Sun-Dried Yirgacheffe Review: ORC Red Cherry vs. Aricha Comparison

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Ethiopia's Coffee Regions and FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe

Ethiopia's coffee primarily comes from eight major regions: Lekempti, Limu, Illubabor, Djimmah, Harar, Teppi/Bebeka, Sidamo, and Yirgacheffe.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe is a small town in Ethiopia, situated at an altitude of 1,700-2,100 meters, making it one of the world's highest-altitude coffee-producing regions and synonymous with Ethiopia's premium coffee. Lakes Turkana, Abaya, and Chamo bring abundant water vapor to this area. The rift valleys, represented by the Misty Valley, are shrouded in fog year-round, with spring-like seasons, gentle breezes, cool and humid conditions, where thousands of coffee tree varieties thrive and flourish, cultivating FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe's unique terroir characterized by an intricate interplay of floral and fruity aromas that are both enchanting and ever-changing.

Initially, the coffee trees at FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe were cultivated by European monks (somewhat similar to Belgian monks growing grain to brew beer), later taken over by farmers or cooperatives. Coffee trees naturally scattered throughout forests, fields, and backyards. During harvest seasons, Ethiopian coffee trading companies would come to town to purchase coffee beans collected by farmers, ultimately auctioning and exporting them under the "Yirgacheffe" brand.

What is the "Red Cherry Project"?

The "Red Cherry Project" (ORC) is a quality improvement initiative for small-scale farms. In 2007, Trabocca, the Netherlands' largest green coffee bean supplier, introduced the "Red Cherry Project" in pursuit of high-quality Ethiopian beans. The project requires not only picking fully red coffee fruits but also harvesting them entirely by hand - but this is just the most basic requirement, as the project is far more complex than that.

The main objective is to encourage coffee farmers and bring surprises to roasters. Trabocca, the Netherlands' largest coffee bean supplier, invites all Ethiopian farms to produce small batches of approximately 1,500-3,000 kilograms (25-50 bags) of beans before the harvest season. Women can only select fully ripe red cherries at 100% maturity, which makes a significant difference in the resulting coffee flavor. Therefore, diligent, sharp-eyed, and hardworking Ethiopian women are crucial drivers of the Red Cherry Project.

The Red Cherry Project is also a reinforcement approach that encourages farms to invest more effort in the selection and sorting process. These coffees command relatively higher prices. The Red Cherry Initiative includes washed, natural, semi-washed, semi-natural, and experimental coffees, with major producing regions including Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, Bonga Forest, Lekempti, Kembata, Illubabor, Harar, Limu, and the 2011 addition of the Golocha production area (near Harar). All these showcase unique flavors that fully represent the character of Ethiopian coffee. After receiving the coffee, Trabocca conducts further selection, and farms that meet quality standards through cupping tests in both Ethiopian and Dutch offices receive substantial bonuses.

Trabocca, the driving force behind the Red Cherry Project, has reinvested all profits from recent years into cooperating farms. Trabocca emphasizes that this is a non-profit project, so the company operates the Red Cherry Project with only four people, including the owner and secretary. Other administrative matters are supported by the parent company to reduce administrative expenses, with all profits returned to the cooperating farms.

Trabocca is the Netherlands' largest coffee bean supplier, with deep connections to Ethiopia. The company's founder, Menno Simons, originally knew almost nothing about coffee until he traveled to Ethiopia and was accidentally amazed by the unique flavor of local native coffee varieties. The company also trades in other primary agricultural products, including cocoa and various fresh fruits, dedicated to finding high-quality raw materials while emphasizing environmental protection and concern for farmers' livelihoods.

The company's vision is "Discover, Develop, Deliver." Since founding the company, Menno Simons has visited coffee-producing regions, estates, and processing plants throughout Ethiopia to discover coffee bean varieties with captivating flavors. Thus, the "Red Cherry Project" was born.

First, cupping score requirements are high. In cupping rooms in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Amsterdam, Netherlands, Trabocca conducts additional screening after receiving coffee from producing regions, judging whether coffee beans meet standards through cupping in both Ethiopia and the Netherlands. Qualified coffee beans are organized by Trabocca for auction to global coffee bean purchasers. Generally, coffee beans auctioned through this platform can reach prices more than 4 times the international spot price for regular coffee, with the highest reaching 20 times.

Second, production requirements are small, but quality requirements are high. To ensure sufficient attention to these top-quality local Ethiopian beans, Trabocca requires that participating beans must be produced in small batches, typically between 1,500-3,000 kilograms.

Finally, Trabocca invests significant attention and resources into this project. Trabocca has donated new natural drying racks, shade nets, generators, and other equipment locally. They also provide financial loan support, new hardware equipment, and production processing knowledge and technology to help farmers improve production levels. Additionally, through real-time monitoring and safe transportation, they ensure that "Red Cherry Project" beans receive the best care at every stage.

