Ethiopia Uraga Coffee - Introduction to Flavor Characteristics of TOH Washed Champion Coffee Beans

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Ethiopia is one of the world's important specialty coffee-producing countries, and its renowned specialty coffee region Yirgacheffe enjoys widespread fame. In recent years, Ethiopia has seen several specialty coffee regions similar to Yirgacheffe emerge. The Uraga region, a sub-region of the Guji zone, is one such example. Today, FrontStreet Coffee introduces a coffee bean from Uraga, which was awarded the champion of the washed category in the 2019-2020 TOH Green Bean Cupping Competition.

What is TOH?

TOH stands for "East Africa Taste of Harvest Competition," initiated by the African Fine Coffee Association (AFCA). It's a green bean cupping competition held among 12 coffee-producing African countries, similar to the Cup of Excellence (COE) competition led by Brazil.

The TOH competition process is as follows: In the preliminary stage, batches scoring below 80 points in cupping are eliminated, gradually selecting the highest quality green beans from each region to advance to the national-level competition. Then, domestic and international judges together cup and score based on standards from the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), with the highest scorer being crowned the annual national champion. This year, Uraga stood out with a score of 89.8 to become the 2020 TOH washed category champion.

Champion Bean Uraga

This coffee bean comes from the Uraga sub-region of Ethiopia's famous Guji zone. The Guji zone was originally part of the Sidamo region but became independent due to its unique regional flavor characteristics similar to Yirgacheffe. This region also produces many famous coffees, such as the Flower Queen series we often drink, which comes from the Hambela sub-region of Guji.

Uraga is a sub-region within the Guji zone, with an altitude reaching 2300m. Although Uraga town is located within the Guji zone, geographically it's closer to the high-altitude mountainous area of Yirgacheffe at 2200m. The region's geology consists of nutrient-rich black soil (Vertisol), surrounded by lush green trees, with several mountain ranges creating the perfect environment for quality coffee. It's precisely for this reason that beans from this region have extremely rich fruit aromas and very clear acidity.

Processing Station and Processing Method

This champion bean was processed using the washed method at the Sela Gajaba washing station. This station is located 12 kilometers outside Uraga town and is one of the most outstanding processing stations in Uraga. The station's processing procedures are completed almost entirely indoors, minimizing the risk of coffee bean contamination.

Freshly picked coffee cherries undergo a two-step screening process to select fully red, flawless cherries, which then go through pulping to remove the skin and flesh. The coffee beans with remaining mucilage are placed in water to ferment for approximately 18-36 hours; after fermentation, the coffee beans with parchment are placed in flowing water channels to wash away the pulp and mucilage; after washing, the coffee beans are sun-dried or dried using drying machines to reduce moisture content to around 12%. Finally, the parchment is removed from the green coffee beans.

Coffee processed in this way possesses the traditional floral notes, citrus, and tea-like qualities of Ethiopian coffee, while adding considerable clarity.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Analysis

FrontStreet Coffee's roaster believes that as a washed champion bean, it's essential to retain its clean taste while highlighting the white floral and fruit flavors. Through fine adjustments to dehydration time and first crack timing, the following roasting profile was ultimately determined.

Frontsteet's roaster used a Yangjia 800N (300g batch size): drum temperature 180°C, heat 130, damper setting 3; return point at 1'36", when drum temperature reached 140°C, damper was opened to 4, heat unchanged; when drum temperature reached 151°C, bean surface turned yellow, grassy aroma completely disappeared, entering dehydration phase, heat reduced to 110.

At 8'37", ugly wrinkles and black spots appeared on the bean surface, toast aroma clearly transformed to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the sound of first crack, which began at 9'39". Damper not opened to 5, developed for 1'00" after first crack, discharged at 193.2°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Report

FrontStreet Coffee conducts cupping within 8-24 hours after coffee beans are roasted. FrontStreet Coffee's barista uses 200ml standard cupping bowls, with a grind size that has 70%-75% retention on a #20 standard sieve, using 11.1g of coffee and water temperature of 94°C. First grind and smell the dry aroma, then add water to fill the bowl. Confirm wet aroma, and after 4 minutes break the crust and remove grounds for flavor evaluation.

Dry Aroma: Floral

Wet Aroma: Citrus

Flavor: Jasmine, lemon, berries, pomelo, honey, green tea

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Parameter Sharing

Through cupping, FrontStreet Coffee identified the flavors of this Ethiopian coffee bean as jasmine, lemon, berries, pomelo, honey, and green tea.

For this session, FrontStreet Coffee's barista decided to highlight the jasmine flower aroma, pomelo, honey, and green tea as the main notes. The following brewing parameters were adopted:

Using 15g of coffee grounds as an example, through brewing experiments, Frontsteet found that this coffee easily develops tea-like astringency when steeped for too long, so the final grind size was chosen to be slightly coarser than normal pour-over grind, with 70% retention on a #20 standard sieve.

Using a 1:16 coffee-to-water ratio, a larger ratio helps highlight the floral and fruit aromas. Water temperature of 91°C was used, which is very suitable for brewing Ethiopian coffee beans and easily highlights citrus and other fruit notes.

Brewing Method

This session also used Frontsteet's three-stage pour-over method. First, preheat the coffee pot and filter cup, pour in 15g of coffee grounds, and gently level. Pour 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, not recommended to extend bloom time as it may cause astringency.

For the second stage, pour 120g of water in concentric circles from center outward, with completion time around 1 minute. When the coffee bed is about to become visible, pour the final stage using the same pouring method, adding 90g of water. Remove the filter cup when all water has flowed into the lower pot, ending extraction. Total brewing time is 2 minutes and 5 seconds.

Brewing Flavor Description: The wet aroma has subtle jasmine and citrus notes. In the initial stage, you can experience citrus-like juice. In the middle to later stages, you can taste a honey pomelo tea-like sensation, while the aftertaste provides oolong tea-like sweetness.

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

Important Notice :

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