Introduction to Harar Coffee Growing Region_Analysis of Harar Green Coffee Beans and Roasting Experience Sharing

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The Legendary Harar Coffee

For more than 20 years, Harar has been nothing more than a long-faded memory in people's minds—a legend, an eternal imprint that perhaps could never be reproduced again. And once upon a time, the unique blueberry flavor of sun-dried Harar coffee made all other coffees pale in comparison, deeply loved by people in the 1980s and 1990s. Harar was a treasure for coffee adventurers, so mysterious, so extraordinary, difficult to describe, waiting for you to taste it personally to understand. Unquestionably, it was the most impressive coffee of recent times, opening many people's eyes after tasting it and thus stepping into the door of specialty coffee.

Harar: The Historic Trade Center

Harar is a walled city in eastern Ethiopia, an ancient trading center and an important Islamic holy site (at its cultural peak in the 15th and 16th centuries), connecting East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It is certain that this was the city where people outside the African continent (including the Islamic Sufi elder Dhabhani who spread coffee to Yemen) first tasted coffee.

Harar's location is too far east, still some distance from the Kingdom of Kaffa, the origin of coffee in the west, so it is unlikely to be the birthplace of coffee. However, Harar's geographical location and its importance as an economic and cultural center gave it a prominent position in the earliest coffee transportation and trade, infusing coffee with historical solemnity.

Harar Green Bean Analysis

This is a peculiar green coffee bean. Its aroma profile with sun-dried coffee cherries and sweet grain notes is not uncommon among selected Ethiopian sun-dried coffees. Some slight color inconsistencies made it graded as Grade 4, which is a low grade among sun-dried specialty coffees. Quakers will appear during roasting. The beans are small and long, with stable water activity, relatively dry, and surprisingly low density. It will not be an easy coffee bean to roast, but it's worth your try.

Traditional Ethiopian Processing

Drying the entire coffee cherry is the traditional Ethiopian coffee processing method. Whether you call it sun-dried, dry processing, fruit drying, or cherry drying, this "zero processing" method after harvesting can be traced back to Ethiopia. Today, coffee farmers around the world still use this method of processing coffee like making raisins, all originating from here. And throughout Ethiopia, it is still common for small farmers to dry their harvests on porches or lawns.

Harar Coffee Roasting Analysis

Want to take on the challenge? This batch is special, and at first, I wasn't sure how to roast it. My first step included two operations using the Ikawa roaster. Jen's roasting result was very successful, while my roasting result was more complicated. You can download both roasting data and try them yourself. Jen's roasting curve has a gentle slope and a soft landing at first crack, ending at 405°F, 5:15 minutes. Chris's roasting curve starts with a lower charge temperature, more dramatic fan speed changes, passes through the Maillard reaction, and ends with extremely high fan speed and high temperature of 425°F.

The first crack of this roasting curve appears very late, close to the time when Jen's roasting ended. Jen's roasted Harar cupping results have berry jam flavor, while also having a yeast-like taste due to insufficient development of post-crack caramelization (PCD). My roasted Harar has more delicate flavors, with herbal and stone fruit notes.

After the Ikawa roasting experience, I continued using the Probatino roaster, reminding myself to handle it gently (due to the beans' low density), allowing enough time after first crack to avoid the bread-like taste from underdevelopment.

During the first roasting process, I proceeded slowly with a low charge temperature, increased the heat before the Maillard reaction, slightly raised the temperature before first crack, and adopted Scott Rao's roasting method of slowing down the rate of rise. As expected, first crack appeared late, and I then continued for more than 2 minutes before terminating the roast. This is a dark roast method, where dried berries and chocolate flavors can be tasted in the cupping.

In the second roast, I increased the charge temperature to dehydrate the coffee and enter the Maillard reaction. I noticed that the Rate of Rise (RoR) in the early stages of the Maillard reaction was gradually decreasing, so I increased the heat and then reduced it before first crack, hoping to achieve a lighter roast while obtaining considerable PCD (post-crack caramelization). The cupping results showed obvious canned peach, sweet fruity wine, and dried grain flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee (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

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473