How to Drink Yirgacheffe Coffee Beans - Yirgacheffe Coffee Extraction Powder-to-Water Ratio Parameter Adjustment

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Introduction to Yirgacheffe Coffee Beans

Yirgacheffe is a famous coffee-producing region in Ethiopia. The coffee beans from this region are renowned for their distinctive citrus and lemon acidity flavors, making them quite special and highly favored by coffee enthusiasts worldwide. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will explain what makes Yirgacheffe coffee beans so magical that everyone loves them.

Yirgacheffe Coffee Growing Region

The fame of the Yirgacheffe region is undoubtedly due to the locally produced coffee beans. The flavor formation of a coffee bean depends on its growing environment (the region), coffee variety, and processing method. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce the characteristics of Yirgacheffe coffee beans focusing on these three aspects.

Yirgacheffe has always been one of Ethiopia's most important coffee regions. It was formerly part of the Sidamo coffee region but later became an independent coffee region due to the unique flavor of Yirgacheffe coffee beans. Therefore, in the specialty coffee market, Yirgacheffe is not just a coffee region name but also a representative of citrus and lemon acidity flavored coffee.

According to FrontStreet Coffee, the Yirgacheffe coffee region is the highest altitude coffee region in Ethiopia, at around 2,000 meters. To date, the Yirgacheffe coffee region has more than 40 cooperatives, mainly managed by family operations for coffee cultivation.

The organization that made Yirgacheffe independent was the Ethiopian EXC Coffee Association. Under Ethiopia's ECX system, the Yirgacheffe area is now divided into four sub-regions: Yirgacheffe, Wenka, Kochere, and Genlena abay.

Yirgacheffe has fertile soil with an average altitude above 1,800 meters, making it a high-altitude region with significant day-night temperature differences. The production methods of each sub-region, combined with the local unique indigenous tree-species coffee gardens, result in different flavor profiles for each batch of coffee beans, making them quite distinctive and unique. At the same time, FrontStreet Coffee finds the region name "Yirgacheffe" quite interesting, where "yirga" means "to settle down" and "cheffe" means "wetland," so its original meaning is "let us settle and thrive in this wetland."

Yirgacheffe Coffee Bean Processing Methods

Coffee enthusiasts familiar with geography know that Ethiopia is located on the African continent where water resources are quite underdeveloped. However, Yirgacheffe is a wetland area, making it very suitable for washed processing methods. Yirgacheffe coffee beans are famous precisely because of their washed processing method.

In the early days, Yirgacheffe, like other Ethiopian coffee regions, used the oldest natural processing method. It wasn't until 1972 that Ethiopia introduced Central and American washed processing technology to improve coffee bean quality. This initiative amplified the inherent citrus and lemon aroma of Yirgacheffe coffee beans and made the taste cleaner and brighter. From then on, Yirgacheffe became one of the representatives of world specialty coffee. Therefore, most Yirgacheffe exported coffee beans are primarily washed processed.

However, according to FrontStreet Coffee, in the 21st century, natural processing techniques in various coffee regions began to improve. Technological advancements brought stunning naturally processed beans to the specialty coffee market. At this time, a Yirgacheffe coffee trader named Bagershi, missing traditional natural coffee flavors, began improving natural processing and launched several outstanding natural coffee beans, restoring the status of natural coffee beans in the Yirgacheffe region. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry coffee beans are very popular among coffee enthusiasts.

Next, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce the differences between washed and natural processing methods for Yirgacheffe coffee beans.

Natural Processing Method

The natural processing method is the oldest coffee bean processing method, also known as "natural drying." Natural processing doesn't require high-end equipment - only continuous sunny days for sun drying, which takes 27-30 days. Therefore, it has strict climate requirements and is suitable for arid countries.

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned earlier, Ethiopia itself is a coffee-producing country that widely uses natural processing because of its high altitude, dry climate, and scarce water resources. The reason Yirgacheffe region widely uses washed processing is that the local area is naturally a wetland and the most water-rich area in Ethiopia.

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

Natural Processing Workflow

1. First, ripe coffee cherries are harvested, then manually sorted to remove defective, overripe, or insect-damaged cherries, keeping only good beans. This is also why coffee beans at FrontStreet Coffee generally have a uniform and attractive appearance.
2. The sorted good cherries are sent to drying areas for drying. Different coffee regions use different drying racks - some use waterproof tarps, raised beds, or concrete floors. Drying time averages 27-30 days until the coffee moisture content drops to 11% to complete the drying process.
3. This step is also crucial: after drying, coffee cherries are sent to specialized processing plants for hulling and even polishing, removing the fruit pulp and other parts to get what we commonly recognize as coffee beans.
4. After hulling, the green coffee beans undergo another screening to remove beans with poor appearance. This is because over-dried coffee beans are quite fragile and may break into fragments during hulling, while under-dried coffee beans contain too much moisture, making them prone to bacterial growth and mold. Therefore, they need to be screened again before being sent to warehouses for storage and export packaging.

Flavor Profile of Natural Processed Coffee

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

Washed Processing Method

The second common coffee processing method is washed processing. Most of FrontStreet Coffee's different regional coffee beans are also washed processed, especially FrontStreet Coffee's daily beans. Washed processed coffee beans are cleaner, with more transparent flavor profiles that represent 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 profile.

