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Guji, its terroir, and the cup that won the 2018 Taste of Harvest.

Guji Coffee Region

Guji is part of Oromia, Ethiopia's largest coffee-producing region, and it takes its name from the Oromo community. The Guji zone borders the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region, which includes the Gedeo zone, home to Yirgacheffe, and the Sidama zone. Ethiopia holds the richest coffee genetic diversity on earth, with wild native varieties still growing in its forests. The cherries behind this lot were grown at an extraordinary 1900-2380 meters. Abundant rainfall, fertile soil, and Ethiopia's complex ancient native varieties gave it every advantage, and dense fruit, concentrated flavor, and slow, careful, well-controlled processing made the championship thoroughly deserved.

Sidamo Coffee Region

The Sidamo growing area lies in southern Ethiopia's celebrated specialty coffee belt, where high-altitude conditions prevail. Influenced by the southeast monsoon off the Indian Ocean, it has sharply divided dry and wet seasons and a mineral-rich terroir, making it an almost perfect environment tailor-made for Arabica coffee.

Ethiopia Sidamo Guji Flavor Profile

Ethiopia Sidamo Guji is hand-sorted to remove defective beans and processed by the natural, or sun-dried, method. The dry aroma shows vibrant floral and fruity sweetness with subtle almond notes. During brewing, roasted nut aromas emerge with hints of lemon and licorice sweetness. On the first sip, the bright acidity reveals distinct jasmine notes, followed by the sweet-and-tart character of hibiscus. As it cools slightly, cedar and lemon aromas appear, finishing with a cocoa-like bittersweet aftertaste. The layers of complexity make this bean hard to pass up.

2018 Africa Taste of Harvest Champion

Taste of Harvest, or TOH, is a green bean competition organized by the African Fine Coffees Association among African producing countries, similar in spirit to the Cup of Excellence in Central and South America. There are currently seven member countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, and the Republic of Congo. The competition is split into regional and continental rounds, with preliminaries eliminating batches that score below 80 points. TOH selects the highest-quality green beans from each producing region, which are cupped and scored by domestic and international judges against Specialty Coffee Association of America standards. This lot posted the highest score of 88.58 points to take the championship.

Guji Coffee Region Details

What sets Guji apart within Oromia is how its highland forests and ancient landraces interact with altitude and rainfall. The zone's 1900-2380 meter range is reflected directly in the cup, where concentrated fruit and lively acidity coexist. Because so many of the trees are local heirloom varieties rather than named cultivars, each smallholder's plot can taste subtly different, which is part of why Guji lots are valued for their density of flavor and their layered structure.

Guji Coffee Bean Brand Recommendation

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Guji coffee beans, sold as Hambela Flower Queen 2.0, carry full assurance in brand and quality. Just as importantly, they offer strong value. Calculating at 15 grams of coffee per cup, a 227-gram package makes 15 cups, which keeps the cost per cup very reasonable compared with the prices charged in most cafes.

If you enjoy Guji's floral and fruit-forward character, FrontStreet's wider Ethiopian roster is worth exploring as a way to compare growing regions side by side.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Guji and Yirgacheffe sit close together in southern Ethiopia, and tasting them side by side is one of the clearest ways to understand how much a few dozen kilometers of terroir can change a cup. For newcomers, FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe is the classic entry point, known for white jasmine florals, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a tea-like body at a friendly price. Yirgacheffe itself is a small town in the Sidama region of southern Ethiopia, sitting at roughly 1700-2100 meters with coffee trees planted above 1800 meters, making it one of the highest coffee-growing areas in the world. It became a byword for Ethiopian specialty coffee after the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange separated it from Sidama in 2010, and its reputation for distinctive white florals and lemon-citrus acidity has held ever since.

For a more specific picture of the region, FrontStreet's Gedding cooperative coffee comes from the Gedding village in the Woka area at the southeastern edge of Yirgacheffe, once part of the YCFCU-affiliated Woka cooperative before becoming a single-origin lot in its own right. Using traditional washed processing, it skips the bitterness associated with older-style coffee and delivers clean, bright citrus and lemon acidity with jasmine fragrance. If you prefer the fruitier side of Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet's sun-dried Red Cherry uses only fully ripe, unblemished cherries, dried on raised beds with turning every two to three hours in the first days and three to five weeks of total drying before the fruit is stripped. The result keeps Yirgacheffe's signature character while adding tropical fruit, citrus acidity, berry juiciness, honey sweetness, and a creamy smoothness that echoes the Guji cup that won in 2018.