Ethiopian Coffee Flavor Profile Comparison: Yirgacheffe vs. Sidamo

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Ethiopia's Coffee Culture and Market

Ethiopians have a unique passion for coffee, with an annual national per capita coffee consumption of 3 kilograms. Ethiopia's coffee consumption ranks first in Africa and would place in the upper-middle tier among European coffee-consuming nations.

Today, Ethiopia produces coffee not only for domestic consumption but also to provide better enjoyment for coffee enthusiasts worldwide. With the continuous improvement of coffee industry quality and production efficiency, Ethiopia can now offer high-quality coffee to even the most discerning and discriminating customers. Ethiopia hopes that not only coffee-consuming countries worldwide but also Chinese people can share this precious wealth of Ethiopia, as Chinese people have gradually become connoisseurs who can appreciate the quality of coffee.

Sidamo vs Yirgacheffe: Similarities and Differences

Sidamo and Yirgacheffe are both famous major producing regions in Ethiopia. What is the relationship between these two regions? What are their differences? Now, FrontStreet Coffee will discuss the similarities and differences between Sidamo and Yirgacheffe!

The Red Cherry Project

To have the most direct control over coffee flavor profiles to ensure the quality of each batch produced.

Before the harvest season, Trabocca invites selected small-scale farmer organizations/producers to participate in producing micro-lot coffee (approximately 1500-3000 kg), with careful hand-picking of 100% ripe red coffee cherries in batches (hence the name Red Cherry Project). Trabocca provides financial loan support, new hardware equipment, and production processing knowledge and technical assistance to farmers, committing to purchase at premium prices if the actual output quality meets cupping standards in cupping rooms in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Amsterdam, Netherlands. This year, Trabocca set the passing standard at 88 points. Red Cherry Project beans are immediately packaged in plastic inner bags (GrainPro bags or vacuum-sealed bags) after processing at the origin, then shipped to Djibouti to await ocean freight. Through real-time monitoring, safe transportation, and timely appropriate processing methods, they strive to pursue perfect quality.

Sidamo Coffee Characteristics

Sidamo's coffee flavors are extremely diverse. Different soil types, microclimates, and countless native coffee varieties, towering mountains, highlands, plateaus, valleys, and plains within the region create diverse topography. The local geology consists of fertile, well-drained volcanic soil with depths of nearly two meters, with surface soil appearing dark brown or brown. The region's greatest advantage is that soil fertility is maintained through organic matter cycling, using fallen leaves from surrounding trees or plant residues as fertilizer. This results in significant differences and characteristics in coffee produced by various towns. From 2010-2012, it consistently achieved high scores of 92-94 from the authoritative American coffee evaluation website CR. This demonstrates the extraordinary nature of raw beans from this region.

The region's greatest advantage is that soil fertility is maintained through organic matter cycling, using fallen leaves from surrounding trees or plant residues as fertilizer. This results in significant differences and characteristics in coffee produced by various towns.

According to FrontStreet Coffee, Sidamo coffee raw beans are slightly grayish, with some being large and coarse while others are small and fine. They have both gentle and bright acidity, appropriate body thickness, sweet and spicy aroma, making them one of the garden coffees from the southern highlands of Ethiopia. FrontStreet Coffee uses Sidamo's Guji as an example and conducted cupping comparisons with coffees from other African regions, finding that unlike typical African coffees, Sidamo has clear fruit acidity, smooth texture, and delicate floral and herbal aromas.

Natural process Sidamo has flavors close to floral notes. Washed process carries nutty fruit aromas with subtle cocoa notes, but both share smooth texture and viscosity, comfortable and pleasant acidity and aroma. Light to medium roast is suitable for single-origin, while medium to dark roast is suitable for blending and as a good base for Espresso.

