Yirgacheffe Idido Red Honey Process Red Cherry Coffee Flavor Profile and Pour-over Brewing Parameters

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FrontStreet Coffee · Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Red Honey Process

Region: Yirgacheffe, Idido

Altitude: 2000-2200m

Processing Method: Red Honey Process

Variety: Local Landraces

Grade: G1

Origin Introduction

Ethiopia is located in the eastern part of the African continent. The "Gedeo zone" to which Yirgacheffe belongs is located in the "Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region" in southwestern Ethiopia.

Yirgacheffe is a small town in Ethiopia with an altitude of 1700-2100 meters. It is one of the highest altitude coffee producing regions in the world and synonymous with Ethiopian specialty coffee. Lake Turkana, Lake Abaya, and Lake Chamo bring abundant water vapor to this area.

IDIDO Cooperative

The IDIDO Cooperative was established in the late 1970s and is located east of the town of Yigacheffe in Ethiopia. It joined the Yigacheffe Farmers' Cooperative in 2002. IDIDO is also the name of the village where the cooperative's centralized processing plant is located, working with growers from eight surrounding kabeles (villages).

The cooperative has over 1,000 members spread across various communities in Wegida, Aricha, Direto, Ela Tenecha, Bowicha, Haro Badami, and Gerse. It works with growers from nearby communities to prepare single community plots and special processing. Coffee is hand-picked by farmers and their families and then sent to the factory for post-processing.

What is the "Red Cherry Project"?

The "Red Cherry Project" (ORC) is a quality improvement project for small-scale farms. In 2007, Trabocca, the largest green coffee importer in the Netherlands, proposed the "Red Cherry Project" to pursue high-quality Ethiopian coffee.

The project requires that when harvesting coffee beans, not only must fully red fruits be picked, but they must also be harvested entirely by hand. However, this is just the most basic requirement, and the project is far more complex. The main purpose is to encourage coffee farmers and bring surprises to roasters. Trabocca, the largest coffee merchant in the Netherlands, invites all Ethiopian farms to produce small batches of about 1500-3000 kilograms (25-50 bags) of beans before the harvest season. Women can only select 100% fully mature red cherries, which makes a significant difference in the brewed coffee flavor. Therefore, careful, good-sighted, and hardworking Ethiopian women are important promoters of the Red Cherry Project.

The Red Cherry Project is also a strengthening approach that makes farms invest more thought in the bean selection process. These coffees are relatively higher priced. The Red Cherry Project includes washed, natural, semi-washed, semi-natural, and experimental coffees. The main producing regions include Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, Bonga Forest, Lekempti, Kembata, Illubabor, Harar, Limu, and Golocha (near Harar) added in 2011. All of these have unique flavors that can fully showcase the flavor of Ethiopian coffee. After receiving the coffee, Trabocca selects from it again. Farms that meet the standards through cupping quality tests in both Ethiopian and Dutch offices receive high bonuses. The promoter of the Red Cherry Project, Trabocca, invests all the profits earned in recent years back into the cooperative farms.

Processing Method

This FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe G1 coffee bean uses the red honey processing method.

The so-called honey process refers to the production process of green beans that are sun-dried with the mucilage. After removing the outer pulp from the coffee beans, there is a layer of viscous gelatinous substance. Traditional washed processing uses clean water to wash it away, but due to water resource limitations in some high-altitude regions, this direct drying method was born.

The pectin mucilage part is the portion with the highest fructose content in coffee fruit and is also an important part of coffee processing fermentation. It can be said that this part determines 80% of the nutritional supply during the processing. Yellow honey retains 60% of the pectin, red honey retains 75% of the pectin, and black honey almost never removes the pectin.

Green Bean Analysis

The variety of this FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe red honey processed coffee is local landraces.

Careful observation of the green beans reveals that due to the variety, the beans vary in size - some are large, some small, some slender, and some round. It's worth knowing that Ethiopia has nearly 2000 recorded coffee varieties, including 1927 native varieties and 128 introduced foreign varieties. So judging by appearance alone, Ethiopian coffee varieties are like a "grand view garden" - they have everything: long, short, thin, fat...

Roasting Analysis

Roaster: Yangjia 800N (Batch size: 550 grams)

Start at 180°C with 130 heat and damper at 3; return temperature at 1'32", when drum temperature reaches 146°C, open damper to 4, heat unchanged; at 149°C the bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, entering dehydration stage. When drum temperature reaches 166°C, adjust heat to 110, damper unchanged.

At 7'43", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, toast smell clearly turns to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. First crack starts at 8'29", damper opened to 5. Development after first crack is 1'28", discharge at 190°C.

Agtron bean color value is 64.8 (left image), Agtron powder value is 81.5 (right image), Roast Delta value is 16.7.

Cupping Notes: Jasmine, citrus, honey, berries, almond

Brewing Analysis

Recommended Brewing Method: Pour Over

Dripper: V60

Water Temperature: 90°C

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: Medium-fine, similar to fine sugar consistency (BG 5R: 58% passing rate through China standard #20 sieve)

Brewing Technique:分段式萃取. Use 28g of water for 30-second bloom, then pour in circles to 120g and segment. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 230g and stop. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Timing starts from bloom) Total extraction time is 2'11".

[FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Red Honey Process G1 Coffee]
Brewing Flavors: Aroma carries ginger flower fragrance, entry brings citrus, lemon, and fruit candy sensations, mid-section features cedar wood aroma and honey sweetness, finish has oolong tea feeling with persistent creamy aftertaste.

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