How to Brew African Coffee for Great Taste? What African Coffee Brands Exist? Which African Coffee Regions Are There?

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When it comes to Africa, Ethiopian coffee is a classic.

After all, Ethiopia has always been regarded as the birthplace of coffee. When you understand the local methods of processing coffee, you can roughly understand why this imperial status is well-deserved. Even under the harshest production conditions, where coffee trees are shaded by other crops, the vast majority of farmers still insist on not using agricultural chemicals. Only in some coffee industries operated by the government in the southwestern part of the country might small amounts of agricultural chemicals appear in wet-processed coffee. However, Harar and Yirgacheffe, marketed as "garden coffee," of course remain exceptions, because coffee is still produced in small quantities by individual farmers using traditional methods.

Ethiopian Coffee Regions

Most wet-processed coffees on the market basically come from the Sidamo, Harrar, and Kaffa regions, and the unique variety combinations in these regions have also given Ethiopia an irreplaceable flavor profile. However, most people may not be able to clearly distinguish the differences in varieties between products when buying coffee, because products are only labeled as Ethiopian native varieties. In fact, it represents a combination of rare SL28, SL38, Catuai, Geisha, and Typica varieties. The reason Ethiopian farmers don't explicitly state variety names is to prevent varieties from flowing overseas, just like how Geisha coffee was developed and popularized by Panamanians. Of course, they may also be unable to confirm the planted varieties due to too extensive production.

Ethiopia is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa and is the most populous landlocked country in the world. Ethiopia is honored as the birthplace of Arabica coffee, possessing rich native varieties and extensive genetic sequences, many of which cannot be found in other countries. Most of Ethiopia's coffee is grown by small farmers in their own small estates or in wild and semi-wild environments, with nearly 15 million people nationwide participating in the industry of growing and processing coffee beans. As the birthplace of Arabica coffee varieties, the history of consuming coffee can be traced back to the 10th century. The first African nomadic tribes to consume coffee fruits (coffee cherries) mixed coffee beans, oils, and spices to create refreshing and energy-supplementing foods. Most Ethiopian coffee farmers still grow and harvest coffee entirely by hand, working with the local government's "Coffee and Tea Development Department" to improve and manage all produced coffee beans.

Yirgacheffe Yirga-Cheffe

Yirgacheffe is a town located at higher altitudes in the Sidamo province of Ethiopia. "Yirga" (Yirga) has the meaning of "let it settle"; "cheffe" refers to "marsh/wetland." Due to the local environmental climate, the coffee grown has unique lemon and citrus flavors different from other regions of Ethiopia and is famous, thus becoming an independent production area. Yirgacheffe coffee trees are generally planted in mountainous areas at altitudes of 1,900m-2,200m. Non-artificially cultivated coffee trees grow in forests. Although located in the tropics, the climate is cool, rainy but not humid, and the air is fresh and clean, thus rich in natural flavors.

Yirgacheffe stands out in Ethiopia with its numerous native varieties due to its unique flavor profile, which can be called the finest of Ethiopian coffees, with delightful fruit sweetness and acidity, most representative of its citrus-lemon acidity and jasmine fragrance, also with gentle orange peel, raisin, and cinnamon sweetness. Lighter-roasted Yirgacheffe has the fruity aroma of fruit tea and the fragrance of high mountain tea, with a fresh and bright taste. Washed Yirgacheffe has a bright and pure flavor and acidity, further highlighting Yirgacheffe's unique characteristics; while natural Yirgacheffe has wild wine-like flavors and gentle aromas, making its flavor profile truly unique. For washed Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet Coffee suggests brewing with higher water temperature, because due to the washing process, the coffee beans are more uniform and can withstand longer extraction, so the time can be slightly longer, reaching two minutes ten seconds to two minutes twenty seconds, which will have a distinct lemon acidity. For natural Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet Coffee suggests brewing with water temperature of 89-90°C, which has more obvious fermented berry aroma, sweet entry, with some wine-like fragrance.

Sidamo

Grown in the southernmost Ethiopian highlands between altitudes of 1400-2200m, southeast of Jimma and directly south of the capital, usually with obvious sweetness and liked by most people, with raw beans green tinged with gray. Sidamo's coffee flavor is very diverse. Different soil types, microclimates, and countless native coffee varieties, with towering mountains, highlands, plateaus, valleys, and plains within the production area, diverse topography, and the local geology belongs to nutrient-rich, well-drained volcanic soil, with soil depth nearly two meters, surface soil showing dark brown or brown. The area's greatest advantage lies in that soil fertility is maintained through the circulation of organic matter, using withered leaves from surrounding trees or residual plant roots as fertilizer. Therefore, it creates obvious differences and characteristics in coffee produced by towns. Natural Sidamo has a taste close to floral aroma, but with a slight earthy taste. Washed has a bit of nutty fruit aroma, with a slight cocoa fragrance, but the common ground between the two is a smooth mouthfeel and viscosity, comfortable and pleasant acidity and aroma. Medium roast is suitable for single origin, dark roast is suitable for blending coffee and as a good base for Espresso. FrontStreet Coffee suggests brewing with 89-90°C, which has rich fermented fruit aroma, with flavors leaning towards strawberries, blueberries, and other berry sensations, full of sweetness, with moderate fruit acidity from hot to cold, very charming.

