How Should Sun-Dried Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Coffee Be Brewed? Introduction to the Red Cherry Project

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When it comes to Yirgacheffe, many coffee enthusiasts immediately think of its floral notes and lemon acidity. Today, FrontStreet Coffee wants to share with you the Red Cherry Project beans from Yirgacheffe natural process.

What is the Red Cherry Project?

We often see this term mentioned in Ethiopian coffee beans. In fact, this was proposed in 2007 by Trabocca, the largest green coffee bean importer in the Netherlands, in pursuit of high-quality Ethiopian beans. That is to say, the "Red Cherry Project" (ORC) is actually a project aimed at improving the quality of coffee from small-scale farms.

The Red Cherry Project encourages coffee farmers to be more diligent in every process of coffee bean picking and processing by increasing the purchase price of high-quality green coffee beans. This way, the produced coffee beans have better quality and taste, and can be better recognized by the terminal market, thereby balancing the relatively high coffee purchase price.

The Red Cherry Project is also a reinforcement approach that enables farms to spend more effort on the process of screening and selecting beans. Naturally, these coffees will be relatively more expensive.

Brewing Sharing

Strawberry Dripper

The rib design inside the dripper has a dot distribution structure, which looks very much like the small seeds on a strawberry, and the bottom aperture is relatively small. From this, it can be seen that its flow rate should be relatively slower, thus playing a role in increasing the extraction rate.

After adding the filter paper, the fit between the dripper and filter paper is not very high due to many convex points. Water can penetrate the filter paper and flow away from the gaps between the convex points, which can prevent over-extraction. Moreover, these convex points can adhere to fine powder. In this way, when the fine powder is attached to the cup wall, the bottom is mostly soaked with relatively coarse grinding particles, thus greatly reducing the chance of over-extraction while increasing the extraction rate.

Parameters & Technique: 15g coffee grounds; medium-fine grind (BG 6T: 58% pass rate through China standard #20 sieve); water temperature 90°C, powder-to-water ratio 1:15;

Bloom with 30g of water for 30 seconds, pour with a small water stream in the center to 120g. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 226g. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Timing starts from the beginning of blooming) Extraction time is 1'50".

Flavor: Aromas of flowers, with citrus and sweet orange acidity on entry. As the temperature cools, notes of honey and preserved fruit sweetness emerge.

Origami Dripper

The Origami dripper has many relatively deep longitudinal grooves on its sides, and the bottom has a relatively large water outlet hole, which makes its flow rate relatively fast. The ceramic Origami dripper has relatively better thermal conductivity and heat retention.

FrontStreet Coffee chose to use conical filter paper for brewing this time. Because the conical filter paper gradually narrows downward, the coffee powder layer in the middle is thicker while the surrounding areas are thinner. Moreover, the fit between conical filter paper and the dripper is poor, allowing coffee grounds to degas more smoothly during brewing. If the water level is high during brewing, it can easily flow away from the gap between the filter paper and dripper.

Parameters & Technique: 15g coffee grounds; medium-fine grind (BG 6T: 58% pass rate through China standard #20 sieve); water temperature 90°C, powder-to-water ratio 1:15;

Bloom with 30g of water for 30 seconds, pour with a small water stream in the center to 120g. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 226g. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Timing starts from the beginning of blooming) Extraction time is 1'55".

Flavor: Citrus and lemon acidity on entry, with sandalwood aroma and honey sweetness.

Cake Dripper

The bottom of the cake dripper is flat. The flat-bottom design allows coffee to become more fully extracted during the brewing process, and with only three small holes at the bottom, its flow rate is also relatively slow. This allows the coffee grounds to be soaked, and the extracted coffee will be relatively balanced.

Parameters & Technique: 15g coffee grounds; medium-fine grind (BG 6T: 58% pass rate through China standard #20 sieve); water temperature 90°C, powder-to-water ratio 1:15;

Bloom with 35g of water for 30 seconds, pour with a small water stream in the center to 120g. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 226g. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Timing starts from the beginning of blooming) Extraction time is 1'56".

Flavor: Light floral aroma, with citrus and lemon acidity on entry, cane sugar sweetness, black tea sensation, and relatively thick mouthfeel.

AeroPress

The AeroPress extracts coffee by stirring and mixing coffee grounds with water, then extracting by pressing air. It combines the paper filtration of pour-over coffee, the immersion extraction of French press, and the rapid pressure extraction of espresso. FrontStreet Coffee chose to use the inverted brewing method this time.

Parameters & Technique: 15g coffee grounds; medium-fine grind (BG 6T: 58% pass rate through China standard #20 sieve); water temperature 90°C, powder-to-water ratio 1:15;

Pour directly to 225g, stir the coffee bed to allow full contact between powder and water. After soaking for 30 seconds, stir five times. When it reaches one minute, invert and press out. (Timing starts from the end of pouring) Extraction time is 1'30".

Flavor: Starfruit, grapefruit, and lemon acidity on entry, with cane sugar sweetness and tea-like aftertaste.

SOE

Finally, FrontStreet Coffee wants to share with you an SOE made with Red Cherry Project beans!

SOE stands for "Single Origin Espresso," which is single-origin concentrated coffee. This concept exists in contrast to blended espresso coffee.

Parameters: Grind setting: Pegasus 900N grinder 1.6, powder-to-water ratio 1:2, double portafilter, 20g coffee grounds, extracting 40g coffee liquid, time 24 seconds

Flavor: Rich fermented fruit aroma, obvious citrus acidity, honey sweetness, and oolong tea sensation.

Conclusion

Choosing different brewing equipment will result in different expressions even with the same coffee beans! Everyone can choose their brewing equipment based on the flavors they want to express during their daily brewing.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473