How to Best Roast Ethiopian Guji Coffee Beans for Optimal Flavor? Is Guji 2.0 Coffee Bean Cost-Effective?

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Discovering the Queen of Coffee Beans

Recently, we've fallen in love with a particular coffee bean: the Queen of Coffee Beans.

The Origin of the Name

So how did the Queen of Coffee Beans get its name?

In 2017, Ethiopia's DW green coffee company sent their coffee beans to the TOH (The Taste of Harvest) competition hosted by the African Fine Coffee Association. Their natural process batch won the championship in TOH Ethiopia. This batch of green beans, as champion, was named "Queen."

Geographic Origins

Queen is located in Hambella, which is part of Ethiopia's largest coffee producing region, GUJI, administratively under the Oromia Regional State. Hambella is situated west of Yirgacheffe Kochore across mountains, and borders the GUJI sub-regions of Shakiso, Uraga, and Kercha to the southeast and north. It is Ethiopia's highest altitude coffee sub-region (Harrar is Ethiopia's highest altitude main producing region).

Currently, there are about 20 processing plants of various scales in the Hambella region. DW Company has four estate processing plants in the core Dimtu area of Hambella: "Buku Abel," "Buku Saysay," "Haro Soresa," and "Tirtiro Goye."

"Good Coffee Doesn't Come Easy": Deep Mountains Above 2000 Meters

Most coffee estates in Ethiopia remain in their natural state. Local coffee farmers venture into the mountains to harvest, selecting only fully red, completely mature coffee cherries through manual picking. African shelving is used for drying, with limited fruit layer thickness and continuous 24-hour scheduled turning to ensure even sun-drying and ventilation, more precise fermentation control, and most local processing plants still use traditional natural processing methods based on experience, resulting in inconsistent quality.

The red-brown organic soil, annual rainfall exceeding 1200mm, altitude, day-night temperature differences, manual hand-picking of pure red cherries, and low-temperature fermentation all contribute to the unique natural environment of the estate.

The harvesting areas for red cherries are more concentrated, and new processing facilities are closer, ensuring faster collection and processing of red cherries. The entire processing process simply involves more refined management under scientific measurement instruments, without any "tradition-breaking" improvements. Sun-drying processing only begins when the cherry sugar content reaches above 21, resulting in exceptionally high sweetness.

At night, to prevent sudden rainfall, thick plastic sheets are used for wrapping. This allows the red cherries to ferment and dehydrate at relatively low temperatures. After 18 days of sun-drying processing, when the moisture content of the green coffee beans drops to around 13%, the sun-drying process stops. The beans are then packed in jute bags and stored in warehouses under natural conditions of 12-22°C and 40-50% humidity for about 50 days of bean resting and further dehydration.

The Roaster's Perspective

As roasters, when we get such excellent beans like the Queen of Coffee Beans, how should we roast them? How should the Queen of Coffee Bean roasting curve be adjusted?

First, I look at the flavor description provided by the green bean supplier, then check the bean moisture content. The freshly received green beans have a fermented wine aroma of coffee flowers, completely different from the grassy aroma of typical green beans. Moreover, the Queen beans vary in size and many have pointed ends (Ethiopia Heirloom - Ethiopian native varieties), with good moisture content around 11%, but not the very hard SHB type beans. Due to the beans' high density and hardness, I extend the dehydration time in the early stages, increasing temperature to enter first crack to preserve the loss of small molecule aromatic substances like floral aromas.

Due to daily production needs, I chose to roast 550g (full capacity). Let me share my experience:

Bean entry temperature: 190°C

Only by changing the drop temperature and development time to adjust the curve:

First batch: Yellowing point at 150.3°C, 5 minutes 55 seconds, dropped at 196°C, first crack development 1 minute 40 seconds, first crack at 9'55

Second batch: Yellowing point at 151°C, 5 minutes 51 seconds, dropped at 193°C, first crack development 1 minute 30 seconds, first crack at 9'50

Cupping Results

The cupping results are as follows:

First roast: The wet aroma has distinct, strong green tea and floral notes. When slurping, there are aromas of green tea, jasmine, lime, and cane sugar. The mouthfeel is light and clean, with gentle, fresh acidity. However, the aftertaste is insufficient, leaving only some sweetness in the mouth. But it's very light to drink, more like drinking tea than coffee.

Second roast: The wet aroma has yellow lemon, floral, and black tea notes, with distinct citrus tones. When slurping, there are aromas of black tea, yellow lemon, caramel, and jasmine. The flavors begin to become richer and more substantial at this roast level. The initial acidity is more elegant, sweetness is perceived more quickly, and the sweetness is higher. Fermented wine aroma, cream, tropical fruits, and jackfruit create a more balanced profile.

Optimized Roasting Profile

After roasting and adjustments, using Taiwan's Yang Jia 800N machine, and after cupping, I finally determined profile #2, which I'm quite satisfied with:

Enter beans at 190°C, complete dehydration and yellowing in close to 6 minutes (yellow point around 150-153°C)

First crack begins around 9 minutes 50+ seconds (the Queen's first crack is later than typical beans, and the cracking sound is very weak)

Development time after first crack should not exceed 1 minute 30 seconds, nor be less than 1 minute (recommend opening the damper and reducing heat to control speed)

When smelling the sample spoon, you should be able to detect strawberry jam aroma around 193°C, then you can drop the beans

Total time should ideally be controlled within 11 minutes.

Brewing Methods

As for brewing methods, pour-over and siphon brewing are optimal. When grinding, you can smell the intense natural fruit aroma, with noticeable sweetness.

Elegant and refined, sweet and charming. Yirgacheffe emits extremely complex aromas and demonstrates exceptional mouthfeel that is difficult to describe.

Using a Wave filter, 15g of coffee, water temperature 89°C, grind setting 3.5

Water-to-coffee ratio close to 1:15

30g water for bloom, bloom time 35s

分段：30-105-90, time 2:03 (timing starts from bloom)

Mouthfeel: Smooth, with layered complexity, enhanced fermented berry sweetness

The produced wet aroma of fermented berries and fruit wine is astonishing. The entrance is extremely smooth, leading to delicate body, with the emergence of ripe fruit's sweet and sour notes—truly impressive. The sweetness is prominent, clean, and the aftertaste performs quite well.

Recommended Queen Coffee Bean Brands

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Queen Coffee Beans offer full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer exceptional value—at only 98 yuan for a 227-gram package. Calculating at 15g per cup, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 6 yuan. Compared to the dozens of yuan per cup price in coffee shops, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473