What are the Flavor Characteristics of Ethiopian Coffee?

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Compared to a cup of Panama Geisha that costs hundreds, affordable Ethiopian coffee also offers bright and high-quality fruit acidity. The fruity aroma of Ethiopian coffee has become the gateway specialty coffee for many coffee enthusiasts. As the world's recognized origin of coffee, Ethiopia has been meticulously divided into multiple producing regions, each exhibiting unique flavors due to different growing conditions such as climate, soil, and altitude.

On the blackboard at FrontStreet Coffee, nearly fifty different coffee beans are displayed, with coffee-producing countries circling the entire coffee golden belt. Among them, coffee beans from Ethiopia occupy one-third of the blackboard space, demonstrating how highly Ethiopian coffee is regarded in the hearts of coffee lovers.

Ethiopian Coffee Regions

Ethiopia's coffee regions are numerous and somewhat disorganized, with different people creating different regional maps. For example, the Ethiopian coffee region map created by Dutch green bean supplier Trabocca and the one made by American green bean company Cafe Imports are mostly similar in regional division but have some subtle differences.

Ethiopian coffee regions can be broadly divided into: Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, Harar, Bale, Guji, Lekempti/Gimbi, Jimma/Limu, Bebeka, Kaffa, and Teppi.

Sidamo Region

Among Ethiopia's numerous coffee regions, Sidamo has long been famous worldwide, with its economic strength and status being unique within Ethiopia. On June 18, 2020, the people of the Sidamo region became independent from the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region through a referendum, becoming Ethiopia's tenth state, the Sidama Region. However, the Sidamo coffee region covers the entire Sidama Region plus parts of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region. Whether similar situations will occur again in the future remains unknown.

With the third wave of coffee thriving in China, Ethiopian coffee can be found in coffee shops of all sizes across various regions. Those who carefully note growing regions often see Sidamo and Yirgacheffe. Coffee enthusiasts often introduce these regions to their friends by saying: "Drink washed Yirgacheffe and natural Sidamo." This is because these two relatively traditional processing methods give these regions distinct flavor profiles.

Coffee Processing Methods

As the most traditional and original post-harvest processing method for coffee beans, natural processing is commonly used in all Ethiopian regions. However, natural processing also brings certain limitations, such as difficulty in controlling green bean quality. In early Ethiopian green bean grading, the highest grade for natural processed beans was only G3. Later, the emergence of ECX broke this deadlock. Today, you can find G1 grade natural or washed Ethiopian beans on FrontStreet Coffee's bean shelves.

In the 1970s, Ethiopian authorities introduced washed processing methods from Central and South America to improve green bean quality. In the washed processing operation, selected coffee cherries need to have their skin and pulp removed, then the mucilage layer is completely washed with clean water, and finally spread evenly on raised beds for drying.

The introduction of washed processing completely removes the pulp and mucilage that could add points to coffee flavor, exposing the most original flavor of the coffee beans. It is precisely because of this that Yirgacheffe coffee's elegant white floral aroma and delicate texture were discovered by the world.

Yirgacheffe Region

It is also because of this unique floral aroma that Yirgacheffe coffee's price skyrocketed, attracting many buyers to seek "Yirgacheffe." Some coffee growers from non-Yirgacheffe areas falsely claimed their coffee beans were Yirgacheffe coffee beans. Due to Yirgacheffe's unique flavor and to end market confusion about coffee regions, the Yirgacheffe region became independent from the Sidamo region, becoming its own distinct region.

For many years, Yirgacheffe has frequently appeared on award lists in various green bean competitions, and coffee connoisseurs are familiar with many villages and even cooperatives, such as the Gedeb Cooperative, Konga Cooperative, Worka Cooperative, and Kochere, as shown on FrontStreet Coffee's menu. Although belonging to the same large region, each cooperative maximizes Yirgacheffe's flavor through unique geographical environments and processing techniques.

For example, on FrontStreet Coffee's bean shelves, although both Gedeb and Kochere use washed processing, they have subtle flavor differences. Gedeb shows distinct citrus notes upon entry, with an extremely clean mouthfeel and a green tea finish; while Kochere has a more prominent sweetness, obvious citrus aroma, sweet and sour sensations like orange juice, and a distinct black tea finish.

Some people prefer the refreshing Yirgacheffe, while others like the wild Sidamo. Among FrontStreet Coffee's customers, many are Ethiopian coffee enthusiasts themselves, but after drinking too much washed Yirgacheffe, they naturally turn their attention to natural Sidamo.

Hua Kui Coffee

Every coffee enthusiast who relentlessly pursues Sidamo does so because of its wild berry cream flavor. Each new harvest season, everyone competes to buy new beans to taste, seeking the subtle differences between each season. Among these, Hua Kui coffee beans are the most inquired-about Sidamo coffee beans.

Since a natural processed coffee bean from the Buku Abel processing station in Hambela won the 2017 TOH (Taste of Harvest) green bean competition Ethiopian natural processing category, the Hua Kui coffee IP has been carefully cultivated by Hongshun for six years now. Many coffee beans are named after their origin or processing station, but the name "Hua Kui" was actually given by Chinese people, meaning "chief of flowers," with the hope that this bean would one day surpass the status of Panama Geisha.

The Hua Kui coffee series varies each year, following the "Hua Kui X.0" format, where X increases annually with each year. 2022 marked the sixth year of the "Hua Kui" IP, naturally making it Hua Kui 6.0. FrontStreet Coffee, on its journey to pursue refined and diverse Ethiopian flavors, has been following Hua Kui coffee beans for many years, updating with the latest batch each new harvest season.

However, coffee beans are an agricultural product, and the final product is affected by growing conditions such as climate, resulting in corresponding different flavor expressions. FrontStreet Coffee often receives such praise: "Your beans are so beautiful, every single one is so full!" However, FrontStreet Coffee finds such products unacceptable. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee sought another batch of natural processed coffee beans from the same harvest season in the Hambela region's Buku processing station, not sourced by Hongshun. This new harvest season Hua Kui coffee bean batch features full beans, complete particles, and few defects.

FrontStreet Coffee conducted cupping of these two new harvest season Hua Kui coffee beans and found that Hongshun's Hua Kui 6.0 had flavors of berries, honey, and passion fruit, with prominent sweetness; while the 2022 new harvest season Hua Kui coffee that FrontStreet Coffee stocked had flavors of citrus, honey, and orange blossom, with strong juice-like sensations.

Brewing Recommendations

To express the bright, uplifting acidity of Ethiopian coffee, FrontStreet Coffee's roasters generally use medium-light roasting for Ethiopian coffee beans. As the roasting level tends toward lighter, the rate at which flavor compounds are released from the coffee beans slows down. To extract as much of the floral and fruity acidic aroma of Ethiopian coffee as possible, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using the following parameters:

Dripper: Hario V60
Water Temperature: 90 degrees Celsius
Dose: 15 grams
Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: 80% pass-through rate on Chinese standard #20 sieve

First pour 30 grams of hot water for a 30-second bloom, then pour slowly from the center in a fine stream and circle gradually to 125 grams. When the water level in the dripper drops to just before exposing the coffee bed, continue circling and pouring to 225 grams. Total extraction time should be approximately 2 minutes.

Important Notice :

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