Is Pour-Over Hakuge Coffee Delicious? What's the Flavor Profile of Hakuge Pour-Over Coffee?

Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Cafe_Style (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

Ethiopian Sidamo Shakisso Natural

Hua Kui

Product Name: Ethiopian Natural Sun-dried Sidamo G1 Hua Kui

Ethiopian Sidamo Shakisso Natural

Coffee Origin: Africa, Ethiopia

Coffee Estate: Guji, Hambella Wamena, Buku Able Estate

Coffee Variety: Heirloom (Ethiopian local indigenous varieties)

Production Altitude: 2250-2350M

Quality Grade: G1

Processing Method: Natural Sun-dried (African drying beds)

01 | Estate Introduction

How did the name Hua Kui come about?

In 2017, Ethiopia's DW green bean company sent their coffee beans to the TOH (The Taste of Harvest) competition hosted by the African Fine Coffee Association. Their natural processed batch won the TOH Ethiopia championship. This batch of green beans, as champions, was named "Hua Kui."

Hua Kui is located in Hambella, which is part of Ethiopia's largest coffee producing region, Guji (GUJI), administratively under the Oromia Region. Hambella's west side faces Yirgacheffe's Kochore across mountains, while its southeast and north sides border Guji's Shakiso, Uraga, and Kercha sub-regions respectively. It is Ethiopia's highest altitude coffee sub-region (Harrar is Ethiopia's highest altitude main producing region).

Awards

2016/2017 Harvest Season Ethiopia National Taste of Harvest Competition - Champion

2017 Regional Africa Taste of Harvest Competition - Runner-up

2018 New Harvest Season Ethiopian Hua Kui 2.0

FrontStreet Coffee has newly acquired the 2018 new harvest season Ethiopian Hua Kui 2.0, from the core Hambella producing region, micro-batch from the Mountain Spring Processing Station.

Currently, there are about 20 processing stations of various scales in the Hambella region. Hong Shun, as a green bean company "rooted" in Ethiopia's coffee producing regions, has established four natural processing stations in the GUJI Hambella region since 2016 through partnerships, and conducted research on a series of natural processing methods using the region's high-quality coffee varieties during the 2017/18 harvest season. There are four estate processing stations in the core Hambella region: "Dire" Church Processing Station, "Mansa" Pond Processing Station, "Bobea" Red Flag Processing Station, and "Goro Baessa" Mountain Spring Processing Station. Goro Baessa is a small village surrounded by mountains at an altitude of 2280 meters. December is its coffee harvesting season each year. During this time, the mountains are covered with vibrant, ripe coffee cherries, neatly arranged on African drying beds in the village - this is where "Hua Kui" is processed.

02 | Processing Method

Most Ethiopian coffee estates remain in their natural state. Local coffee farmers go into the mountains to pick the cherries. With red-brown organic soil, annual rainfall exceeding 1200mm, altitude, and day-night temperature differences, Hua Kui only selects fully red, completely mature coffee cherries, all hand-picked.

African rack drying, limiting cherry layer thickness and turning them continuously 24 hours a day, allowing low-temperature fermentation in the estate's unique natural environment.

During the harvest and processing season (December-January), its unique growing environment and natural climate create Hua Kui's distinctive flavor profile. We start natural processing only when the sugar content of picked red cherries reaches above 30. For the first two days of sun-drying, we ensure the cherries' moisture content to allow full fermentation reaction of their fructose. Meanwhile, the high-altitude location allows the processing station's nighttime temperature to drop to around 12°C, preventing over-fermentation odors due to excessive heat. When temperatures are higher at noon, we promptly provide shade to prevent sun damage to the cherries.

Hua Kui 2.0, micro-batch from the Mountain Spring Processing Station, begins natural processing only when red cherry sugar content reaches above 21, resulting in exceptionally high sweetness. Combined with 21 days of low-temperature fermentation (compared to the typical 10+ days for natural processing), this ensures even sun-drying and ventilation, allowing more precise control of fermentation degree.

Compared to last year's local mixed variety "Hua Kui," "Hua Kui 2.0" features more consistent bean shape and cleaner processing. Through cupping evaluation, this year's "Hua Kui" not only possesses rich and enchanting floral aromas, mellow red wine and tropical fruit flavors, but also增加了 several bright juice-like sweet and sour notes.

The entire processing process only implements more refined management under the guidance of scientific measuring instruments, without any "tradition-breaking" improved processes. Natural processing begins only when red cherry sugar content reaches above 21, resulting in exceptionally high sweetness.

At night, to prevent sudden rainfall, thick plastic sheets are used for wrapping. This allows the red cherries to ferment and dehydrate at relatively low temperatures. After 18 days of natural processing, when the green bean moisture content drops to around 13%, sun-drying is stopped. The beans are packed into jute bags and stored in warehouses at 12-22°C with 40-50% humidity for about 50 days of green bean resting and further dehydration.