Limu

If we consider Addis Ababa as the center, then except for Harar, most Ethiopian coffee is produced in the southwest and south of the capital.

Limu is located in the southwest direction of Ethiopia. Not long after departing from the capital, you can see one road heading west after leaving the city, another road to the famous production area: Lekempti, and if you continue straight southwest, another larger road heads to Jimma, while Limu is between these two production areas.

Most of Limu's coffee is wet-processed. The difference from washed Sidamo or Yirgacheffe is that although its acidity is bright, it is followed by spicy notes, and somewhat having a wine style can also be considered one of its characteristics. Most Limu coffee is grown at altitudes from 1200 to 1900 meters. Bright lemon acidity, full body, oily coating on the palate bringing spicy stimulation, obvious sweetness in the aftertaste, sweet and sour taste of grapefruit and ripe citrus.

In addition to Ethiopia, there are other production areas, such as Burundi, Kenya, Yemen, etc.

Yemen

Until the sixth century AD, Yemen was always called Arabia, and thus coffee trees shipped from Yemen to other places were also called Arabian coffee trees. The origin of these trees is Ethiopia, and it was the Dutch who spread these coffee trees around the world. Dutch merchants traveling eastward around the Cape of Good Hope, before beginning their long journey to reach India, had to pass through the east coast of Africa to the port of Mocha in Yemen. In 1696, the Dutch introduced coffee trees to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and then introduced them to Batavia in Java. Mocha coffee beans are smaller and rounder than most coffee beans, which makes Mocha coffee beans look very much like peas—in fact, Peaberry beans are sometimes called Mocha coffee beans. The shape of Mocha coffee beans is also similar to Ethiopian Harrar coffee beans; they are small, high in acidity, and you can also detect a bit of chocolate flavor, so adding chocolate to coffee was a natural development process. In Yemen, coffee growers plant poplar trees to provide the necessary shade for coffee trees. As in the past, these trees are planted on steep terraces to maximize the use of limited rainfall and land resources. In addition to Typica and Bourbon coffee trees, more than ten different coffee tree species native to Ethiopia are also grown in Yemen. However, even for good coffee, such as premium Mocha coffee, the dried skin and beans are still connected after air-drying. Traditional stone grinding is still often used to remove the hard dried fruit shells, which makes the coffee beans very irregular in shape and often damages them. Although Yemeni coffee is of high quality, smooth and aromatic, there are also unsatisfactory aspects, namely that quality cannot be consistently guaranteed, and the grading of its coffee beans is also uncertain. Traditionally, Yemen's best coffee beans come from Mattari, followed by Sharki, and then Sanani. These production areas are all processed using the natural method, so the coffee beans carry wild flavors. Generally speaking, Yemeni coffee has a unique personality, strong wildness, complexity, and stimulation, especially the charming wine-like acidity and deep dark chocolate flavor that many people love. These coffee beans have low caffeine content and are exported from December to April of the following year. A long-standing problem in the past has been that coffee produced in the north was mixed with inferior substances before being shipped from the southern port of Aden. Only coffee shipped from the port of Hodeida can be confirmed as truly produced in the north. FrontStreet Coffee also has such a Yemen Mocha full of classical charm, brewed with 88°C water, with rich chocolate flavor accompanied by special spice aroma.

Kenya

Kenya grows high-quality Arabica coffee varieties, with coffee beans almost rich in cherry flavor, with slight acidity, and rich aroma, very popular among Europeans, especially in the UK, where Kenyan coffee has surpassed Costa Rican coffee to become one of the most popular coffees. Located in East Africa below the equator, Kenya grows high-quality Arabica coffee beans. The beans are medium to large in size, with thick flesh and round shape, rich flavor and excellent quality, thick and rich taste, moderate acidity, and exudes unique flavors; grades are divided into seven levels according to bean size, and taste is divided into six grade specifications from top to bottom. In taste recommendations, "Kenya AA" is especially well-received. Kenyan AA has excellent sweetness and body, and its taste is different from the thick and wild taste of Asian coffee beans. Kenyan AA's body is very clean and transparent, with an extremely broad and delicate flavor profile. The front taste has a soft, bright yet varied acidity, which better brings out the dry sweetness of the middle taste and the aftertaste of the back taste. Kenyan AA's aroma performance is also outstanding, with berry fragrance, related to the soil phosphorus content of the Kenyan origin or secondary fermentation washing. FrontStreet Coffee suggests brewing with water temperature of 90-92°C, which has rich cherry tomato acidity, very charming.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find various famous and unknown beans, while also providing online store services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

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