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

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

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

Buku Able: The Emergent Ethiopian Champion Bean

This Ethiopian Sidamo coffee comes from Buku Able in Hambella, and it's this year's Ethiopian green bean champion!

Hambella is located in Guji, belonging to the Oromia region. To its west lies Chelele from the Yirgacheffe area, separated by a 3200-meter, 30-kilometer-wide mountain range. Hambella's east, south, and north borders respectively with 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, surrounded by mountains and covered with native coffee trees on its slopes. These coffee trees, which have undergone countless generations of natural evolution, vary in shape and form, with lush, verdant branches and leaves. The growing area of Buku Able reaches an altitude of 2250-2350 meters, making it the highest coffee-growing sub-region in Ethiopia, comparable to the high altitude of the Harrar region. Due to the high altitude and special microclimate environment, it produces exceptionally outstanding and unique flavors.

In last year's 2015/16 Ethiopian harvest season cupping competition, the then-unknown Buku Able remarkably took second place overall and first in natural processing. This year, it reached even higher, claiming the entire Ethiopian championship! To distinguish it from other Hambella wet mills, Beijing Hongshun Agricultural Company, which introduced this 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. In recent years, they have continuously acquired coffee farms and built new wet mills. Previously, all green beans produced by Demse were sold to the "Ethiopian Commodity Exchange" (ECX), making it impossible to distinguish wet mills or trace specific origins. The world had no opportunity to know Buku Able. In 2015, Demse established DW Coffee Export PLC., and these coffees that grew silently in the highest mountains, isolated from the world, finally had the opportunity to see the light of day.

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

After 18 days of natural processing, the parchment bean moisture content drops to around 13%, then they are packed into gunny sacks and left to rest in a warehouse at 12-22 degrees Celsius with 45-55% humidity for about 50 days. The green bean moisture content then drops to 11%, and finally, they are 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 Estate] coffee powder, pour into a grinder for medium grinding. The ground particles should be slightly coarser than table salt. We use BG grinder setting 5R (standard sieve pass rate 60%), water temperature 90 degrees, brewed with a V60 dripper.

The hot water in the pour-over kettle circles clockwise with the filter center as the focal point. Start timing when brewing begins. In 15 seconds, brew the coffee to 30g, then stop pouring water. When the time reaches 1 minute, pour water for the second time. The second pour follows the same pattern as before: clockwise circles with the filter center as the focal point. The water stream should not hit where the coffee powder meets the filter paper to avoid channel effects.

When brewing the coffee powder to the outermost circle, leave one circle, then brew circle by circle toward the center. At 2 minutes and 20 seconds, brew the coffee to 220g, and the coffee brewing is complete.

| Cold Brew [Hambella Buku Able Estate]

FrontStreet Coffee's cold brew [Hambella Buku Able Estate] reference:

Sidamo Coffee [Hambella Buku Able Estate], light-medium roast, BG grinder setting 4B, grinding level 3, 20g beans, 87-degree water temperature for 3 minutes pre-infusion, Chemex pot, then cold brew with ice water, total water volume 200ml.

END

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473