Introduction to the Characteristics of Ethiopian Hambella Guanyin Coffee Beans: Why is Guanyin Coffee Both Affordable and Delicious?

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The Rise of African Coffee Regions

Thanks to green bean competitions, specialty coffee regions are never short of news. Each year, a batch of beans "emerges," especially in the African regions that host competitions during every harvest season. Among more than a dozen African coffee-producing countries, those coffee beans that have been carefully cultivated throughout the year and meticulously processed after ripening will stand out.

When this is combined with baristas winning major competitions, it becomes even more remarkable. People can recognize their exceptional quality through their outstanding performance. When we look back at the history of Guanyin coffee beans, they have conquered our taste buds in textbook fashion and won our affection.

The Origin of Guanyin Coffee Beans

Guanyin coffee beans are actually the Chinese direct translation of Hambella coffee beans. They were a green bean from the Hambella region of Sidamo in the 2017 TOH (Taste Of Harvest) green bean competition. They stood out with their rich strawberry and cream aroma, winning the Ethiopian TOH natural processing category championship with a high score of 88.21.

But that's not all. After all, TOH has champion beans every year, and raising the fame and value of Guanyin coffee beans requires other favorable opportunities, such as baristas selecting them as competition beans and achieving good results. In the same year, barista Li Jianfei used this batch of coffee beans to participate in the World Coffee Brewers Championship, defeating many competitors' Geisha coffee beans and winning the China region runner-up.

Understanding the Context

To understand the popularity of Hambella coffee beans in China, we need to return to the coffee context of that time. After 2004, Geisha coffee beans continuously broke records. Their outstanding quality made them the designated beans for many international competition baristas, "sweeping" major competitions, creating what could be called the Geisha era, with no beans able to compete. So what's the deal with Geisha coffee? According to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, Geisha is actually the name of a coffee variety, with the English name "Gesha/Geisha." Some people thought its pronunciation was similar to the Japanese word for "geisha," so they transliterated it as such.

Due to the great fame of Geisha coffee, Beijing green bean merchants introduced this championship batch of green beans to China. To better promote this Hambella natural processed coffee bean, they replaced "Hambella" with "Guanyin" (meaning "beauty champion"), borrowing from Geisha's fame. In the 2017 World Coffee Brewers Championship, a relatively unknown Ethiopian Hambella natural processed coffee bean defeated the ever-victorious Geisha, making "Guanyin" live up to its name. Coupled with its very affordable price, making it a reliable daily coffee, it won people's hearts. This high-quality Hambella coffee bean became known to Chinese people under the name "Guanyin."

The Evolution of Guanyin Coffee

Afterward, Beijing green bean merchants seized the opportunity and imported Hambella coffee beans year after year, using the Guanyin X.0 series to distinguish between harvest seasons. For example, Guanyin 2.0 was launched in 2018, Guanyin 3.0 and 3.1 in 2019, and so on. Today, friends visiting FrontStreet Coffee stores can still find Guanyin 5.0 coffee. Of course, those familiar with Guanyin will also notice that starting from 2020, Hambella coffee beans were divided into two types: Guanyin 4.0 and Small Bean Guanyin. So what's Small Bean Guanyin all about?

Processing Stations and Variations

As mentioned earlier, the original Guanyin was processed at Buku Abel in the Hambella region, and Buku Abel belongs to DW company. After winning the championship in 2017, DW company further increased the number of processing stations in Dimtu, the core area of Hambella, to produce Guanyin. Currently, there are 5 coffee processing stations: Buku Abel, Tirtiro Goye, Seke Bokosa, Haro Soresa, and Buku Saysay. Among them, only the natural processed coffee beans from Buku Abel are Guanyin coffee. As coffee is an agricultural product, its flavor will be slightly affected each year by changes in regional soil, climate and precipitation, and processing methods. Although there are variations, they still retain the main flavor notes of the variety.

