Yirgacheffe Washed vs Natural Process Coffee Beans: Flavor Profile Differences

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow the official WeChat account: FrontStreet Coffee

Yirgacheffe coffee beans have always been renowned for their clean, bright taste and citrus-lemon acidity, and their worldwide recognition among coffee enthusiasts is largely due to their washed processing method. However, FrontStreet Coffee believes that Yirgacheffe offers more than just washed coffee beans—the natural processed beans also exhibit exceptional flavor characteristics. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will analyze the flavor differences between these two distinct processing methods of Yirgacheffe.

Yirgacheffe Coffee Region

FrontStreet Coffee often emphasizes that to truly understand a coffee bean, one must examine three key factors: region, variety, and processing method. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce these three factors to all coffee enthusiast friends.

Yirgacheffe is a small town in Ethiopia, situated at an altitude of 1700-2100 meters, making it one of the world's highest-altitude coffee-growing regions and thus ideal for Arabica coffee cultivation. Strictly speaking, as FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, Yirgacheffe is a sub-region of Ethiopia's Sidamo province, located northwest of Sidamo, surrounded by mountains and lakes. However, because the coffee beans grown in Yirgacheffe town demonstrated outstanding flavor quality, it was later declared independent by the ECX.

According to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, under Ethiopia's current ECX system, the Yirgacheffe area has been divided into four sub-regions: Yirgacheffe, Wenago, Kochere, and Genlena Abay. The soil here is fertile, with an average altitude exceeding 1800 meters, creating a high-altitude region with significant day-night temperature variations. The production methods of each region, combined with local distinctive indigenous tree coffee farms, result in each batch of coffee beans having different flavors, making them quite characteristic and unique.

FrontStreet Coffee finds the name of this region, Yirgacheffe, particularly interesting. "Yirga" means "to settle down," while "cheffe" means "wetland," so its original meaning is "let us settle and make a living on this wetland."

Yirgacheffe Coffee Processing Methods

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, Yirgacheffe coffee became famous for its washed processing method. In the early days, like other coffee regions in Ethiopia, Yirgacheffe used the most ancient natural processing method. It wasn't until 1972 that Ethiopia introduced Central and South American washed processing technology to improve coffee bean quality. This initiative amplified the inherent citrus-lemon aroma of Yirgacheffe coffee beans, making the taste fresher and brighter.

Because of this, Yirgacheffe quickly became one of the world's representatives of specialty coffee. Since then, this region has primarily produced washed coffee beans. Until the 21st century, natural processing technology also began to improve. Technological advancements brought stunning natural processed beans to the specialty coffee market. At this time, a Yirgacheffe coffee trader named Bagershi, missing the traditional natural processed coffee flavor, began improving natural processing and launched several outstanding natural processed coffee beans, thereby restoring the status of natural processed coffee in the Yirgacheffe region. For example, the Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry coffee beans at FrontStreet Coffee are very popular among coffee enthusiast friends.

This means that currently, both washed and natural processing methods for Yirgacheffe coffee beans are excellent. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will explain the differences between these two processing methods.

Natural Processing Method

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, the natural processing method is the oldest coffee bean processing method, also known as the "natural drying method." Natural processing doesn't require sophisticated equipment—just continuous sunny days for drying operations, with exposure taking 27-30 days. Therefore, it has strict climate requirements and is suitable for arid countries. For example, Ethiopia, as FrontStreet Coffee just mentioned, is a coffee-producing country that widely uses natural processing because of its high altitude, dry climate, and water scarcity. The reason Yirgacheffe region widely uses washed processing is that the area itself is wetland—the most water-rich region in Ethiopia.

However, it's worth noting that although natural processing is relatively simple, precisely because of this, coffee beans processed naturally don't have an attractive appearance—they may have some cracks, making them less appealing.

