How Much Does Yirgacheffe Cost? Is Yirgacheffe Coffee Expensive? How Much is a Cup of Yirgacheffe?

When it comes to African coffee, FrontStreet Coffee immediately thinks of Ethiopia—the birthplace of coffee. Citrus, lemon acidity, jasmine flowers, ripe strawberries, tropical fruits, berries, and honey are all common flavor terms used to describe Ethiopian coffee beans. Among these, Yirgacheffe has the greatest reputation, and the term "Yirgacheffe flavor" has long become one of the synonyms for specialty coffee.

For friends looking to enter the world of specialty coffee, FrontStreet Coffee typically recommends "Yirgacheffe daily coffee beans" as the first choice. Not only does it offer unique flavors at an affordable price (25 yuan per 100g per small package), but it's also one of the easiest origin regions for newcomers to identify. Friends who have tried Yirgacheffe will immediately recall the bright, uplifting lemon acidity, floral aromas, and honey-like sweet fragrance, along with gentle fruit acidity and citrus flavors that create a refreshing and pleasant mouthfeel. Unlike traditional bitter-toned coffee, Yirgacheffe not only lacks the rich, burnt bitterness but instead presents a clean aroma spectrum similar to fruit tea, making people fall in love at first sip. This is why Yirgacheffe is also the gateway choice for many coffee enthusiasts.

Yirgacheffe: A Small Town

Ethiopia's coffee cultivation is mainly concentrated in the western and southern regions, with smallholder family farms accounting for 90% of total cultivation. Nearly 1.2 million smallholder families rely on coffee cultivation for their livelihood. The local coffee production system is divided into four types: forest coffee, semi-forest coffee, garden coffee, and large-scale plantations, with garden coffee being the most common. Due to the small production volume of smallholder-grown coffee, there are numerous coffee cooperatives and processing plants of various sizes in the region, mainly responsible for processing raw coffee beans from the area. Farmers deliver their harvested coffee beans to nearby processing plants established near water sources for unified processing, and subsequent sales are made under the processing plant's name. The Yirgacheffe region is one of these.

Yirgacheffe refers to a small town in the northwestern part of Ethiopia's Sidamo province. Located in the Gedeo zone, the town of Yirgacheffe is situated downstream from large lakes, with abundant springs and rivers flowing through, providing ample freshwater resources for washing stations. FrontStreet Coffee also noted that in ancient Ethiopian language, the English "Yirgacheffe" consists of two words: Yərga (ይርጋ) meaning peace and settling down, and Č̣äfe (ጨፌ) referring to marsh-like wetlands. Therefore, Yirgacheffe carries the meaning of "let us settle and thrive in this wetland."

This area, nestled by mountains and accompanied by lakes, sits at an altitude of 1,700-2,100 meters, making it one of Ethiopia's highest-altitude coffee-growing regions. Originally part of Sidamo, it later became an independent Yirgacheffe region due to its unique flavor and growing reputation. The small town is often shrouded in mist, with spring-like weather year-round, gentle breezes, cool but not hot temperatures, rainy but not humid conditions, and no winter frost damage—making it extremely suitable for growing coffee as an agricultural crop. The coffee cultivated here carries unique citrus and floral aromas.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Selection

FrontStreet Coffee offers several Yirgacheffe coffees, all using natural processing methods of washed and sun-dried. Among these, the washed Gedeb cooperative and sun-dried Red Cherry are the most representative.

Washed Gedeb Cooperative Coffee

The Gedeb cooperative, with 300 member smallholder farmers, is renowned for growing some of Ethiopia's highest-quality coffee. The processing method follows the most traditional washed approach, earning it the reputation as "the last pure land of Yirgacheffe." Among customers who come to FrontStreet Coffee for coffee, if they hope to enjoy washed fruity coffee, FrontStreet Coffee's baristas will prioritize recommending the Gedeb cooperative coffee from the bean display. The washed Gedeb cooperative coffee not only lacks the strong bitterness of traditional black coffee but also features fresh, bright citrus and lemon acidity, along with jasmine fragrance, making many coffee lovers fall in love at first taste.

Traditionally, after harvesting coffee cherries, farmers would place them directly on terraces or spread them on the ground for direct sun drying. When the coffee fruit's moisture content reaches about 12%, it could be sent for hulling and packaging. Coffee beans processed this way often develop earthy flavors, over-fermentation, and rotten fruit tastes. To improve these defective flavors caused by sun drying, Ethiopia introduced washed processing technology from Central and South America.

