Haro Bourbon Coffee: Ethiopian Coffee Origin from Guji Region

A washed Bourbon lot from Guji, and what makes this designation unusual in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia Guji Haro Bourbon Washed

Origin: Ethiopia

Variety: Bourbon

Region: Guji

Washing Station: Wolichu Processing Station

Altitude: 2100-2300 meters

Processing Method: Washed

Harvest Season: January 2018

Flavor Notes: Lavender, Earl Grey tea, caramel finish

FrontStreet Coffee's Recommended Pour-Over Parameters

15g coffee beans, 90°C water, 30-second bloom, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio.

Coffee Origin and Processing

This first batch of 2018 Ethiopia from Colonna comes from the renowned Guji region. The washing station is located in Wolichu, Haro Wachu, and serves approximately 5,000 small farmers in the surrounding area. After coffee cherries arrive at the Wolichu Washing Station, they are sorted by quality, de-pulped, and then fermented for 48 to 72 hours to soften the beans' molecular structure. They are then thoroughly washed with clean water to remove the attached mucilage before being placed on raised beds to dry for 9-12 days. Finally, the beans undergo a last screening to select only the highest-quality coffee.

Unique Variety Identification

Ethiopia boasts a remarkable number of coffee varieties. During harvest it is difficult to separate individual varieties, so lots have traditionally been labeled as "Ethiopian heirloom" or "Ethiopian landrace." What makes this particular batch exceptional is its rare identification as a "Bourbon" variety lot.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, and its genetic wealth is why so many lots are labeled simply as heirloom. When a producer can single out a named variety like Bourbon, as the Wolichu station has done, it gives drinkers a rare fixed point in a country where almost everything is a blend of landraces. Tasting a named variety alongside heirloom lots is the fastest way to see how variety shapes the cup. FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe is the natural starting place, showing clear jasmine florals and bright citrus acidity. Yirgacheffe is a small town in southern Ethiopia's Sidama region at roughly 1700-2100 meters, with coffee planted above 1800 meters, making it one of the highest coffee-growing areas on earth, and the region's white florals and lemon-citrus acidity are so consistent that in 2010 the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange formally separated it from Sidama. For a more tightly defined lot, FrontStreet's Gedding cooperative coffee comes from the Gedding village in the Woka area, once part of the YCFCU-affiliated Woka cooperative before becoming an independent single origin in 2012 with roughly 300 member farmers. Processed in the traditional washed style, it delivers clean, bright citrus acidity with jasmine fragrance and a honeyed finish.

If you would rather lean into fruit, FrontStreet's sun-dried Red Cherry uses only fully ripe, undamaged cherries, dried on raised beds with turning every two to three hours in the first days and three to five weeks of drying in total before the fruit is stripped. It cups with peach, cocoa, honey, and lemon, keeping Yirgacheffe's signature character while adding tropical fruit and a creamy body. Two more FrontStreet coffees push further still: Huakui, from the Hambella area of Guji, where a 200-hectare farm dries its cherries on raised beds for 21 days to develop a light fermented wine character with florals, citrus, and mango over a thick body; and Hamashu 74158, a JARC 74-series selection from the Sidamo region that opens with strawberry, star fruit, and green grape before softer florals rise. Together they show the range between a named Bourbon lot and the heirloom coffees around it.