03 | Green Bean Analysis

The variety is local indigenous, small-grain type, with relatively round appearance. The beans are very small, mostly between 14-15 screen size, smaller than Longberry, greenish-yellow. There are significant variations in bean size.

04 | Roasting Analysis

When a roaster gets such excellent beans [Hua Kui], how should they be roasted? How should the Hua Kui roasting curve be adjusted?

First, I would look at the flavor description provided by the green bean supplier, then check the bean moisture content. The freshly received green beans have a fermented wine aroma of coffee flowers, completely different from the grassy aroma of typical green beans. Moreover, Hua Kui green beans vary in size and many have pointed ends (Ethiopia Heirloom - Ethiopian indigenous varieties). The moisture content is good at around 11%, but they're not the very hard SHB type beans. Due to the beans' high density and hardness, I extend the dehydration time in the early stages, enter first crack with increasing temperature, and try to preserve the loss of small-molecule aromatic substances like floral aromas.

Due to daily production needs, I chose to roast 550g (full load) and share my experience:

Entry temperature: 190°C

Only adjusting the curve by changing drop temperature and development time:

First batch: Yellowing point: 150.3°C, 5 minutes 55 seconds, dropped at 196°C. First crack development 1 minute 40 seconds, first crack at 9'55.

Second batch: Yellowing point: 151°C, 5 minutes 51 seconds, dropped at 193°C. First crack development 1 minute 30 seconds, first crack at 9'50.

Cupping two curve adjustments:

First roast: Wet aroma has obvious strong green tea and floral notes. Slurping reveals green tea, jasmine, lime, and cane sugar aromas. Mouthfeel is light and clean, with gentle and fresh acidity. However, the aftertaste is lacking, with only some sweetness remaining in the mouth. But it's very easy to drink, like drinking a cup of tea rather than coffee.

Second batch: Wet aroma has yellow lemon, floral, black tea aromas, with obvious citrus notes. Slurping reveals black tea, yellow lemon, caramel, and jasmine aromas. The flavor at this roast level begins to become richer and more substantial. The entrance acidity is more elegant, sweetness is perceived more quickly, and the sweetness level is higher. Fermented wine aroma, cream, tropical fruits, jackfruit, more balanced.

The cupping results are as follows:

After cupping, I finally settled on curve #2, which I'm quite satisfied with:

Enter beans at 190°C, complete dehydration and yellowing in close to 6 minutes. (Yellowing point around 150-153°C)

First crack starts around 9 minutes 50+ seconds (Hua Kui's first crack is later than typical beans, and the cracking sound is weak)

The development time after first crack should be controlled not to exceed 1 minute 30 seconds, nor be less than 1 minute. (Recommended to open high airflow and reduce heat to control speed)

When smelling from the sample spoon, when you can detect strawberry jam aroma at around 193°C, it's time to drop the beans

Total time controlled within 11 minutes is optimal.

04 | Brewing Analysis

As for brewing methods, pour-over and siphon brewing are best choices. When grinding, you can smell the rich natural fruit aroma with obvious sweetness.

A good cup of coffee is nothing more than balanced sweet, sour, and bitter flavors along with smooth mouthfeel. The design of filter cups is precisely to present these characteristics of coffee. However, different filter cups present coffee with different styles.

This time we used beans from the Sidamo Guji region's Hua Kui, [Hua Kui 2.0] micro-batch from Mountain Spring Processing Station.

I chose a resin V60 filter cup to allow the coffee to have richer acid changes from hot to cold, making this cup of coffee more refined. The resin material can enhance aroma intensity.

About Grind Size

For light roasts, we use relatively medium-fine grinding.

The coarseness of coffee grinding directly affects extraction time and extraction rate. The finer the coffee is ground, the denser the coffee powder layer becomes, with more coffee particles contacting hot water, increasing extraction resistance, making it easier to extend extraction time and increase extraction rate. However, it's very easy to over-extract.

Conversely, the coarser the coffee is ground, the larger the gaps in the powder layer become, with fewer coffee particles contacting hot water, extraction resistance weakens, making it less likely to extend extraction time and reducing extraction rate, making it very easy to under-extract. Therefore, the finer the coffee is ground, it will extend extraction time and increase extraction rate; the coarser the coffee is ground, it will shorten extraction time and lower extraction rate.

Filter cup: Hario V60 transparent resin

Grind setting: Fuji Royal R-440 3.5

Water temperature: 90°C

Pour 25g water for 30-second bloom, segment when reaching 120g water, finish brewing at 226g.

Total time: 2 minutes 5 seconds

It has obvious cantaloupe aroma and strawberry jam fragrance. The entrance brings jackfruit-like gentle acidity, with strawberry berry flavors emerging in the middle section, along with some cane sugar sweet aftertaste, creating rich layers.

Related recommendations: Is pour-over coffee really delicious? Why does coffee smell better than it tastes?

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473