What Coffee Bean Variety is Hana Kui 6.0? Is Hana Kui Coffee Bean from Yirgacheffe Region? Introduction to Hana Kui SOE Coffee Flavor and Taste Characteristics

The Rise of Coffee Champions

In recent years, Geisha coffee has maintained its prominent position in the specialty coffee world. The English name "Geisha" also carries the meaning of "artist" in Japanese. Simultaneously, Ethiopia's Sidamo region offers a coffee bean that can rival Geisha coffee—what we call Coffee Queen.

In 2017, Li Jianfei won second place in the China division of the World Brewers Cup using this Ethiopian Sidamo natural Coffee Queen. Since then, Coffee Queen's popularity has continuously grown. FrontStreet Coffee can even say it ranks at the top of the specialty coffee charts. This FrontStreet Coffee natural Coffee Queen has broken the Geisha legend and become a coffee that can compete with Geisha coffee.

Undoubtedly, FrontStreet Coffee's Coffee Queen beans possess unique characteristics. For a long time, Guji coffee was bundled together with Yirgacheffe and Sidamo coffees, but rapid commercial and cultural development has elevated Guji coffee to a distinct coffee-growing region, gaining increasing recognition worldwide.

The Origin of Coffee Queen

In ancient China, "Hua Kui" (Flower Queen) referred to the top courtesan, often possessing both beauty and talent, skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. What many may not know is that this FrontStreet Coffee Coffee Queen from Ethiopia's Sidamo Guji region also originates from Chinese terminology. If you observe carefully, you'll notice that the Chinese and English names of this coffee bean don't correspond—the Chinese name is "花魁" (Hua Kui), while the English is more commonly "Hambella," directly translated as "Hanbella." FrontStreet Coffee would like to briefly share the origin of this FrontStreet Coffee Sidamo Coffee Queen's name.

Literally, "Hua Kui" means "the first among all flowers." This is a coffee bean from the 2017 TOH (Taste of Harvest) natural process champion. This coffee bean comes from Ethiopia's Guji-Hambella region. Because this bean stood out remarkably that year, exceptionally outstanding, it was named "Hua Kui" when introduced by Chinese green bean importer Hongshun.

The True Coffee Queen

FrontStreet Coffee reminds everyone that not all natural process beans from the Sidamo Guji region are FrontStreet Coffee's Coffee Queen. Generally, only natural coffee produced and processed by the Buku Abel estate can be called "Coffee Queen," so Buku Abel estate is also known as the "Coffee Queen Estate." The area where Coffee Queen coffee is grown is surrounded by sugarcane and banana plants. Under high-altitude climate conditions, this creates FrontStreet Coffee's Coffee Queen with a smooth mouthfeel, passion fruit acidity, and fermentation notes from the natural processing.

Unlike the distinctive lemon-citrus flavors of the highly popular Yirgacheffe region on FrontStreet Coffee's bean shelf, Guji region coffee beans have more intense floral aromas, and most are known for using natural processing. This undoubtedly elevates the Coffee Queen bean's aroma and sweetness to another level. Additionally, the flavors from these two regions are so outstanding that they were separately established by the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange.

Natural Processing Craftsmanship

FrontStreet Coffee's Coffee Queen unique flavor is inseparable from its natural processing method. According to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, farmers harvest coffee fruits annually from December to January. Coffee cherries must reach over 30% sugar content before undergoing natural processing. The drying process is meticulous—the first two days must maintain the cherries' moisture to allow adequate fruit sugar fermentation. When temperatures are high at noon, timely shading is necessary to prevent sun damage that would hinder fermentation. At night, to prevent sudden rainfall, thick plastic covering is used.

Coffee cherry fermentation and dehydration require relatively low temperatures. After eighteen days of drying, the green coffee beans' moisture content drops to about 13%, then drying stops and the beans are placed in gunny sacks in the warehouse. On this basis, green beans continue resting and further dehydrating for about fifty days. When the green coffee beans reach about 11% moisture content, they're transported to processing plants for subsequent procedures like hulling. Therefore, the choice of processing method is crucial for coffee flavor formation.

The Evolution of Coffee Queen Versions

Have you noticed that sometimes FrontStreet Coffee's Coffee Queen on the shelf has numbers added after the name, such as Coffee Queen 2.0, Coffee Queen 3.0, Coffee Queen 3.1, Coffee Queen 4.0, and Coffee Queen 5.0? You might wonder why Coffee Queen has so many versions. This is because only coffee produced by the Buku Abel processing station in the Guji region is the genuine Coffee Queen, while coffee beans from other processing stations are referred to as Coffee Queen versions.