Specifically, the Red Cherry Project encourages coffee farmers to pay more attention to every process of coffee bean harvesting and processing by increasing purchase prices for high-quality green coffee beans. The coffee beans produced this way have better quality and superior taste, gaining better recognition in the terminal market, thereby balancing the relatively higher coffee purchase prices.

Aricha Processing Plant — Non-Red Cherry Project

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Misty Valley: Yirgacheffe Misty Valley. Since the Yirgacheffe region introduced washed processing methods in the late 20th century, thanks to washing, defective beans were significantly reduced, causing this region's coffee beans to become popular among coffee enthusiasts worldwide. Local coffee merchant Abdullash Bagersh, missing the flavor of traditional natural coffee, improved the natural processing method, enhanced flavor, reduced defect ratios, and launched three extremely famous Yirgacheffe natural coffees: "Idido Misty Valley," "Beloya," and "Aricha."

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Aricha: Yirgacheffe Aricha, formerly known as Idido. A renowned coffee processing plant near Yirgacheffe town.

Misty Valley (red coordinates) | The region closest to Yirgacheffe (formerly: Idido / now: Aricha Coffee Processing Plant)

In the Yirgacheffe region, there are many high-quality coffee processing plants, and many coffees have become hundred times more valuable due to their origin from these plants. The natural Yirgacheffe produced by Kebel Aricha Mill is one of them. This coffee is what we often call ARICHA beans, processed by the Kebel Aricha plant using refined natural methods and classified as Gr.1 or G1 (Ethiopia's highest coffee grade) by ECX, earning it the title "King of Fruits."

After the processing plant selects usable coffee cherries, it places whole coffee cherries with complete pulp and skin onto elevated racks for natural processing. It is precisely this labor-intensive rack-drying method that isolates them from ground contact, preventing earthy off-flavors during drying and creating exceptionally clean fruit flavors.

After more than two weeks of natural drying, the dark brown coffee cherries are professionally stored until the entire flavor matures. Before shipment, the processing plant removes the coffee beans from the cherries, making the sweetness imaginable.

Green Bean Comparison

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe variety is the local native species, small-grained variety, with a relatively round shape, very small bean size, mostly between 14-15 screen size.

Both FrontStreet Coffee's Red Cherry and FrontStreet Coffee's Aricha are G1 grade. The green beans show a yellow-green color, typical of natural coffee, with uniform, full beans and few defects.

Roasting Comparison

FrontStreet Coffee's Red Cherry: Charged at 194°C.

FrontStreet Coffee's Aricha: Charged at 198.6°C

From the roasting curve perspective, FrontStreet Coffee's Red Cherry has a smoother roasting curve, while FrontStreet Coffee's Aricha shows more fluctuations. This is because FrontStreet Coffee's Aricha beans have less uniform maturity than FrontStreet Coffee's Red Cherry, so we slightly extended FrontStreet Coffee's Aricha's dehydration time, making its overall color more uniform and development fuller.

Since FrontStreet Coffee's Red Cherry has more uniform maturity and clean flavor, we adopted light-medium roasting to preserve more floral notes, fruit acidity, and mature fruit fermentation aromas.

Although FrontStreet Coffee's Aricha has higher discharge temperature and longer development time than the Red Cherry, FrontStreet Coffee's Red Cherry develops at a higher temperature after first crack, enabling it to achieve fuller sweetness and aroma. While FrontStreet Coffee's Aricha has longer post-first-crack time, the temperature is lower, making certain flavor types more intense but overall somewhat thin. However, the advantage of this roasting approach is better appearance and cleaner flavor.

Cupping Comparison

FrontStreet Coffee's Red Cherry: Strawberry, berries, cream, spices, almonds, oolong tea

FrontStreet Coffee's Aricha: Fermented fruit aroma, apricot-peach, cedar, berries, black tea

Actually, the cupping flavors of both beans are quite similar, both showing strong sweetness and overall presenting a gentle, clean character. However, FrontStreet Coffee's Red Cherry's aroma is cleaner and more lifted; FrontStreet Coffee's Aricha has stronger fermentation notes. FrontStreet Coffee's Red Cherry's berry flavors are more prominent, with some oolong tea aftertaste; FrontStreet Coffee's Aricha's aroma is fresher, with apricot-peach and black tea aftertaste.

Although the green beans of Red Cherry Project coffee and non-Red Cherry Project coffee show little difference, noticeable gaps can be felt in roasting and cupping. Because Red Cherry Project coffee beans have more uniform maturity, this allows them to retain abundant floral notes and fruit acidity during roasting. Non-Red Cherry Project coffee beans, due to uneven maturity, make it more difficult to balance roasting uniformity with flavor fullness and cleanliness.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473