Ethiopia Coffee | Wotte Konga Premium Red Cherry | Single Origin Coffee Bean Recommendation

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FrontStreet Coffee Single Origin Coffee Bean Recommendation -- Ethiopia Coffee Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Project

Ethiopia - Yirgacheffe "Wote Konga" Premium Red Cherry Natural

Ethiopia - Yirgacheffe "Wote Konga Washing Station" Gr1 Natural

Region: Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region, GEDEO ZONE, Yirgacheffe

Farm Owners: Small farmers around Wote Konga WS

Variety: Heirloom

Harvesting Method: Manual picking - further manual screening of harvested cherries

Processing Station: Wote Konga Washing Station (Adane Alemaehu)

Altitude: Surrounding farms 1,900-2,200 meters, wet mill 2,050 meters

Flavor Profile: Clean taste with pronounced notes of dried strawberry, floral aromas, and chocolate-like tones

Description

The Red Cherry Project is a local small-scale quality improvement initiative that encourages coffee farmers to produce high-quality beans. Before the harvest season, the OLP (local producer organization) invites local coffee farmers to participate in producing micro-batch lots that are 100% fully ripe and undergo multiple rounds of hand sorting. The OLP also safeguards bean quality through secure and stable transportation and timely, appropriate processing.

Natural (dry) processing is a typical coffee refining method in this region.

Processing:

Complete Washed Processing

Beans are fully soaked in water tanks for 36-72 hours, with the water changed daily. After thorough washing and density sorting, beans are screened and placed on African raised beds. Following one day of shade drying, they are sun-dried directly on the raised beds during the cooler morning and evening hours. During periods of strong sunlight, the beans are covered with burlap for shade drying. Plastic sheeting is also kept on hand to protect against sudden rain.

Drying Mill:

After completing the washed processing described above, the parchment coffee is sent to the drying mill for hulling and subsequent work.

Dehulling -> impurity removal -> size sorting -> density sorting -> electronic sorting -> manual sorting

During manual sorting, coffee beans travel on conveyor belts, with workers seated on both sides hand-sorting while the belt is stopped. Usually the belt stops for only 2-3 minutes, but for this particular lot it stops for 10 minutes. Moreover, this work is performed by senior staff with more than 10 years of experience, making it a truly special grade.

In the Konga region there are many agricultural cooperatives and private washing stations. Because the Konga River flows through the area, people commonly refer to them all as Konga stations. To distinguish and clarify this specific site, the name "Wote Konga Washing Station" is used.

Yirgacheffe Konga Wote

The Wote washing station is located in the Konga sub-region of Yirgacheffe. Private washing stations here collect cherries from the surrounding coffee farmers. Yirgacheffe has always been known for washed beans dominated by clean florals and bright acidity, and Wote may well be the small zone with the most complex and intense flavors in all of Yirgacheffe.

Wote is the name of the small stream that flows past the washing station, and the water used for processing comes from this stream. The cherries processed at Wote are harvested and delivered by some 600-700 farming families from the surrounding area. Each farmer owns an average of less than one hectare of land, with fewer than 1,500 coffee trees planted per hectare, and each tree yields only about 100-200g of green coffee. The growing altitude is around 1,800-2,000 meters.

Harvested cherries come from family gardens, mixing improved varieties with native heirloom varieties from the forest - the type commonly referred to as Yirgacheffe heirloom. After depulping, the coffee undergoes wet fermentation, is graded in flowing water channels, soaked in clean water, and finally sun-dried. Fermentation in the tanks lasts 24-36 hours, while the clean-water soak ranges from 12-25 hours. Drying takes approximately 12-15 days, and the raised beds are covered with nylon netting.

The owner of the washing station is Mergya, who employs about 100 workers.

FrontStreet Coffee: a roastery in Guangzhou with a small storefront but a diverse range of beans, where you can find both famous and lesser-known origins. Online store services are also available.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Yirgacheffe is a small town in southern Ethiopia's Sidamo region, sitting at roughly 1,700-2,100 meters, with coffee planted above 1,800 meters - among the highest coffee zones in the world. Its instantly recognizable white jasmine florals and lemon-citrus acidity have made the name synonymous with Ethiopian specialty coffee. FrontStreet's washed Yirgacheffe house coffee, with white jasmine, bright citrus-lemon acidity, and a tea-like finish, remains the classic first bean for newcomers to the region.

The FrontStreet Red Cherry lot featured here uses full red-cherry natural processing: only completely ripe, defect-free cherries are picked, screened once more at the station, and laid out on raised beds to dry, turned every 2-3 hours during the first days to prevent uneven heating and over-fermentation. After three to five weeks of sun-drying, the dried fruit is hulled and stored. Because the bean dries inside the fruit, it keeps classic Yirgacheffe character while gaining tropical fruit from the natural process - citrus-like acidity, berry juiciness, honeyed sweetness, and a creamy smoothness.

Brewing suggestion from FrontStreet: use a V60, 15g of coffee at a 1:15 ratio, water at 90-91°C, and a grind similar to fine granulated sugar. Pour 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour up to about 125g by the 1-minute mark, and finish with the remaining water to roughly 225g by 1 minute 35 seconds; the drawdown completes in about 2:00-2:10.