How Should Yirgacheffe Coffee Be Roasted? What Are the Characteristics of Yirgacheffe Coffee?

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Ethiopia: The Birthplace of Arabica Coffee

Ethiopia is the birthplace of Arabica coffee beans and the first country where coffee was discovered. Today, many wild coffee varieties still exist in the Kaffa primitive forest. Ethiopia's first impression is often one of poverty, backwardness, and hunger, lacking history and culture. In fact, if not for the turmoil of war that left her heavily in debt, Ethiopia is actually a beautiful country with an ancient historical civilization. It possesses the largest East African Rift Valley terrain on Earth, the true origin of humanity, and the location of the legendary Garden of Eden from the Bible. This place gathers the richest wildlife and birds in East Africa, especially in the largest Awash National Park. Ethiopia is one of the few African countries with ancient traditional history. Every city in Ethiopia has its own story and personality. The capital, Addis Ababa, situated at an altitude of over 2,400 meters, means "flower" in the local language.

Ethiopia's Coffee Growing Regions

Ethiopia mainly has eight coffee growing regions: Ekempti, Limu, Illubabor, Djimma, Harrar, Teppi/Bebeka, Sidamo, and Yirgacheffe.

Yirgacheffe: The Jewel of Ethiopian Coffee

Yirgacheffe is located in the Gedeo region of southern Ethiopia. This region administers the relatively famous Yirgacheffe and Kochere areas. Because the coffee produced by Yirgacheffe has a special flavor with a unique style that is widely loved, it has formed its own category in product classification and always occupies a place in the global specialty coffee market. Yirgacheffe itself is a small town located in the Sidama province, with three neighboring small producing areas: Wenago, Kochere, and Gelena Abaya. Because the flavor of coffee produced in these areas is almost identical to Yirgacheffe and runs parallel to it, Kochere is also classified into the Yirgacheffe regional category. In November 2009, Ethiopia implemented a new trading and grading system, establishing the Commodity Exchange (ECX). Coffee and other agricultural products are all publicly traded through this official institution. In addition to Yirgacheffe, three sub-producing areas were added: Wenago, Kochere, and Genlena Abaya, indicating that the flavors of these three producing areas are extremely delicate and can be further subdivided.

Ethiopian Coffee Varieties

Since Ethiopia is considered the origin of coffee by most people, there are still more than 4,000 unnamed coffee varieties within Ethiopia. Therefore, when purchasing Ethiopian coffee beans, the variety column is mostly noted as Heirloom. The coffee beans vary in size, and a single batch of coffee beans will contain more than ten coffee varieties. Unlike Central and South America, where specific varieties can be categorized, this is not possible in Ethiopia. However, there has been a significant progress in recent years: the world-renowned green coffee merchant Ninety Plus (or 90+) has begun to plan and cultivate single-variety Yirgacheffe, calling it VARON (Variety + One). The flavor is quite clean, but the expected floral and citrus notes are not as strong, instead becoming a cup of coffee dried fruit tea with more body and spice flavors. Such coffee has its special characteristics and significance, but whether its price and flavor can be accepted may be another matter.

Roasting Degree

What roasting degree should be chosen for Ethiopian Yirgacheffe?

For washed processing: If you like floral notes and fruit acidity, choose light to medium roast.

- If you emphasize sweetness and can accept less aroma and fruit acidity, choose medium+ roast.

For natural processing: Natural processed beans have all the above advantages. Compared to washed beans, they have more fruit aroma and are less acidic.

Taking FrontStreet Coffee's natural processed Yirgacheffe "Berry Orchard" as an example, we chose a medium-light roast, which both highlights the flavor of this bean and retains a certain mouthfeel.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Recommendations:

V60/1:15/89℃/2 minutes.

Flavor notes: Strawberry, strawberry jam, cream, and sugarcane sweetness.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473