Ethiopian Coffee Beans | Ethiopian Coffee Growing Regions | Yirgacheffe ECX Select Washed G1

Ethiopia Yirgacheffe - ECX Speciality Washed G1

2017 Dec. New season beans

Variety: Heirloom

Region: Ethiopia Yirgacheffe

Processing Method: Washed

Grade: ECX Speciality G1

Altitude: 1,800 - 2,000 m

Flavor Description: Wild ginger flower aroma, spiced Earl Grey tea, cocoa notes, sweet and juicy, smooth texture

The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) is an agricultural marketplace where buyers and sellers gather to trade, ensuring quality, delivery, and payment. ECX's vision is to transform Ethiopia's economy by becoming the preferred destination for global commodity markets. Its mission is to connect all buyers and sellers in an efficient, reliable, and transparent market by leveraging innovation and technology, built on a commitment to continuous learning, fairness, and excellence.

ECX has established regional warehouses throughout Ethiopia that provide crop collection, grading, and storage services before lots enter a unified trading auction platform for ECX members. The buyers here are in fact private exporters. Since 2008, Ethiopia has required all private exporters to conduct coffee trading through ECX. Its main shortcoming is the inability to meet today's buyers' demand for coffee traceability. Coffee traded through ECX is classified only by region—it cannot tell you which processing station a lot came from, because lots from many different stations may be mixed together and packed into burlap bags for auction in large batches. But after the strict selection behind a Speciality G1 grade, would you still question its quality?

Ethiopia's old grading method classified coffee purely by defect count: the highest grade for washed coffee was Grade 1 (G1), while the highest grade for natural coffee was Grade 3 (G3). The current grading system, established by ECX, combines physical attribute characteristics with cupping flavor characteristics to determine grade levels.

All coffees are first defined by processing method (natural or washed) into three types:

a. Speciality (washed & unwashed): Few defects, high cupping quality;

b. Commercial (washed & unwashed): Does not reach specialty grade but is higher than the domestic consumption grade;

c. Local/Domestic (washed & unwashed): Coffee with many defects (unripe beans), off-season, or poor storage, resulting in relatively poor flavor.

Of these, Specialty and Commercial are for export to international markets, while Local is sold in the domestic market.

The specific grading and scoring standards of ECX are as follows:

A. Scoring Definition for the Washed Processing Method

1. Physical characteristics account for 40%: Defect count (20%), appearance size (10%), color (5%), aroma (5%)

2. Cupping quality accounts for 60%: Cleanliness (15%), acidity (15%), mouthfeel (15%), flavor characteristics (15%)

B. Scoring Definition for the Natural Processing Method

1. Physical characteristics account for 40%: Defect count (30%), aroma (10%)

2. Cupping quality accounts for 60%: Cleanliness (15%), acidity (15%), mouthfeel (15%), flavor characteristics (15%)

C. Overall Summary

1. All coffees are first classified by processing method into: natural, washed;

2. Each is then scored into 9 grade levels, G1-G9, according to physical characteristics and basic cupping quality;

3. G1-G3 undergo additional cupping according to SCAA standards, with a more detailed assessment of flavor attributes. G1 and G2 scoring 85 points or above are graded as Q1;

4. G1, G2, and G3 scoring between 80 and 85 are graded as Q2, while all G1, G2, and G3 scoring below 80 points are graded as G3;

5. Q1 and Q2 are classified as Specialty Grade for export. G4-G9 keep their original grading unchanged and are exported as Commercial Grade alongside G3.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe everyday coffee: If you are new to Ethiopian coffee, start with the most classic FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe everyday lot, known for its white jasmine florals, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and tea-like finish. Its affordable price has made it the very first specialty bean for many people entering the world of specialty coffee.

Yirgacheffe (Yirga cheffe) is a small town in Ethiopia, located in the Sidamo Province in the country's south, at roughly 1700-2100 meters, with coffee trees planted above 1800 meters—making it one of the highest coffee-growing regions in the world. The land was a wetland in ancient times, and the name Yirgacheffe comes from the old local language. Thanks to its highly recognizable white floral notes and lemon-citrus acidity, Yirgacheffe has become a byword for Ethiopian specialty coffee. In 2010, because Yirgacheffe's fame had grown so great, the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange separated it from the Sidamo region—giving rise to the household name that Yirgacheffe coffee is today.

FrontStreet Guodingding Cooperative coffee: Many people may not realize that Yirgacheffe town actually breaks down into many small growing areas—even individual villages—among which are several cooperatives with seasoned experience and mature processing techniques, whose Yirgacheffe lots rise to another level. The most representative is the FrontStreet Washed Guodingding Cooperative from Guodingding village.

The Guodingding Cooperative sits in the Worka region at the southeastern tip of Yirgacheffe. It was originally part of the Worka Cooperative under the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (YCFCU), but as buyers' pursuit of green-bean traceability grew, it was excavated lot by lot by coffee hunters worldwide as a "single-origin" source. The cooperative follows the most traditional washed processing; hailed as the last unspoiled washed Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet Guodingding Cooperative coffee has none of the traditional bitterness, carrying instead fresh, bright citrus and lemon acidity plus jasmine fragrance—a coffee many coffee lovers fall for at first sip.

FrontStreet Natural Red Cherry coffee: Also from the Yirgacheffe region, FrontStreet Red Cherry beans use a full-red-cherry natural process: only fully ripe, defect-free cherries are harvested, then given a first round of sorting at the processing station before being laid directly on raised drying beds. For the first few days the cherries are turned every 2-3 hours to prevent uneven heating and over-fermentation. After three to five weeks of sun-drying, workers scrape off the outer pulp by machine—depending on weather and temperature—before the beans are moved to storage. Because the cherries are dried with their pulp intact, the coffee retains classic Yirgacheffe character while gaining the tropical fruit aromas of a natural: citrus-like acidity, a berry-juice juiciness, honeyed sweetness, and a smooth, cream-like texture.

How to drink and brew Yirgacheffe - Brewing suggestions: Dripper: V60; Water temperature: 90-91°C; Dose: 15g; Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15; Grind size: EK43s at setting 10 / fine granulated sugar size (20-mesh sieve retaining 80% pass-through).

FrontStreet brewing method: Pour 30g of water for a 30-second bloom. Then pour 95g more (scale reading about 125g), finishing the pour at around 1 minute. Once the water level drops to two-thirds of the coffee bed, pour the remaining 100g (scale reading about 225g), finishing at about 1 minute 35 seconds. Dripping completes at 2:00-2:10; remove the dripper and the extraction is complete.