FrontStreet Coffee keenly noticed the changes in Guanyin. FrontStreet Coffee pays close attention to regional news. After observing Guanyin's rise, FrontStreet Coffee naturally wouldn't miss this bean and imports Guanyin annually to satisfy coffee lovers. In FrontStreet Coffee's cupping of Guanyin coffee beans from each new harvest season, although there may be some flavor differences, its rich berry juice, fermented notes like ripe fruits, and moderately distinct sweet flavor characteristics are always present. This is one reason why FrontStreet Coffee really likes Guanyin coffee beans. At the same time, FrontStreet Coffee also discovered through cupping that the flavor and aroma of Guanyin coffee beans with more small beans were very similar to the 2017 championship Guanyin coffee beans.

Discovery of Small Bean Guanyin

Initially, FrontStreet Coffee tasted flavors similar to the 2017 Guanyin in the 2018 and 2019 batches, but the body and aftertaste were not as good as the 2017 Guanyin. By comparing different batches of Guanyin, this was more obvious in the 2018 and 2019 batches. Sometimes, among ten burlap bags, several bags of similar small beans would appear. We realized that the main source of the 2017 Guanyin's aroma was some particularly small bean varieties in the Guanyin coffee beans.

Therefore, in 2019, FrontStreet Coffee confirmed this information and informed the green bean supplier, who subsequently confirmed this information. Since then, the small bean Guanyin has been separated out each year and classified separately. The 2020/21 harvest season Hambella natural processed coffee beans were divided into Guanyin coffee beans and Guanyin 5.0 coffee beans. Although both are called Guanyin, their flavors are somewhat different. You'll have to taste them to know the specific flavors.

Brewing Methods

We'll use the 2020/21 harvest season Guanyin and Guanyin 5.0 as examples for brewing to understand in detail the differences between these two coffee beans. First, we need to determine the brewing approach. The actual extraction process plus preparation time doesn't exceed 10 minutes. However, without a clear brewing approach, you won't have the smooth, flowing experience of a café barista. Brewing with flustered movements would be a "disaster" scene.

Generally, when we get a coffee bean, we'll have detailed information about the bean, including region, variety, flavor notes, etc. Like FrontStreet Coffee, not only do they publish bean information, but they also reduce selection difficulty through flavor descriptions. Additionally, each bag comes with a QR code. Just scan it with WeChat, and you can learn more bean information, including more detailed regional information, terroir conditions, post-processing methods, roasting curves, and for many people, more practical brewing parameters. After all, no matter how good the story, it needs to be paired with a cup of coffee you brewed yourself as a "seasoning," right?

Determining Roast Level

Regarding brewing approach, FrontStreet Coffee recommends referring to the flavor description on the bean packaging. The flavor description on the packaging is determined through cupping by FrontStreet Coffee's baristas and roasters after roasting. We can generally determine the roast level through flavor descriptions to establish a basic brewing approach.

Flavor descriptions with prominent citrus, lemon, berry fruit notes and floral aromas indicate light roast. Descriptions with prominent sugar notes, nutty chocolate flavors with slight fruit acidity indicate medium roast. Descriptions with nutty chocolate, creamy, and full-bodied indicate dark roast. Guanyin and Guanyin 5.0 flavor descriptions are fruit-forward with acidity. Guanyin has passion fruit and fermented wine notes, while Guanyin 5.0 has citrus flavors, so they can be identified as light roast beans.

Brewing Parameters

FrontStreet Coffee generally recommends pour-over brewing for light roast beans, using 15 grams of coffee with a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, using Hario V60 dripper and higher water temperature, between 90-93 degrees Celsius, with medium-fine grind (80% passing through a China #20 standard sieve).

Then use FrontStreet Coffee's recommended three-stage extraction method for brewing. As the name suggests, this method involves extracting with three separate water pours. First, use twice the amount of coffee in water for blooming, that is, 30 grams of water for 30 seconds, then pour in a small circular motion to 125 grams, wait until the water level drops to 1/3, then continue pouring to 225 grams and stop (timing starts from the beginning of blooming). Extraction time is 2'00".

Tasting Notes

After extraction, you need to shake gently before starting to compare and appreciate these two Guanyin coffees. Guanyin has obvious melon and fruit aroma, with soft fruit acidity when tasted, smooth mouthfeel, and flavors of passion fruit, jackfruit, strawberry, and berry notes. Guanyin 5.0 has prominent citrus and berry flavors, with slight tropical fruit notes and obvious juice-like mouthfeel.

Important Notice :

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