Washed processed Sidamo appears light green, with beans that are not large, oval-shaped, full-bodied, with good average quality and aromatic, mellow aroma. One drop in the mouth leaves an endless aftertaste, possessing wild beauty. It is elegant yet playful, with a gentle and pleasant mouthfeel that creates a strong taste impact with the subsequent bright lemon fruit acidity. The texture is unique and mellow, with a distinctive and pleasant aftertaste, and the slowly rising finish contains unique sweetness.

Ethiopia Coffee Regions Overview

Ethiopia

Population: 93,877,000

Ethiopia's regional names have the highest recognition in the coffee world and are currently the most used as coffee names among all countries. This holds true today and will likely continue in the future. Additionally, the potential of original species and wild Arabica genes will be a major advantage for Ethiopian coffee.

SIDAMO

Sidamo, along with two other regions—Harar and Yirgacheffe—were registered as trademarks by the Ethiopian government in 2004, increasing the recognition of the region's reputation and local distinctive coffee beans. Sidamo uses both washed and natural processing methods and is popular among consumers who prefer fruitiness and strong aromas. After Italy withdrew from Ethiopia in 1942, locals referred to this area as Sidama. Therefore, both Sidamo and Sidama are common names for coffee beans from this region. This region also produces some of Ethiopia's highest quality coffee beans.

Altitude: 1400-2200m

Harvest: October-January

Variety: Heirloom

LIMU

Even without the fame of Sidamo and Yirgacheffe, Limu still produces impressive coffee. Most producers in this region are small farmers, but there are also some large government-owned estates.

Altitude: 1400-2200m

Harvest: November-January

Variety: Heirloom

HARRAR

This region consists of small towns surrounding Harar and is the oldest producing area. The coffee from this region is extremely special and grows in environments that don't require additional irrigation. Harar has long enjoyed an excellent reputation. Although natural processing can adjust the original muddy, woody earthy notes to bright blueberry flavors, the coffee beans are so special and memorable that they have broadened the horizons of those who have worked in the coffee industry due to the diversity of bean flavors.

Altitude: 1500-2100m

Harvest: November-February

Variety: Heirloom

YIRGACHEFFE

Yirgacheffe coffee in short: diverse and unique. Many excellent washed beans exhibit explosive aromas, full of citrus and floral notes, and possess a light and elegant essence. Undeniably, this region produces high-quality and interesting coffee beans, with the best beans naturally commanding higher prices. Yirgacheffe's characteristics can be recommended to those who enjoy Earl Grey tea. Some beans also use natural processing, showing similarly interesting and exciting results.

Altitude: 1750-2200m

Harvest: October-January

Variety: Heirloom

Ethiopia Coffee Market and Trade

Ethiopia's coffee market management authority is the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority.

The country has two auction centers: one in the capital Addis Ababa and another in Dire Dawa in eastern Ethiopia. Coffee farming households bring fresh fruits either to private coffee processing factories or cooperative coffee washing stations for washing. After washing, processing, and drying, the coffee beans are transported to central shops in the capital Addis Ababa. After comprehensive inspection and soaking, these coffee beans are graded by quality and then auctioned. Coffee produced by state-owned farms must also follow the same procedures after farm processing. Buyers participating in auctions carefully observe the coffee beans and their soaking certificates before bidding. Bidding takes the form of buyers shouting out prices. Ethiopia annually exports 80%-85% natural or natural process coffee beans and 15%-20% wet-processed coffee beans. Ethiopia occupies approximately 2.5% of the global coffee market. Ethiopia's coffee is exported worldwide, with Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and the United States being the four major coffee export destinations. On average, Ethiopia exports approximately 109,000 tons of coffee annually worldwide (equivalent to 1.8 million 60kg bags).

Ethiopia's coffee beans grow in near-natural environments. After years of cultivation under the same growing conditions, Ethiopia's coffee beans have gradually adapted to this environment. Over 60% of coffee beans are forest coffee or semi-forest coffee.