The washed process involves pouring coffee cherries into water tanks, removing the unripe beans that float, machine-removing the coffee pulp, and placing them in clean water tanks for fermentation. The acidic substances produced during fermentation of the raw beans help the mucilage layer detach. The surface of the parchment beans is then thoroughly rinsed with clean running water, and finally dried under sunlight. During the washed process, multiple steps can remove defective beans, resulting in cleaner acidity in flavor.

Sun-dried Red Cherry Coffee

The "Red Cherry Project" is an initiative launched in 2007 by the Dutch trading company Trabocca BV to improve the quality of Ethiopian coffee.

This project mainly targets high-altitude regions like Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe to improve processing techniques including washed, semi-washed, and sun-dried methods. Professional cuppers participate, and different harvest volumes are established for different microclimate zones during harvest seasons. Only 100% ripe red coffee cherries must be harvested, with production ranging approximately 1,500-3,000 KG. The economic loan support, new hardware equipment, and production knowledge provided by Trabocca have significantly improved the quality of coffee beans in the Yirgacheffe region and even throughout Ethiopia, resulting in higher coffee prices and consequently increased income for coffee farmers.

FrontStreet Coffee's sun-dried Yirgacheffe Red Cherry coffee beans are selected from the Aletland Farm's full-red-fruit sun-dried processing. The raw coffee beans are light yellow, with full-bodied particles, intact appearance, low defect rate, and G1 grade. Sun-dried Yirgacheffe has more intense flavors and richer layers, with wine-like fermentation notes and higher sweetness.

Yirgacheffe's Aroma and Flavor

In terms of roasting, FrontStreet Coffee considers that Yirgacheffe should present acidity as the main flavor direction, therefore adopting a medium-light roast. The washed Gedeb cooperative coffee beans are lightly roasted to preserve more bright acidity and white floral aromas, while the sun-dried Red Cherry coffee beans are medium-light roasted to present full berry sweetness and acidity. Before launching any coffee bean, FrontStreet Coffee conducts at least one cupping session. Under the same standards, cupping allows us to more objectively appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of the coffee.

Cupping Flavors:

Washed Gedeb Cooperative Coffee: Dry aroma reveals fresh passion fruit, citrus, and berry sour fragrance. Wet aroma shows citrus and berries. Upon tasting, there's citrus acidity, berry sweetness, almonds, tea notes, and a honey-sweet aftertaste. Light body, bright acidity, clean and refreshing.

Sun-dried Red Cherry Coffee: Dry aroma presents full berry sweetness and acidity. When slurped at different temperatures, it shows soft berry sweetness and acidity, ripe fruit fermentation sensations, obvious honey sweetness, and black tea aftertaste, with a smooth mouthfeel.

Yirgacheffe Brewing Recommendations

Regardless of the extraction method used, FrontStreet Coffee believes that the freshness of coffee beans is crucial. The aroma of coffee roasted more than two months ago has likely dissipated significantly, and even excellent brewing techniques can hardly restore the cup's fragrance. To ensure everyone experiences coffee at its best flavor stage, FrontStreet Coffee only ships beans freshly roasted within 5 days, so you can start brewing right after receiving them.

Since Yirgacheffe uses light roasting, the coffee beans are relatively hard and require high-temperature water of 92°C-93°C to fully extract the floral and fruit flavors from the coffee. FrontStreet Coffee recommends a medium-fine grind size (78% pass-through rate with China standard #20 sieve). Too coarse a grind cannot extract body substances, resulting in thin coffee. Too fine a grind can easily lead to over-extraction at high water temperatures, resulting in bitter coffee.

During cupping, FrontStreet Coffee noticed that these beans show different flavors at different temperatures, so the brewing method uses three-stage extraction to allow different flavor compounds to better express themselves during the gradual temperature increase of the coffee bed. To highlight the fresh and charming aroma of washed Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet Coffee uses a V60 dripper for brewing. The spiral rib design of the dripper allows the coffee grounds to better degas, maximizing the activation and dissolution of acidic aroma compounds.

In terms of brewing ratio, FrontStreet Coffee considers 1:15 to 1:16 acceptable. If you want a richer mouthfeel, use 1:15. If you want to more clearly experience the floral sweetness, use 1:16 to allow the flavors to disperse more.

Brewing Parameters:

• Dripper: V60
• Water Temperature: 92-93°C
• Dose: 15g
• Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
• Grind Size: Fine sugar size (78% pass-through rate with #20 sieve)

Three-stage Pouring: Use twice the weight of coffee grounds in water to moisten the coffee bed, forming a dome and blooming for 30 seconds. Then use a small water flow to pour in circles from inside out to 125g for the first stage. Wait until the coffee bed drops to half the dripper's height, then continue with the same fine water flow to inject the third stage to 225g. Remove the dripper after all coffee liquid has filtered through, with a total time of about 2 minutes.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473