How to Roast Sidamo Coffee Beans? Sidamo Coffee Bean Roasting Recommendations & Sidamo Coffee Bean Prices

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Sidamo Coffee Bean Region Introduction

Sidamo Region

Sidamo coffee beans offer extremely diverse flavors. Different soil types, microclimates, and countless native coffee varieties characterize the region, with towering mountains, highlands, plateaus, valleys, and plains creating diverse topography. The local geology consists of nutrient-rich, well-drained volcanic soil with depths reaching nearly two meters, and surface soil appearing dark brown or brown. Sidamo grows in the southernmost Ethiopian highlands at elevations between 4,600-7,200 feet (Sidamo Province), making it a renowned specialty coffee region in southern Ethiopia. Bordering Kenya, located southeast of Jimma and directly south of the capital, it typically exhibits distinct sweetness that appeals to many people. With an annual output of approximately 225,000 bags/60kg, Sidamo coffee beans offer extremely diverse flavors. Different soil types, microclimates, and countless native coffee varieties create this diversity, with towering mountains, highlands, plateaus, valleys, and plains forming varied topography. The local geology consists of nutrient-rich, well-drained volcanic soil with depths reaching nearly two meters, and surface soil appearing dark brown or brown. The region's greatest advantage lies in soil fertility maintained through organic matter recycling, using fallen leaves from surrounding trees or plant residues as fertilizer. This creates distinct differences and characteristics in the coffee produced by various towns.

From 2010 to 2012, it consistently achieved high scores of 92-94 from the authoritative American coffee evaluation website CR. This demonstrates the exceptional quality of green beans from this region.

Guji Region Introduction

The Guji region is located southeast of the renowned Yirgacheffe region.

Administratively, it belongs to the Oromia Region → Guji Zone and is classified as regional coffee green beans. Like Yirgacheffe, which became widely known after gaining fame, Guji Zone became an independent sub-region within the broader Sidamo area. This batch originates from coffee smallholders near the town of Dara Woreda in Sidamo Province, produced by the Shilcho Cooperative. This cooperative was established in 1976 and is currently a member of the Sidamo Province Cooperative Union SCFCU (Sidama Coffee Farmer Cooperative Union). SCFCU is a major coffee cooperative union in Ethiopia, currently comprising about 46 member cooperatives, making it the second-largest coffee entity in Ethiopia.

Processing Method

Natural processing is the oldest and most traditional method for coffee beans. Compared to washed processing, coffee processed this way is also called "natural coffee" or "sun-dried coffee." The harvested coffee cherries are dried directly in sunlight for about two to four weeks. This method is typically used in countries with distinct dry and wet seasons.

1. First, harvest ripe coffee cherries
2. Initially sort out impurities and defective beans
3. Screen floating beans: Pour coffee cherries into water tanks. Ripe, full cherries will sink to the bottom, while unripe or damaged cherries will float to the surface.
4. Natural drying method: Remove the ripe coffee cherries that sank to the bottom and spread them in drying fields for sun-drying, reducing moisture content from 70% to about 10-12%. The cherries must be turned several times daily for even drying, and covered at night to avoid moisture absorption.
5. Remove outer shell: After about two to four weeks of sun exposure, the outer layers of the coffee seeds become dry and hard. At this point, use a hulling machine to remove the outer shell to complete the process.

Green Bean Analysis

Sidamo Coffee Bean - Lion King Natural Processing

Ethiopia has nearly 2,000 recorded coffee varieties. Ethiopia's coffee varieties are like a "grand landscape" with everything imaginable—long, short, thin, fat—making them difficult to identify and thus called local native varieties. The beans are medium-sized but also include dwarf small-grain varieties with relatively poor disease resistance. They are tall, robust, and moderate in tree form.

Roasting Analysis

This Sidamo coffee bean has relatively small green beans, yellowish-green in color, with poor uniformity and low moisture content. The roasting target is light-medium roast,一方面保留明亮的酸质，一方面展现多层次的热带水果类风味香气.

In the first batch of roasting, the drop temperature was relatively high, with an entry temperature of 200°C and relatively high heat. During the roasting process, it was discovered that these beans have extremely high altitude and very hard bean density. To avoid uneven roasting caused by inconsistent green bean sizes, a roasting approach of extended dehydration, gradual heat reduction, and stable ascent was adopted. Heat was adjusted finer when the beans entered the yellowing point, completed dehydration, and showed first crack signs, avoiding bean surface scorching. The beans were removed from the roaster between dense first crack and the end of first crack, shortening the caramelization reaction time while preserving flavor clarity and floral-fruity aromas.

Roasting machine: Yang Jia 600g semi-direct heat

Heat to 200°C, damper setting 3. After 30s, adjust heat to 160°C, damper unchanged. Return to temperature point at 1'35", maintain heat. At 4'50", bean surface turns yellow, grassy aroma completely disappears, entering dehydration stage. Heat reduced to 120°C, damper adjusted to 4.

This Sidamo coffee bean Lion King natural processed has a near-floral aroma with relatively obvious fruit flavors. It's smooth, balanced, and lively with multi-layered complexity.

Sidamo Coffee Bean Brewing Analysis

Recommended brewing method: pour-over

Grind size: (Japan Mini Fuji R440) 3.5

V60 dripper, 15g coffee, water temperature 90°C

Grind size 3.5

Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15

Pouring stages: Pour water to 125g, pause, then slowly pour to 225g

Total time 2 minutes 3 seconds

BG grind 4H, water temperature 90°C

Total water: 225g

Sweetness: ☆☆

Acidity: ☆

Bitterness: ☆

Other drip extraction suggestions:

French press: Recommended grind size 3.5-4, water temperature 91°C

Sidamo Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Sidamo Flower Champion coffee beans offer full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they provide extremely high value-for-money. A 227-gram package costs only 98 yuan. Calculating at 15g per cup, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 6 yuan. Compared to café prices that often reach tens of yuan per cup, this represents 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