Daily Brewing | What Dripper and Pour-Over Parameters Should Be Used for Sidamo Guji Extraction?

With the "rise" of acidic coffees in recent years, FrontStreet Coffee believes everyone has heard of Guanyin coffee. Just from the name, you can tell it's something special - bright citrus and berry notes, with a delightful sweet-tart balance like juice that leaves a lasting impression. A good cup of coffee is characterized by balanced sweet, sour, and bitter flavors, along with a smooth texture. The design of pour-over cones aims to highlight these characteristics. However, different pour-over cones produce different styles of coffee. In this article, we'll first get to know this popular Guanyin coffee, then use different types of pour-over cones to brew it and see what differences emerge.

Why is Guanyin Coffee So Famous?

In coffee shops, "Guanyin" refers to a natural-processed coffee bean from the Hambella region in Ethiopia's Sidamo zone. Its full English name is "Ethiopia Guji Hambella Buku Abel." Broadly speaking, it's a champion coffee from Ethiopia; more specifically, it's a specialty natural batch produced by the Buku Abel processing station in the Hambella region.

The impressive nickname "Guanyin" was actually given by domestic green bean traders after this coffee won the TOH natural category championship, chosen to fit Chinese cultural context and meaning "first among all flowers." Later, with extensive promotion by various merchants, it gained the reputation of "comparable to Geisha." With its famous name, excellent quality, rich and juicy fruit flavors, affordable price, high extraction compatibility (easy to brew), and appealing name, the combination of these advantages has not only made Guanyin stand out among Ethiopian coffees but has also made it the first choice for many friends trying single-origin coffee for the first time.

If you search for "Guanyin coffee" on shopping platforms, you'll notice that it often comes with a number, such as Guanyin 5.0, Guanyin 7.0, etc. Many friends wonder what this number actually means.

As FrontStreet Coffee just mentioned, before this coffee was called "Guanyin," it only had one English name: "Hambella," which translates to "罕贝拉" in Chinese. To put it simply, what we call "Guanyin coffee" is actually a traditional natural-processed Grade 1 coffee bean from the Hambella region, with "Buku Abel" processing station providing more detailed traceability information, located in Dimtu town.

After Guanyin became famous overnight, to meet the surge in market demand, DW company established five independent green bean drying processing stations in Hambella Wamena Wereda, all located within the core Dimtu town area. Besides the original Buku Abel, four other small villages - Buku Saysay, Haro Soresa, Tirtiro Goye, and Seke Bokosa - also joined the production of natural-processed coffee beans. It's reported that during this time, the annual production of "Guanyin" under DW company reached tens of millions of tons.

Starting from the 2018 crop season, Guanyin (natural G1 coffee beans) from the same growing region and same processing station already showed some flavor variations. At that time, FrontStreet Coffee discovered through cupping that while the 2018 and 2019 Guanyin had flavors similar to the 2017 Guanyin, they didn't match the "first-generation Guanyin" in terms of body, aftertaste, and other mouthfeel aspects.

Therefore, to continue selling this natural-processed coffee from Hambella while distinguishing it from the original version, domestic green bean trading companies established an X.0 suffix for each year's batch, counting forward from 2017. For example, the 2018 batch was called "Guanyin 2.0," the 2019 production was called "Guanyin 3.0 and 3.1"... Last year's release was "Guanyin 7.0," and by extension, this year's latest version is naturally "Guanyin 8.0." This way, we can easily determine which year's batch our purchased Guanyin belongs to through this suffix.

Pour-Over Coffee: Which Filter Cone to Choose?

The existence of filter cones can be considered the hallmark of pour-over coffee. A practical filter cone can make the brewing results of each bag of coffee beans more consistent. Generally, price differences in filter cones are reflected in design patents, materials, and appearance. If pursuing high cost-effectiveness, FrontStreet Coffee recommends the resin version of V60 cone and wave filter cone. FrontStreet Coffee uses the resin size 01 filter cone when brewing with V60 cones - the resin material prevents heat loss, and the size 01 is suitable for single-serve brewing.

Due to the V60's fast drainage characteristic, FrontStreet Coffee uses a slightly finer grind to increase the contact area between coffee grounds and water, allowing for more thorough extraction and fuller flavor development. However, the finer the coffee is ground, the more easily the coffee grounds can accumulate at the bottom of the filter paper, increasing water flow resistance, slowing down the flow rate, extending extraction time, and making the coffee prone to over-extraction, resulting in unpleasant woody and miscellaneous flavors. Therefore, we also need to pay attention to pouring technique to avoid clogging in the later stages.

If you want to extract the coffee's flavor while maintaining stability, FrontStreet Coffee suggests continuously expanding the circular pouring range from the center outward after the bloom phase. As the water level rises, use the water stream to thoroughly wash the coffee grounds, ensuring even extraction. Here, FrontStreet Coffee uses our own roasted Guanyin 8.0 coffee beans as an example, with 15g of coffee, a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, and a total of 225g water, yielding approximately 200g of coffee liquid after filtering, using a three-stage extraction method.

Filter cone: V60
Water temperature: 91°C
Coffee amount: 15g
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Grind size: 80% pass-through through 20-mesh standard sieve

First stage: Pour 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, starting the timer while pouring. Use a small water stream to pour from the center point outward in circles, ensuring the entire coffee bed is moistened.

After 30 seconds, begin pouring the second stage with a slightly larger water stream, steadily adding 95g of water. The goal is to lift the entire coffee bed, requiring vertical and even water stream injection. At this point, the timer scale shows 125g, with pouring completed around 55 seconds.

When the water level drops to about halfway, begin using a small water stream in small circles to pour the final 100g. Try to control the water stream to not pour too wide, as this can easily scatter the coffee grounds and cause under-extraction. Finally, the total water poured reaches 225g, with completion time around 2 minutes. After removing the filter cone, shake the coffee liquid in the serving pot evenly and it's ready to taste.

Important Notice :

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Tel:020 38364473