Washed Processing Workflow

1. First, coffee farmers pour all harvested coffee cherries into water. This way, defective coffee beans will float to the surface, while those that sink to the bottom are quality cherries. This operation greatly reduces the time wasted on individual selection.
2. The selected coffee cherries are put into a pulper to remove the outer skin and pulp. After removing these, a layer of mucilage remains on the cherry surface, so large amounts of clean water are needed to wash away the sticky substances.
3. Next, fermentation is used to completely remove the mucilage. This process takes about 18 hours. After fermentation completes, fermentation bacteria stick to the cherry surface, so another thorough wash with large amounts of clean water is needed. For this step, getting 1 kilogram of coffee beans requires consuming 40-50 kilograms of clean water. FrontStreet Coffee considers this a very large number, which is why arid countries cannot adopt washed processing.

4. The cleaned coffee beans can then be dried. Some regions will take them directly outdoors to air dry, while more developed regions send them to processing plants for machine drying until the coffee moisture content drops to about 11%.
5. Finally, the dried coffee beans are stored and packaged for sale and export.

Flavor Profile of Washed Processed Coffee

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

Differences Between Washed and Natural Yirgacheffe Coffee

The most fundamental difference between natural and washed processing methods is that natural processing retains the fruit pulp flavors, while washed processing removes them, representing the most essential flavor of coffee beans. The taste difference is obvious - washed is cleaner and brighter, while natural is richer in flavor. FrontStreet Coffee prefers washed processing because it can reflect the most essential flavor of coffee beans. When recommending coffee beans, if customers are tasting coffee from a 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.

Next, FrontStreet Coffee will use Yirgacheffe washed and natural coffee beans to more intuitively compare the flavor differences.

FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Gedeb Coffee Beans

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

According to FrontStreet Coffee, the Gedeb cooperative was originally part of the Wenka cooperative under the Yirgacheffe Union YCFCU, becoming independent as Gedeb cooperative in 2012. It currently has about 300 small farmer members. At the same time, because Gedeb village was one of the first independently separated village areas, many small farmers were originally members of the Wenka cooperative, so their coffee production skills are unquestionable. The produced coffee beans naturally have excellent flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry

Country: Ethiopia
Region: Yirgacheffe
Altitude: 2300m
Variety: Local heirloom varieties
Processing: Natural
Flavor: Berries, lemon, strawberry, fermented wine notes

FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Red Cherry coffee beans are made from 100% ripe coffee beans using natural processing, resulting in very aromatic flavors with rich sweetness and fermented notes.

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 ripe coffee cherries requires not only picking fully red, high-ripeness fruits but also doing it completely by hand - but these are just the most basic requirements. There are also corresponding requirements for coffee bean processing methods.

Above are FrontStreet Coffee's most representative Yirgacheffe washed and natural coffee beans. Before listing these two beans, FrontStreet Coffee conducted extensive roasting and brewing tests. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will share the characteristics of these two pour-over Yirgacheffe coffees.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Data Sharing

Natural Red Cherry:

FrontStreet Coffee conducts two rounds of manual defect screening before roasting. Pre-roasting hand selection lays the foundation for roasting high-quality coffee. This Natural Red Cherry coffee has extremely low defect rates.

Using Yangjia 800N, with 600g beans: Heat to 200°C to start, damper at 3.5. After 1 minute, adjust heat to 160°C, damper unchanged. At 148°C, adjust heat again to 130°C. Roast to 5'03", temperature 151°C, beans turn yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration complete. Adjust heat to 105°C, damper to 4. At 8 minutes, beans show ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast smell obviously turns to coffee aroma - this can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the first crack sound. At 9'07", first crack begins, reduce heat to 70°C, damper fully open (adjust heat very carefully, not too small to stop cracking sounds). Finish at 194°C.

Washed Gedeb:

FrontStreet Coffee's roaster considers that this Gedeb bean's main characteristic flavor is fruit acidity, making it suitable for light roasting that highlights Gedeb's clean taste, bright fruit acidity, and obvious aftertaste.

Using Yangjia 800N, with 480g beans: Heat to 175°C to start, damper at 3, heat at 120. Return to temperature at 1'32", when furnace temperature reaches 140°C, heat unchanged, damper to 4. At this point beans turn yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, entering dehydration stage. At 166°C, reduce heat to 100, at 176°C reduce heat to 80, damper unchanged. At 8'28", beans show ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast smell obviously turns to coffee aroma - this can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the first crack sound. At 9'38", first crack begins, adjust damper to 5 (adjust heat very carefully, not too small to stop cracking sounds). After first crack, develop for 1'30", finish 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% pass 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 drip filtration between 2'00"-2'10", remove dripper, finish extraction.

Natural Red Cherry Brewing Flavor: Lemon, licorice, citrus, berries, sweet orange. Overall sweetness is high, with caramel and cream flavors in aftertaste, and black tea aroma in the finish.

Washed Gedeb Brewing Flavor: Citrus and black tea on entry. As temperature changes, cream, caramel, and almond notes appear in the aftertaste, with obvious return sweetness and clean, sweet taste.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private 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