Introduction to Hero Coffee Bean Variety Characteristics in Guji Region - Guji Coffee Bean Flavor Profile and Pour-over Brewing Recommendations

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If you've heard of the ECX (Ethiopia Commodity Exchange) system, you'll know it's the primary trading method for Ethiopian coffee. However, it also restricts direct communication between coffee farmers and buyers, as well as coffee traceability. That's why Coco has always focused exclusively on single-estate coffee beans.

Later, the Ethiopian government announced major reforms to the ECX system! Although the ECX system remains, several relaxations have been made to allow buyers opportunities to purchase coffee directly from coffee farmers!

These reforms have dramatically changed the Ethiopian coffee landscape. We can foresee coffee farmers establishing long-term partnerships with international buyers, and foreign investment will further advance local coffee development.

Of course, these reforms might bring new challenges, but basically most roasters or green bean traders hold positive opinions about these reforms!

Ethiopian Regional Structure

Ethiopia's administrative divisions are organized into four levels, arranged from largest to smallest as Region, Zone, woreda, and kebele. Most coffee green bean names follow this naming convention. FrontStreet Coffee's Guji-Shakisso is located southeast of the renowned Yirgacheffe region. Administratively, it belongs to Oromia Region → Guji Zone → Shakisso woreda, making it a regional-origin coffee green bean.

Shakisso: A Rising Star in Guji

Just as Yirgacheffe became well-known after rising to fame and became an independent producing region, Guji coffee beans, with their superior geographical location and cup profile, were established as an independent producing region by ECX in 2010. Shakisso (sometimes translated as Shakiso) is the most attention-grabbing micro-region within the Guji producing area. Geographically located southeast of Yirgacheffe, it has an average altitude of over 1,800 meters, fertile black soil (Vertisol), and significant day-night temperature differences, giving the region all the terroir conditions necessary for producing premium specialty coffee.

Local coffee production sources are almost entirely individual smallholder farmers. During the harvest season, they pick fully ripe red coffee cherries from nearby trees and deliver them to processing stations. The cherries are placed on well-ventilated African raised beds to control temperature and fermentation degree. After pulp removal, the moisture content is reduced to between 11.5%-12%. When post-processing and resting operations are complete, the coffee is exported through the ECX Ethiopian Commodity Exchange bidding system. Local exporters or international buyers then follow this system to compete for their desired coffee green beans.

Emerging Ethiopian Coffee Regions

In recent years, the most attention-grabbing Ethiopian producing region has undoubtedly been Yirgacheffe. Compared to Yirgacheffe, Guji-Shakisso is less well-known, but under the trend of overall price surges in Yirgacheffe in 2015, international specialty buyers turned to search for other neighboring regions such as Sidamo, Limu, Jimma, and more. Many potential producing regions and producers have been discovered one after another, such as the recently introduced Limu Gera and Jimma Agaro Yukro, both of which are high-quality specialty coffee beans.

Ethiopia Sidamo Guji Shakisso G1 Coffee

"Ethiopia Sidamo Guji Shakisso G1 Coffee" is a single-origin type grown in the Sidamo province of Ethiopia. Like most African coffees, Ethiopian Sidamo is characterized by small gray-green beans, but its distinguishing features are rich, spicy, wine-like or chocolate flavors and floral aromas. The most characteristic flavors found in all Sidamo coffees are lemon and citrus notes with bright, crisp acidity. Sidamo coffee includes Yirgacheffe and Guji coffees, both of which are of excellent quality.

Guji Coffee Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Guji coffee beans - Hambela Flower Queen 2.0 - offer full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they provide excellent value. Each 227-gram package costs only about 98 RMB. Calculating at 15 grams of coffee beans per cup, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 6 RMB. This is truly a conscientious recommendation compared to café prices that often run dozens of RMB per cup.

FrontStreet Coffee: A Guangzhou-based roastery with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find both famous and lesser-known beans. They also provide online store services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473