The Story of the 2018 New Season Ethiopian Sidamo Hambela Flower Queen 2.0

Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style).

Ethiopian Sidamo Shakisso Natural - Flower Champion

Product Name: Ethiopia Natural Sidamo G1 Flower Champion

Coffee Origin: Africa, Ethiopia

Coffee Estate: Guji, Hambella Wamena, Buku Able Estate

Coffee Variety: Heirloom (Ethiopia local native varieties)

Altitude: 2250-2350m

Quality Grade: G1

Processing Method: Natural (African drying beds)

01 | Estate Introduction

How did the Flower Champion get its name?

In 2017, Ethiopia's DW green coffee company sent their coffee beans to the TOH (The Taste of Harvest) competition organized by the African Coffee Association. The natural batch won the TOH Ethiopia championship. This batch of green beans, as a champion, was named "Flower Champion."

Flower Champion is located in Hambella, which is part of Ethiopia's largest coffee producing region Guji, administratively belonging to the Oromia region. Hambella faces the Yirgacheffe Kochore region across mountains to the west, and borders Guji's Shakiso, Uraga, and Kercha sub-regions to the southeast, east, and north respectively. It is Ethiopia's highest altitude coffee sub-region (Harrar is Ethiopia's highest altitude main producing region).

Awards

2016/2017 Harvest Season Ethiopia National Taste of Harvest Competition Champion

2017 Regional Africa Taste of Harvest Competition Runner-up

2018 New Harvest Season Ethiopian Flower Champion 2.0

FrontStreet Coffee has newly acquired the 2018 new harvest season Ethiopian Flower Champion 2.0, from the core Hambella producing region, a micro-batch from the Mountain Spring Processing Station.

Currently, there are about 20 processing stations of various scales in the Hambella region. As a coffee green bean company "rooted" in Ethiopia's coffee producing regions, Hong Shun has established four natural processing stations through cooperation in the GUJI Hambella region since 2016, and conducted a series of studies on natural processing methods using the region's high-quality coffee varieties during the 2017/18 harvest season. The four estate processing stations in Hambella's core region are "Dire" Church Processing Station, "Mansa" Pond Processing Station, "Bobea" Red Flag Processing Station, and "Goro Baessa" Mountain Spring Processing Station. Goro Baessa is a small village surrounded by mountains at an altitude of 2280 meters. December is its coffee harvest season each year, when the mountains are filled with bright red mature coffee cherries, neatly arranged on African drying beds in the village. This is where "Flower Champion" is processed.

02 | Processing Method

Most coffee estates in Ethiopia remain in their natural state. Local coffee farmers go into the mountains to harvest. With red-brown organic soil, annual rainfall exceeding 1200mm, altitude, and day-night temperature differences, Flower Champion only selects fully red, completely mature coffee cherries, all hand-picked.

African rack drying, limiting fruit layer thickness and continuously turning every 24 hours, allowing low-temperature fermentation in the estate's unique natural environment.

During the harvest and processing season (December-January), its unique growing environment and natural climate create Flower Champion's distinctive flavor profile. We only begin natural processing when the sugar content of the harvested red cherries reaches above 30. In the first two days of natural processing, we ensure the moisture of the red cherries to allow their fructose to fully begin fermentation reactions. Meanwhile, the high-altitude geographical location allows the processing station's nighttime temperature to drop to around 12 degrees Celsius, preventing over-fermentation odors due to high temperatures. When temperatures are higher at noon, we promptly provide shade to prevent sun damage to the red cherries.

Flower Champion 2.0, Mountain Spring Processing Station micro-batch, only begins natural processing when red cherry sugar content reaches above 21, resulting in quite high sweetness. Combined with 21 days of low-temperature fermentation (generally natural processing takes about ten days), this ensures even drying and ventilation, and more precise control of fermentation degree.

Compared to last year's local mixed variety "Flower Champion," "Flower Champion 2.0" has more consistent bean shape and cleaner processing. Through cupping evaluation, this year's "Flower Champion" not only has rich and enchanting floral aromas, mellow red wine and tropical fruit flavors, but also has added bright juice-like acidity and sweetness.

The entire processing process is only more refined management under the guidance of scientific measuring instruments, without any "tradition-breaking" improved processes. Natural processing only begins when red cherry sugar content reaches above 21, resulting in quite high sweetness.

At night, thick plastic sheets are used to wrap the cherries to prevent sudden rainfall. This allows the red cherries to ferment and dehydrate at relatively low temperatures. After 18 days of natural processing, when the moisture content of the green coffee beans drops to about 13%, natural processing is stopped. The beans are packed in jute bags and stored in natural conditions at 12-22 degrees Celsius and 40-50% humidity for about 50 days of bean resting and further dehydration.

