Recommended Powder-to-Water Ratio for Sun-Dried Yirgacheffe All Red Berry Sun God Coffee Pour-Over_Brewing Suggestions for Sun-Dried Yirgacheffe

2018 New Season Ethiopia Garse Station Full Red Cherry Natural Yirgacheffe Coffee G1

Origin Details

• Origin: Yirgacheffe, Gedeo Zone, SNNP, Ethiopia
• Processing Station: Garse Station
• Altitude: 2,050m
• Variety: Ethiopia Heirloom
• Processing Method: Red Cherry Natural
• Harvest Year: 2018
• Roast Level: Light

This batch of Yirgacheffe from Garse comes from the Beijing China Tea team and represents a custom lot processed entirely with full red cherry raised-bed natural drying. During the new-season harvest they traveled to African origins including Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania in search of the season's finest coffees.

In the end, from among 17 processing stations run by their Ethiopian partner DWD company in recent years, they chose the Garse processing station and the Adido processing station, both among the highest in altitude, to process the washed and natural coffees for this season.

Built in 2007, the Garse processing station sits at 2,050 meters and covers roughly 80 mu. The cherries it uses are grown above 2,100 meters, making it one of the highest-altitude growing areas in the entire Yirgacheffe region. All the cherries come from the mid to late harvest, roughly late December 2017 to early January 2018, which helps ensure they originate from higher ground. Full red cherry, as the name suggests, means only fully ripe cherries are processed. It is precisely this strict harvesting and processing standard that gives this Garse lot its mature bergamot character.

It is also the second natural Ethiopian coffee in the past three years that has genuinely impressed me. Highly recommended.

How to Perfectly Brew Yirgacheffe Coffee "Full Red Cherry Sun God"

FrontStreet Coffee Pour-over Reference

Measure 15 g of "Full Red Cherry Sun God" coffee and grind to a medium setting slightly coarser than table salt. FrontStreet uses a BG grinder at setting 5R (standard sieve pass rate 60%), water at 90°C, and a V60 dripper.

Pour the hot water from the kettle in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the dripper, starting the timer as you begin. Within 15 seconds, bring the brew to 30 g and stop pouring. When the timer reaches 1 minute, make the second pour, again in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the dripper, avoiding the area where the grounds meet the filter paper so you do not create channeling.

Leave one ring of space when you reach the outermost edge of the coffee bed, then brew in circles toward the center. By 2 minutes and 20 seconds, you should have brewed the coffee to 220 g, and the pour is complete.

Iced Extraction "Full Red Cherry Sun God"

FrontStreet Coffee iced extraction "Full Red Cherry Sun God" reference:

Yirgacheffe coffee "Full Red Cherry Sun God," light-medium roast, BG grinder setting 4B, grinding level 3, 20 g of beans, 89°C water, pre-infusion for 3 minutes in a Chemex pot, then extract with ice water for a total water volume of 200 ml.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Yirgacheffe is a town in Ethiopia's Sidama zone, sitting at roughly 1,700-2,100 meters with coffee trees planted above 1,800 meters, making it one of the highest coffee regions in the world. Long known for a strongly recognizable white floral aroma and lemon-citrus acidity, the name became a byword for Ethiopian specialty coffee, and in 2010 the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange separated it from Sidamo as its own origin. For drinkers new to Ethiopian coffee, FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe is a great place to start: it is known for white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a tea-like body, and at a friendly price it is often the first specialty coffee people fall for.

If you like this full red cherry natural, FrontStreet Sun-Dried Red Cherry is a direct match. It uses only fully ripe, sound cherries, which are screened and then dried straight on raised beds; in the first few days the fruit is turned every two to three hours to prevent uneven heating and over-fermentation. After three to five weeks of drying, the dried fruit layer is removed and the beans are stored. Because the coffee dries with the fruit still on, it keeps the classic Yirgacheffe character while adding the tropical fruit of a natural: citrus acidity, berry-juice body, honey sweetness, and a creamy smoothness.

For a washed expression from the same region, FrontStreet Gedingding Cooperative comes from Gedingding village in the Woka area at the southeastern edge of Yirgacheffe. It was originally part of the Woka cooperative under the YCFCU union, and as buyers pushed for traceability it became a single-origin cooperative in 2012, with about 300 farmer members. Its traditional washed processing strips the pulp before drying, so the bean's own aroma comes through more clearly, giving citrus and lemon character and an elegant white floral note, bright and delicate overall. Pour-over, cold brew, and espresso all work well.

Brewing Yirgacheffe at Home

FrontStreet suggests a V60 dripper, 90-91°C water, 15 g of coffee, a 1:15 ratio, and a grind of about EK43s setting 10, or fine sugar size (around 80% through a #20 sieve). For the pour, add 30 g of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour 95 g more (around 125 g on the scale) over about a minute; when the water level drops to two-thirds of the bed, add the remaining 100 g (around 225 g on the scale) over roughly 35 seconds, finishing the drawdown in 2 to 2 minutes 10 seconds before removing the dripper.