Natural Processing Method Workflow

1. The first step is to harvest ripe coffee cherries and manually screen them, removing defective, overripe, or pest-damaged cherries, leaving only good beans. This is also a major reason why the coffee beans at FrontStreet Coffee have a relatively uniform and attractive appearance.
2. The good cherries after manual screening are sent to drying areas for processing. Different coffee regions use different drying racks—some use waterproof tarps, raised beds, or concrete floors. The drying time averages 27-30 days until the coffee moisture content reduces to 11% to complete the drying process.
3. This step is also crucial. After drying, the coffee cherries are sent to specialized processing plants for pulping and hulling, and even polishing, to completely remove the coffee pulp and obtain what we commonly recognize as coffee beans.
4. After hulling, the green coffee beans undergo another screening to remove poor-quality beans again. This is because over-dried coffee beans are fragile and may break into fragments during hulling, while under-dried beans have too much moisture, making them prone to bacterial growth and mold. Therefore, they must be screened again before being sent to warehouses for storage and export packaging.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Natural Processing

Advantages: As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, natural processing is relatively simple, meaning it doesn't require high costs. Therefore, natural processed coffee beans have irreplaceable fermented flavors. Coffee farmers now also value natural processed beans, such as placing coffee beans on racks for drying and frequently turning them to prevent contamination. For this reason, FrontStreet Coffee now offers so many high-quality natural processed coffee beans.

Disadvantages: As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, natural processed coffee beans have strict weather requirements, and the drying degree of coffee cherries is difficult to control. If the drying grounds are not clean, it's easy for coffee beans to be contaminated with impurities, leading to increased defective beans. During the drying process, coffee cherries remain with their pulp and skin, making them prone to mold and rot. However, with technological advancements, coffee farmers now pursue higher-quality natural processed beans and use instruments and manpower to closely monitor the fermentation and drying degrees of coffee, removing any coffee with abnormalities. Of course, this operation costs more but is more meticulous, thus called "refined natural processing."

Flavor Profile of Natural Processed Coffee Beans

Because of prolonged sun exposure, natural processed coffee beans have more intense flavors, richer layers, with wine-like fermented notes and higher sweetness.

Washed Processing Method

The second common coffee processing method is washed processing. Most of FrontStreet Coffee's coffee beans from different regions are also washed, especially FrontStreet Coffee's daily beans, because washed processed coffee beans are cleaner, and their flavor expression is more transparent, representing the most original taste of coffee cherries. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee often says that washed processed coffee beans are the guiding light for understanding a region's flavor.

Washed Processing Method Workflow

1. First, coffee farmers pour all harvested coffee cherries into water, so that poor-quality, defective coffee beans will float to the surface, while those sinking to the bottom are quality cherries. This operation significantly reduces the time wasted in individual selection.
2. Screened coffee cherries are placed in a pulper to remove the outer skin and pulp. After removing these, the coffee cherry surface still has a layer of mucilage sticking to it, so large amounts of clean water are needed to wash away the sticky substances on the coffee cherry surface.
3. Next, fermentation is used to completely remove the mucilage. This process takes about 18 hours. However, after fermentation, bacteria and yeast adhere to the coffee cherry surface, so another thorough washing with large amounts of clean water is needed. For this step, producing 1 kilogram of coffee beans requires 40-50 kilograms of clean water. FrontStreet Coffee considers this a very large number, which is precisely why arid countries cannot adopt washed processing.

4. The washed coffee beans can then be dried. Some regions will take them directly outside for air-drying, while more developed regions will send them to processing plants to use machines for drying, reducing the coffee moisture content to about 11%.
5. Finally, the dried coffee beans are stored and packaged for sale and export.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Washed Processing

Advantages: Coffee beans washed with large amounts of water have fewer impurities and more complete appearance. Because the outer skin and pulp of coffee cherries are removed through washing at the beginning, there's no need to worry about mold issues, and the overall quality is relatively stable.

Disadvantages: The washed processing method is relatively complex and tedious, requiring large amounts of water, making it more expensive and less used in water-scarce regions.

Flavor Profile of Washed Processed Coffee Beans

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, washed processed coffee beans have cleaner and more transparent flavors, with acidic and fruity notes, bright taste, and lower sweetness and body.

Differences Between Washed and Natural Processed Coffee Beans

The most fundamental difference between natural and washed processing methods is that natural processing preserves the pulp's flavor, while washed processing removes the pulp's flavor, representing the most essential flavor of coffee beans. The taste differences are obvious—washed is cleaner and brighter, while natural is richer in flavor. FrontStreet Coffee precisely because washed processing can reveal the most essential flavor of coffee beans, when recommending coffee beans, if customers are tasting coffee beans from a particular region for the first time, FrontStreet Coffee will prioritize recommending washed processed coffee beans, allowing people to more clearly understand the flavor characteristics of that region.