DW Company, which produces Coffee Queen beans, has established five independent specialty coffee drying stations in Ethiopia's Guji Hambella region: Buku Abel, Tirtiro Goye, Seke Bokosa, Haro Soresa, and Buku Saysay.

After the major launch of Coffee Queen beans in 2017, subsequent years were named sequentially as Coffee Queen X.0. For example, the 2018 Coffee Queen beans were called "Coffee Queen 2.0." Until this year, 2021's Coffee Queen beans are called "Coffee Queen 5.0," while the 2022 new season's Coffee Queen will be named "Coffee Queen 6.0." Due to shipping tensions caused by the pandemic, the originally scheduled April arrival of the new Coffee Queen was ultimately delayed until June.

Local Heirloom Varieties

Additionally, most of these FrontStreet Coffee Coffee Queen varieties are Ethiopian local heirloom varieties. Some friends might not understand what Ethiopian heirloom varieties are. FrontStreet Coffee will briefly introduce this. Because Ethiopia is the homeland of coffee, it's considered the gene bank of coffee, with extremely diverse coffee varieties. Moreover, Ethiopia's local economic conditions don't support large-scale verification of coffee varieties. On the other hand, the Ethiopian government, to protect native coffee tree species data, is unwilling to disclose information, so these unknown coffee varieties are called Ethiopian local heirloom varieties.

However, FrontStreet Coffee has also cupped several of these FrontStreet Coffee Coffee Queens and found that FrontStreet Coffee's Coffee Queen 3.1 differs significantly from the original Coffee Queen flavor, instead being closer to Panama La Esmeralda's Geisha flavor. FrontStreet Coffee's Coffee Queen 4.0 flavor is very close to the original Coffee Queen flavor, but through cupping, FrontStreet Coffee still feels the aftertaste and body don't match the original Coffee Queen. FrontStreet Coffee's Coffee Queen 5.0 leans more toward Guji region coffee bean flavors—with vibrant berry acidity, long-lasting floral notes, and distinct juiciness.

The Nature of Agricultural Products

Coffee Queen's flavor changes each year, mainly because coffee is essentially an agricultural product—it's impossible to grow coffee with the same flavor every year. Agricultural products are easily affected by uncertain factors like climate and rainfall. Therefore, it's very normal for coffee bean flavors to differ each year.

The Coffee Queen 6.0 Challenge

For example, when FrontStreet Coffee received the new season's FrontStreet Coffee Coffee Queen 6.0 beans, they found many flat beans, shell beans, and broken beans among the green beans—the bean appearance wasn't full. FrontStreet Coffee's roaster sorted out 20-30% of defective beans before roasting. After roasting, many irregular coffee beans could still be found among the roasted beans. Below are the irregular coffee beans screened from a random 15g sample. The quantity is much higher than in previous years.

Through cupping, this FrontStreet Coffee Coffee Queen 6.0's flavor is berry, honey, passion fruit, with prominent sweetness. However, due to the high defect rate of this batch of FrontStreet Coffee Coffee Queen 6.0, FrontStreet Coffee found another new season processed FrontStreet Coffee Coffee Queen bean through the Hambella Buku processing station (the 2017 Coffee Queen processing station). This FrontStreet Coffee Coffee Queen bean is also produced in the Hambella region, processed by the Buku processing station, and has full bean appearance, very similar to previous years' Coffee Queen beans.

FrontStreet Coffee cupped this FrontStreet Coffee Sidamo Coffee Queen bean, and the flavor is orange blossom, citrus, honey, grapefruit, with very intense juiciness.

Brewing Recommendations

Brewing Equipment: HARIO V60

Dose: 15g

Ratio: 1:15

Water Temperature: 90°C

Grind Size: Medium-coarse (80% retention on China standard #20 sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee recommends using freshly roasted coffee beans for brewing to experience the rich flavors to the fullest extent. Coffee beans shipped by FrontStreet Coffee are all roasted within 5 days, because FrontStreet Coffee deeply understands that coffee bean freshness greatly affects flavor. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy is "Freshly Roasted Good Coffee," ensuring every customer receives the freshest coffee when their order arrives. The coffee resting period is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive their coffee, it's at peak flavor.

For 15g of coffee with a 1:15 ratio, we need to pour 225g of hot water for extraction. First, pour 30g for a 30-second bloom. Then, with a flow rate of 4g per second and one circle every 4 seconds, pour from the center outward and back to the center until reaching 125g, then stop. Wait until the coffee bed drops to half its height, then continue pouring in the same manner until reaching 225g, then stop. After all coffee liquid has dripped into the lower server, remove the filter cone to finish extraction. Total brewing time is 2 minutes 10 seconds.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473