Ethiopian Coffee Grading | ECX Classification and Scoring Standards? Yirgacheffe Region ECX Special Selection

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Ethiopia Coffee Grades | ECX Grading and Scoring Standards? Yirgacheffe Region ECX Special Selection Washed G1 Flavor?

FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopian washed coffees Yirgacheffe G1 G2. The highest grades for FrontStreet Coffee's Sidamo (Yirgacheffe, Sidamo) are Grade 2 and Grade 3 (G2, G3). Natural processed coffees from eastern Ethiopia are mostly Grade 4 or Grade 5 (G4, G5). In many cases, Grade 4 coffees are marked as Grade 5 to reduce taxation. The current grading system is inconsistent and somewhat chaotic because there are also Grade 1 and Grade 2 (Grand G2) naturally processed Yirgacheffe coffees (Yirga Cheffe), but Harar's highest grade is Grade 4 (G4).

Variety: Heirloom

Region: Ethiopia Yirgacheffe

Processing Method: Washed

Grade: ECX Special Selection G1

Altitude: 1,800 - 2,000 m

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

Ethiopia's main coffee producing regions are Sidamo, Harrar, and Yirgacheffe. Sidamo and Harrar are provinces and administrative divisions. Sidamo is located in southern Ethiopia, adjacent to Kenya, while Harrar is in eastern Ethiopia, bordering Somalia. Although Yirgacheffe is a small area within the larger Sidamo region, due to soil composition and water content, the coffee produced there is considered the best in Ethiopia.

In Western markets, Ethiopian coffees are generally sold as Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, and Harrar. In the specialty coffee sector, there are coffees from five other small regions: Limmu, Djimmah, Lekempti, Bebeka, and Wolega. The most commonly seen are Ethiopian Sidamo or Harrar coffees.

Harrar Coffee

Produced in the eastern highlands of Ethiopia, Harrar Coffee features medium-sized beans with a greenish-yellow color, medium acidity, and full body, with typical mocha flavor. It is one of the world's most famous coffees.

Wollega (Nekempte) Coffee

Produced in western Ethiopia, Wollega (Nekempte) Coffee features medium to large-sized beans known for their rich fruit flavors. The beans have a greenish-brown color, with good acidity and body. They can be used both in blends and as single-origin offerings.

Limu Coffee

Limu Coffee is famous for its aromatic and wine-like flavors (spicy and Winnie flavor), highly popular in Europe and America. With good acidity and body, washed Limu coffee is also a favorite in the specialty coffee world. The beans are medium-sized, greenish-blue, and mostly round.

Sidama Coffee

Sidama Coffee features medium-sized, greenish-gray beans. Washed Sidamo coffee is characterized by its balanced taste and flavor, earning it the reputation of "sweet coffee" with fine acidity and good body. Produced in southern Ethiopia, it can be used both in blends and as premium single-origin coffee.

Yirgacheffe Coffee

Yirgacheffe Coffee possesses intense floral aromas.

FrontStreet Coffee's washed coffee is among the world's best high-altitude coffees, with gentle acidity and rich body. Top and Bebeka coffees, with low acidity but high body, are indispensable members in coffee blends.

Ethiopian Coffee Cultivation Models

Ethiopia's coffee cultivation is divided into four models based on scale and pattern:

• Forest Coffee (8-10%): Coffee trees coexist with other crops in original forests without any artificial management. Farmers regularly harvest coffee cherries.
• Semi-Forest Coffee (30-35%): Coffee trees are planted in areas between forests and farmers' living areas. The coffee trees are the same natural varieties as forest coffee, but farmers manage the planting areas and grow other cash crops.
• Garden Coffee (50-55%): Coffee trees are planted around farmers' living areas, mostly self-planted by farmers.
• Plantation Coffee (5-6%): Large private growers with more processing facilities and production capacity.

Most coffee cultivation in Sidamo and Yirgacheffe follows the garden coffee model, where coffee farmers plant coffee trees near their living areas, harvest them during the harvest season, and then send them to nearby water-based processing plants for unified processing (or they are uniformly purchased by middlemen). Except for a small number of coffee plantations with sufficient resources to independently plant, harvest, and process green coffee beans, many coffee beans from different regions and varieties are centrally processed by processing plants and then sent to auction houses for official evaluation and grading. This is why many Ethiopian coffee beans are named and distinguished by processing plants or cooperatives, and it's also one of the reasons why the same batch of coffee beans may contain multiple coffee varieties. Even coffee beans from the same processing plant can show significant flavor differences between different batches.

Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX)

The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) is an agricultural market 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 global commodity market. ECX's mission is to connect all buyers and sellers in an efficient, reliable, and transparent market by leveraging innovation and technology, based on a commitment to continuous learning, fairness, and excellence.

ECX has distributed regional warehouses throughout Ethiopia that provide crop collection, grading, and storage, before entering a unified trading auction platform for buying and selling by ECX registered members. The buyers here are actually private exporters. Since 2008, Ethiopia has required all private exporters to conduct coffee bean trading through ECX. Its problem is simply the inability to meet current buyers' requirements for coffee traceability. ECX-traded coffees are only divided by region and cannot tell you which processing station they came from, or they may come from many different processing stations mixed together and packed in burlap bags for auction in large batches. But after the following strict selection process for Speciality G1, would you still question its quality?

Ethiopia's Coffee Grading System

Ethiopia's old grading system was based solely on defect counts, with washed beans' highest grade being Grade 1 - G1, and natural processed beans' highest grade being Grade 3 - G3. The current grading system is established by ECX, combining physical attribute characteristics with cupping flavor characteristics for scoring to determine grade levels.

All coffees are defined into three types based on processing method (natural or washed):

• a. Speciality (washed & unwashed): Few defects, high cupping quality;
• b. Commercial (washed & unwashed): Does not reach specialty grade but is higher than domestic consumption grade;
• c. Local/Domestic (washed & unwashed): Many defects (unripe beans), out-of-season and poorly stored resulting in relatively poor flavor coffee.

Among these, Specialty and Commercial are for the international export market, while Local is for coffee sold in the domestic market.

ECX Specific Grading and Scoring Standards

A. Scoring Definition for Washed Processing Method

1. Physical characteristics account for 40%: defects (20%), appearance size (10%), color (5%), odor (5%)

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

B. Scoring Definition for Natural Processing Method

1. Physical characteristics account for 40%: defects (30%), odor (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: natural, washed;

2. Each is scored according to physical characteristics and basic cupping quality into 9 grades G1-G9;

3. G1-G3 among them are cupped again according to SCAA standards for more detailed evaluation of flavor attributes;

4. G1 and G2 scoring no less than 85 points are graded as Q1;

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

6. Q1 and Q2 are classified as Specialty Grade for export. G4-G9 maintain their original grading and are classified as Commercial Grade for export together with G3.

Important Notice :

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