The above is FrontStreet Coffee's summary of the differences and characteristics of Yirgacheffe coffee beans' washed and natural processing methods. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will compare the flavor differences between Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry coffee beans and Yirgacheffe Washed Gedeb coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee: Ethiopia Washed Gedeb Coffee Beans

• Country: Ethiopia
• Region: Yirgacheffe
• Altitude: 1900-2300m
• Variety: Local Landraces
• Processing: Washed Process
• Flavor: Tropical fruits, cream, honey, berries, citrus

According to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, the Gedeb cooperative was originally part of the Yirgacheffe Union YCFCU's Wenago cooperative, becoming independent as the Gedeb cooperative in 2012. It currently has about 300+ small farmer members. Because Gedeb village was one of the first village areas to become independent, and many small farmers were originally members of the Wenago cooperative, their coffee production skills are excellent, naturally producing coffee beans with exceptional flavor.

FrontStreet Coffee: Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry

• Country: Ethiopia
• Region: Yirgacheffe
• Altitude: 2300m
• Variety: Local Landraces
• Processing: Natural Process
• Flavor: Berries, lemon, strawberry, fermented wine aroma

FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Red Cherry coffee beans are made from 100% mature coffee beans using natural processing, resulting in full aroma, rich sweetness, and fermented notes in flavor.

The origin of this coffee bean comes from the "Red Cherry Project" jointly initiated by local Ethiopian coffee farmers and Dutch trader Trabocca. It aims to improve the quality of coffee from small-scale farms and increase farmers' income. Harvesting fully mature coffee cherries requires not only harvesting fully red, high-ripeness cherries but also completely manual picking—but this is just the most basic requirement. There are also corresponding requirements for coffee bean processing methods.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting and Brewing Data Sharing

Natural Red Cherry:

FrontStreet Coffee conducts two rounds of manual defective bean screening before roasting, laying the foundation for roasting high-quality coffee. This Natural Red Cherry coffee has extremely low defect rates.

Using Yangjia 800N, 600g batch size: Heat to 200°C, open damper to 3.5, after 1 minute adjust heat to 160°C, damper unchanged. At 148°C, adjust heat again down to 130°C. At 5'03", temperature reaches 151°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy aroma completely disappears, dehydration complete. Adjust heat to 105°C, open damper to 4. At 8 minutes, bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast aroma clearly turns to coffee aroma—this can be defined as the prelude to first crack. 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 too low to stop cracking sounds). Remove at 194°C.

Washed Gedeb:

FrontStreet Coffee's roaster considers that Gedeb beans are characterized by fruit acidity tones, making them suitable for light roasting, which highlights Gedeb's clean taste, bright fruit acidity, and obvious aftertaste.

Using Yangjia 800N, 480g batch size: Heat to 175°C, open damper to 3, heat at 120°C. Return to temperature at 1'32", when furnace temperature reaches 140°C, heat unchanged, open damper to 4. At this point, bean surface turns yellow, grassy aroma completely disappears, entering dehydration stage. At 166°C, reduce heat to 100°C. At 176°C, reduce heat to 80°C, damper unchanged. At 8'28", bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast aroma clearly turns to coffee aroma—this can be defined as the prelude to first crack. Listen carefully for the first crack sound. At 9'38", first crack begins, adjust damper to 5 (adjust heat very carefully, not too low to stop cracking sounds). After first crack, develop for 1'30", remove at 193.5°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Data Sharing

• Dripper: V60 #01
• Water Temperature: 90-91°C
• Dose: 15g
• Ratio: 1:15
• Grind Size: BG6m/Medium-fine grind (80% through #20 sieve)

Brewing Method: Three-stage Extraction

First stage: Pour 30g water for 30-second bloom. Then pour 95g (scale shows about 125g), completing in about 1 minute. When water level drops to 2/3 of the coffee bed, pour remaining 100g (scale shows about 225g), completing in about 1 minute 35 seconds. Complete extraction between 2'00"-2'10", remove dripper.

Natural Red Cherry Brewing Flavor:

Lemon, licorice, citrus, berries, sweet orange, with overall high sweetness, aftertaste of caramel and cream flavors, finish with black tea aroma.

Washed Gedeb Brewing Flavor:

Entry shows citrus and black tea, with temperature changes revealing cream, caramel, almond aftertaste with obvious return and clean, sweet taste.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473