Sidamo Hambella Buku Able Estate Coffee Flavor Characteristics and Pour-Over Brewing Guide

Sidamo Coffee - Is the Slow-Dried Natural Buku Able from Hambella Good to Drink?

Buku Able: The Emergent Ethiopian Champion Bean

This Ethiopian Sidamo coffee comes from Buku Able in Hambella, and it was that year's Ethiopian green bean champion.

Hambella is located in Guji, within the Oromia region. To its west lies Chelele, in the Yirgacheffe area, separated by a 3200-meter-high, 30-kilometer-wide mountain range. Hambella's east, south, and north borders respectively touch Shakiso, Uraga, and Kercha, which also belong to Guji. Hambella has 20 wet mill villages, and Buku Able is one of them.

Buku Able is uniquely blessed, ringed by mountains and covered with native coffee trees on its slopes. Those trees, shaped by countless generations of natural evolution, vary in form, with lush, verdant branches and leaves. The growing area reaches an altitude of 2250-2350 meters, making it the highest coffee-growing sub-region in Ethiopia, comparable to the altitude of the Harrar region. The high elevation and special microclimate produce exceptionally outstanding, distinctive flavors.

In the 2015/16 Ethiopian harvest season cupping competition, the then-unknown Buku Able took second place overall and first in natural processing. It went on to claim the entire Ethiopian championship. To distinguish it from other Hambella wet mills, Beijing Hongshun Agricultural Company, which introduced the coffee, named Buku Able "Flower Queen."

The owner of Flower Queen, Demse, comes from a family that has grown coffee for generations. Besides Guji, they own large coffee farms in Yirgacheffe and Sidamo, with 15 wet mills, and in recent years they have kept acquiring farms and building new ones. Previously, all the green beans Demse produced were sold to the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX), which made it impossible to distinguish wet mills or trace specific origins, so the world never had a chance to know Buku Able. In 2015 Demse established DW Coffee Export PLC., and these coffees, grown quietly in the highest mountains, finally had the chance to see daylight.

During the annual harvest season from December to January, at Hongshun's request, farmers must pick red cherries with a sugar content above 30 before natural processing begins. For the first two days of natural processing, the cherry moisture is maintained so the fructose can ferment fully. The high altitude brings night temperatures down to 12 degrees Celsius, avoiding over-fermentation. At noon the drying beds are shaded to prevent the cherries from sunburn, and at night thick plastic covers guard against sudden rain.

After 18 days of natural processing, the parchment bean moisture content drops to around 13%, and the beans are packed into gunny sacks and left to rest in a warehouse at 12-22 degrees Celsius and 45-55% humidity for about 50 days. The green bean moisture content then falls to 11%, and the coffee is finally transported to the processing plant for hulling.

How to Brew Sidamo Coffee [Hambella Buku Able Estate] Well

FrontStreet Coffee's pour-over reference: weigh 15g of Hambella Buku Able coffee powder and grind to a medium setting, with particles slightly coarser than table salt. Use BG grinder setting 5R (60% standard sieve pass rate), water temperature 90 degrees, and a V60 dripper.

Pour hot water from the kettle in clockwise circles focused on the center of the filter. Start timing when brewing begins. In 15 seconds, brew to 30g, then stop pouring. When the clock reaches 1 minute, pour the second time, following the same clockwise pattern centered on the filter. The stream should not hit where the coffee powder meets the filter paper, which would cause channelling.

When the pour reaches the outermost ring of the coffee bed, leave one ring unwetted, then work back circle by circle toward the center. At 2 minutes and 20 seconds, the coffee should reach 220g, and the brew is complete.

Cold Brew [Hambella Buku Able Estate]

FrontStreet Coffee's cold brew reference:

Sidamo coffee, light-medium roast, BG grinder setting 4B, grinding level 3, 20g of beans, 87-degree water for a 3-minute pre-infusion, a Chemex pot, then cold brew with ice water, for a total water volume of 200ml.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you enjoy this style of naturally processed, high-altitude Ethiopian coffee, FrontStreet Coffee has a few lots worth exploring next. The washed Yirgacheffe is the classic entry point, with clear jasmine florals and bright citrus and lemon acidity over a light, elegant, tea-like body -- like a clean, refreshing lemon tea.

For a village-level washed reference, FrontStreet Coffee's Gudingding cooperative sits in the Worka area at the southeastern end of Yirgacheffe. It was originally part of the Worka cooperative under the YCFCU alliance before becoming independent in 2012 with roughly 300 member farmers. Removing the fruit before drying gives the citrus and lemon notes and elegant white florals unusual clarity.

And for the natural side, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry uses only fully ripe, undamaged fruit, dried on raised beds for three to five weeks with the fruit still attached. The result is the typical Yirgacheffe character layered with tropical fruit: citrus acidity, berry-juice body, honey sweetness, and a creamy smoothness.

These coffees all respond well to the same brew: 15g of coffee at a 1:15 ratio, a 90-91C pour, and a grind size around fine caster sugar, poured in stages to about 225g and finished in roughly 2:00-2:10.