03 | Green Bean Analysis

The variety is local heirloom, small bean variety, with relatively round shape. The beans are very small, mostly between 14-15 mesh, smaller than Longberry, greenish-yellow. There is significant variation in bean size.

04 | Roasting Analysis

When a roaster gets such excellent beans [Flower Champion], how should they roast them? How should the Flower Champion roasting curve be adjusted?

First, I look at the flavor description provided by the green bean supplier, then check the bean moisture content. The freshly received green beans have a fermented wine aroma of coffee flowers, completely different from the grassy aroma of typical green beans. Moreover, Flower Champion green beans vary in size and many are pointed at both ends (Ethiopia Heirloom - Ethiopia native varieties). The moisture content is good, around 11%, but they're not the very hard SHB type beans. Due to the beans' high density and hardness, I extend the dehydration time in the early stage, enter first crack with temperature increase before first crack, trying to preserve the loss of small molecular aromatic substances like floral aromas.

Due to daily production needs, I chose a roasting amount of 550g (full load) for bean input, sharing my experience:

Bean input temperature: 190 degrees Celsius

Only adjust the curve by changing the drop temperature and development time:

First batch: Yellowing point: 150.3 degrees, 5 minutes 55 seconds, drop at 196 degrees, first crack development 1 minute 40 seconds, first crack point at 9'55

Second batch: Yellowing point: 151 degrees, 5 minutes 51 seconds, drop at 193 degrees, first crack development 1 minute 30 seconds, first crack point at 9'50

Cupping Two Adjusted Curves:

First batch: Wet aroma has obvious strong green tea aroma and floral fragrance. Sipping reveals green tea, jasmine, lime, and cane sugar aromas. The mouthfeel is light and clean, with soft and fresh acidity. However, the aftertaste is insufficient, with only some sweetness remaining in the mouth. But it's very easy to drink, like drinking tea rather than coffee.

Second batch: Wet aroma has yellow lemon, floral, black tea fragrance, with obvious citrus tones. Sipping reveals black tea, yellow lemon, caramel, and jasmine aromas. The flavor begins to become richer and more substantial at this roast level. The entrance acidity is more elegant, sweetness is perceived more quickly, sweetness is also higher, with fermented wine aroma, cream, tropical fruits, jackfruit, more balanced.

The cupping results are as follows:

After cupping, line 2 was finally determined as my preferred curve:

190 degrees bean input, complete dehydration and yellowing in nearly 6 minutes. (Yellow point around 150-153 degrees)

First crack begins around 9 minutes 50 seconds (Flower Champion's first crack occurs later than typical beans, and the crack sound is very weak)

The development time after first crack should be controlled not to exceed 1 minute 30 seconds, nor be less than 1 minute. (Recommend opening the air damper and reducing heat to control speed)

When smelling the sampling spoon, around 193 degrees you can smell strawberry jam aroma, then it's ready to drop the beans

Overall time control within 11 minutes is optimal.

04 | Brewing Analysis

As for brewing methods, pour-over and siphon brewing are optimal. When grinding, you can smell the overwhelming natural fruit aroma and obvious sweetness.

A good cup of coffee is characterized by balanced sweet, sour, and bitter flavors, along with smooth mouthfeel. The design of drippers is intended to showcase these characteristics of coffee. However, different drippers produce coffee with different styles.

This time I used beans from the Sidamo Guji region's Flower Champion [Flower Champion 2.0] Mountain Spring Processing Station micro-batch.

I chose a resin V60 dripper to give the coffee richer acidity changes from hot to cold, making this cup of coffee more refined. The resin material can enhance aroma intensity.

Regarding Grind Size

For light roast, we use relatively medium-fine grind.

The coarseness of coffee grinding directly affects extraction time and extraction rate. The finer the coffee is ground, the denser the coffee bed, with more coffee particles contacting hot water, increasing extraction resistance, making it easier to extend extraction time and increase extraction rate, but it's easy to over-extract.

Conversely, the coarser the coffee is ground, the larger the gaps in the coffee bed, with fewer coffee particles contacting hot water, reducing extraction resistance, making it harder to extend extraction time and lowering extraction rate, making it easy to under-extract. Therefore, the finer the coffee is ground, it will extend extraction time and increase extraction rate; the coarser the coffee is ground, it will shorten extraction time and decrease extraction rate.

Dripper: Hario V60 transparent resin

Grind setting: Small Fuji 3.5

Water temperature: 90°C

Pour 25g water for 30-second bloom, segment when pouring to 120g water, finish brewing at 226g.

Total time: 2 minutes 5 seconds

The aroma has obvious muskmelon fragrance, strawberry jam. The entrance brings jackfruit-like soft acidity, with strawberry berry flavors emerging in the middle section, along with some cane sugar sweet aftertaste, creating a relatively rich layered experience.

Sharing learning results with everyone, contributing to the industry.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473