Red Cherry Project Coffee Beans | 2019 Harvest Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Project Coffee Flavor

What is the Operation Cherry Red Project?

The Operation Cherry Red Project is a program aimed at improving the quality and value of Ethiopian green coffee beans. Initiated in 2007 by the Dutch trader Trabocca together with local farmers, it calls for hand-picking 100% mature red cherries during harvest, separated by microclimate zone, so that every seed is fully ripe and nutrient-rich. In the years since, the project has added drying racks, cherry depulpers, coffee sorters, and cupping labs to the producing areas. Today, Operation Cherry Red coffee beans are a guarantee of high quality.

The Context of Ethiopian Coffee Production

Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, has excellent coffee varieties and soils, yet farmers' incomes are not high. In the past, the law required all sales to go through the ECX (Ethiopian Commodity Exchange). For various reasons, the ECX model worked against small farmers and rewarded quantity over quality.

Trabocca's Initiative and Impact

After the unified sales laws were relaxed, the Dutch coffee trader Trabocca launched the OCR (Operation Cherry Red) Project with farmers in 2007, aiming to raise their incomes and encourage better bean quality. Trabocca selects smallholders' coffee through cupping and then auctions it publicly for a minimum of US$7.5/lbs. Trabocca charges only US$2.5 in administrative fees, while farmers are guaranteed a base auction price of US$5.

If the beans are outstanding and the auction price exceeds US$7.5, the entire amount goes to the farmers. This open, highly transparent project has helped many smallholders raise their incomes over the past decade. Farmers have also come to understand that by hand-selecting the best mature beans, they can sell at good prices. With more income, they can reinvest in hardware such as drying racks, gradually reshaping the economic ecosystem of coffee farming. In a globalized market dominated by large oligopolies, this gives smallholders another chance to survive.

FrontStreet Coffee's New Season Offering

FrontStreet Coffee's new season Operation Cherry Red Project coffee features flavors leaning toward raspberry, berries, cane sugar, and cream.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

FrontStreet Natural Red Cherry coffee brings the Operation Cherry Red idea into the cup. It is a Yirgacheffe coffee made from fully ripe whole red cherries, dried in the natural style: only fully mature fruit with no defects is accepted, given a first screening at the processing station, then spread out to dry on raised beds. During the first few days on the beds, the cherries are turned once every 2-3 hours to prevent uneven heat and over-fermentation. After three to five weeks of sun-drying, workers strip away the outer pulp according to weather and temperature, and the beans are moved into storage. Because the fruit dries with the pulp still attached, the cup keeps the classic Yirgacheffe character while gaining the tropical fruit of natural processing, showing citrus-like acidity, a berry-juice quality, honeyed sweetness, and a creamy smoothness.

For a washed contrast, FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe is the most classic introduction to the region, known for white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a tea-like body. Its accessible price has made it the first specialty coffee bean for many drinkers, and it makes an easy side-by-side comparison with the natural Red Cherry.

To brew either one, FrontStreet Coffee recommends a V60 dripper, 90-91°C water, 15g of coffee, a 1:15 ratio, and an EK43s setting of 10 (fine sugar size, with 80% passing a No. 20 sieve). Pour 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then add 95g (about 125g on the scale) over roughly one minute. When the water level drops to about two-thirds of the coffee bed, pour the remaining 100g (about 225g on the scale), finishing in about 1 minute 35 seconds. Drawdown completes at 2:00-2:10; remove the dripper and the coffee is ready.