Coffee produced by villages with large-scale coffee cultivation accounts for approximately 35% of the country's total coffee production. These coffee farms using multi-layer coffee cultivation systems receive meticulous care. Coffee farmers do not use chemical fertilizers but instead use fallen leaves and animal and plant debris to increase soil nutrients. Besides coffee, farmers frequently plant non-coffee crops. Even estate coffee (produced by state-owned farms), which accounts for 5% of the country's total coffee production, exhibits characteristics of forest-type coffee production.

Blessed with the most advantageous natural conditions, Ethiopia produces unique high-quality coffee annually. Ethiopia's coffee cultivation cycle brings harvest joy to the country each year. Beautiful white coffee flowers bloom competitively between March and April each year and will bear fruit. Only the reddest and fully ripe fruits will be selected as coffee raw materials between September and approximately December. New coffee exports begin each November or December.

Yirgacheffe: Ethiopia's Premium Washed Coffee

Ethiopia Washed Yirgacheffe, as the top washed coffee from Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, has distinctive characteristics, superior quality, and small production, thus possessing the factors of top-tier coffee and naturally being highly sought after. Yirgacheffe is almost synonymous with Ethiopia's finest coffee! With altitudes as high as 5800-6600 feet, it's famous worldwide for its lemon flavors and floral aromas! These coffee beans are exported to Japan and Europe but are rarely seen in the United States.

Variety Comparison

Yirgacheffe varieties are local native varieties, small-grained types, with relatively round appearance and very small beans, mostly between 14-15 screen size.

Sidamo varieties are also local native varieties, small-grained types, with appearance smaller than Longberry, small beans, overall slightly larger than Yirgacheffe, mostly 15 screen size.

Local Native Varieties: Ethiopia's coffee varieties have nearly 2000 recorded varieties, including 1927 native varieties and 128 introduced foreign varieties. So purely judging by appearance, Ethiopia's coffee varieties are like a "grand view garden" with everything imaginable—long, short, thin, fat...

Brewing Recommendations from FrontStreet Coffee

When FrontStreet Coffee gets a natural Yirgacheffe and natural Sidamo, how would they brew them?

FrontStreet Coffee believes that pour-over and siphon brewing are optimal. During grinding, you can smell the overwhelming natural fruit aroma with noticeable sweetness.

According to FrontStreet Coffee's experience, when brewing natural Yirgacheffe and natural Sidamo, the main considerations before brewing are roast degree, altitude, and roast date.

In principle, darker roasts can use lower temperatures, while lighter roasts can use higher temperatures.

For example, lightly roasted beans that have been aged for a longer time, coarsely ground, and the beans themselves tend toward acidity while you prefer bitterness over acidity, you can try a relatively higher temperature. Of course, when temperature is higher, aromatic lipids can indeed release more aroma, but sometimes this comes with the destruction of certain flavors.

Of course, brewing temperature doesn't have a completely fixed standard; it can be decided based on your personal taste preferences or the bean's roast degree.

When brewing Yirgacheffe and Sidamo, FrontStreet Coffee commonly uses the three-stage method:

Three-Stage Pouring Method

Segmented extraction, dividing one portion of water into three stages of pouring.

Suitable for light roast, medium-light roast, and medium roast coffee beans.

The three-stage pouring segmented extraction method provides richer layers, clearly showing the front, middle, and back end flavors of the coffee. The method is to increase water amount each time after blooming, usually pouring when the coffee liquid is about to drop to the powder layer surface, using small, medium, and large water flows for three-stage extraction. Taking natural [Flower Queen] as reference:

3.5 grind - 90°C water temperature

Sweetness: ☆☆☆☆

Acidity: ☆☆☆

Bitterness: ☆

Taste description: Good sweetness, comfortable entry, full-bodied texture. The acidity is gentler, drinking with enveloped fruit flavors. Bitterness is much weaker here, while the aftertaste is very sweet.

Related recommendations: Ethiopian coffee producing region flavor characteristics_Ethiopian Yirgacheffe specialty coffee

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