Huakui vs Geisha Coffee Beans: Variety Differences and Flavor Profile Comparison

What is "Hua Kui"?

Is it the finest among a hundred flowers? Or a top-tier beauty? Is it a plum blossom, orchid, or peony? None of these—it's a coffee bean. FrontStreet Coffee's Hua Kui coffee beans are a sought-after variety from Ethiopia that has gained worldwide acclaim. Why is a coffee bean called "Hua Kui"? Today, FrontStreet Coffee will unveil the mysterious story behind "Hua Kui" for you.

FrontStreet Coffee believes that to clearly tell the story of "Hua Kui" coffee, we must start with the 2017 World Brewers Cup regional competition. At that time, China's runner-up Li Jianfei boldly used this emerging champion bean for the competition, breaking the pattern where competitors exclusively used Geisha beans. This move made this bean the only coffee capable of competing with Geisha on the competition stage.

The elegant flavors of Hua Kui—rose floral notes, strawberry jam, cherry sweetness, peach flesh, and red wine aftertaste—amazed the judges at the time. At that point, "Hua Kui coffee" was still known as Hambella. Generally speaking, according to international conventions, commercial coffee beans are named by: country name, region name, and processing station (or village, micro-region, cooperative) name. In formal, rigorous settings, the full name is used, combining all these elements, resulting in lengthy names like "Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Gedeb." This bean followed the same convention, being called Hambella when exported from Ethiopia.

However, when Beijing coffee merchants introduced it that year, they renamed it "Hua Kui." They explained: "This coffee from its origin showed remarkable promise upon its debut. With careful attention to subsequent processing methods, it has the potential to surpass Geisha." They promoted it with the slogan "Finest among flowers, captivating charm," hoping it would compete alongside Geisha and prove its worth. In an era when Geisha dominated competitions of all sizes worldwide, people naturally placed high hopes on this "Hua Kui" that had defeated many Geisha coffees, hoping it could break the Geisha monopoly and become a coffee bean of equal standing.

The Rise of Hua Kui Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee believes the sudden popularity of "Hua Kui" coffee follows a clear trajectory. Since 2016, "Hua Kui" has won numerous awards in the African coffee green bean competition (Taste of Harvest), attracting worldwide attention from the coffee community. In 2016 and 2017, Buku Abel won first place consecutively in the natural coffee category of TOH Ethiopia (Taste of Harvest Ethiopia), and also achieved third place in the TOH competition in 2018. This coffee is processed at the Buku Abel washing station in the small town of Hambela Buku, located about 400 kilometers south of Addis Ababa.

According to FrontStreet Coffee's research, coffee production at the Buku Abel washing station is provided by farmers from the Buku village. The washing station is located at 2000 meters altitude. The nearby coffee is mostly grown at very high altitudes, reaching up to 2300 meters. In high-altitude regions, Ethiopian coffee never disappoints, as it requires longer to mature, and the coffee's aroma is often significantly above average.

The washing station is owned and managed by coffee exporter DW Exports. DW Export is owned by Demissie Edema. Buku farmers are primarily smallholders, with each family having less than 2 hectares of coffee trees. Ripe cherries are sent to the washing station for processing. Since winning the 2016 and 2017 TOH, the processing formula has remained unchanged. This coffee is processed as a classic natural coffee. The key factors are selecting cherries based on specific ripeness and ensuring they are grown above 2000 masl. Selected coffee is first soaked for several hours in cold water from nearby rivers flowing through the mountainside. Then all floating cherries are removed. Next, the cherries are placed on custom elevated beds to ensure no excess moisture penetrates the cherries during drying.

Hua Kui Version System

FrontStreet Coffee would like to share a little knowledge with everyone: Those who frequently buy FrontStreet Coffee's Hua Kui coffee might notice they often get Hua Kui X.0. Why is this?

Actually, since 2017, the Buku processing plant has added "[X.0]" after Hua Kui year by year. For example, 2018's Hua Kui is called Hua Kui [2.0], 2019's Hua Kui is called Hua Kui [3.0], continuing this pattern to 2021's Hua Kui [5.0]. Through comparing different batches of Hua Kui, FrontStreet Coffee found that while the general flavor profile of each year's Hua Kui hasn't changed significantly, there are still some variations in the coffee beans. This was particularly true for the 2018 and 2019 vintages—FrontStreet Coffee discovered through cupping that while they could detect flavors similar to the 2017 Hua Kui, the aroma was insufficient, and the body and aftertaste were lacking. After comparison, FrontStreet Coffee found that the main source of Hua Kui's aroma was the presence of small-bean coffee within it. Therefore, in 2019, FrontStreet Coffee communicated this finding to the green bean supplier, and after 2020, Hua Kui split into two varieties: [X.0] and small-bean Hua Kui.

Brewing Guide for Hua Kui Coffee

So how can you brew FrontStreet Coffee's Sidamo Hua Kui to make it taste delicious? FrontStreet Coffee would like to share a standard brewing method with everyone:

FrontStreet Coffee's brewing parameters:

V60 dripper
Water temperature: 91°C
Water-to-coffee ratio: 1:15
Coffee amount: 15g
Grind size: (80% pass-through rate on China #20 standard sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee's brewing technique: Use 30g of water for bloom for 30 seconds. Pour in a small circular motion until reaching 125g, then pause. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until reaching 225g, then stop pouring. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed again, remove the dripper. (Timing starts from the beginning of bloom) Extraction time: 2'00".

Why "Hua Kui" vs. "Geisha"?

FrontStreet Coffee believes we need to start with the currently popular Geisha coffee: The most well-known Geisha is exported from Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda, currently recognized as having the best flavor and most expensive price in the world. However, "Geisha" is a polysemous term:

1. A mountain village in Bench Maji, Kafa region, southwestern Ethiopia
2. A coffee variety discovered in Africa in 1931 with low yield but strong disease resistance
3. A coffee estate in Geisha village, Ethiopia, run by two American photographers who changed careers
4. A truly specialty-grade coffee with cupping scores above 90 points, brought out of Africa by enthusiasts and flourishing throughout Central and South America decades later...

The naming of "Geisha" coffee beans comes from the local Kafa language, where Geisha village is pronounced "Gesha." However, when this coffee was introduced to Western consumer countries, it was translated into English as "Geisha," meaning "geisha" (Japanese female entertainer). The West doesn't have geishas; this term originates from Japan, where "芸者" (geisha) is pronounced "gei xia." Top geishas were called "Hua Kui" (flower champion), which has the same characters and meaning in Japanese and Chinese (ancient China also referred to the top courtesan in brothels as "Hua Kui"). Therefore, naming a coffee that surpasses "Geisha" as "Hua Kui" naturally follows.

As for the flavor comparison between Geisha and Hua Kui coffees, FrontStreet Coffee believes it's subjective—everyone's flavor preferences differ. Geisha variety coffees and Ethiopian native variety coffees will certainly have differences in flavor. Depending on the grade of Geisha coffee, the sophistication of its flavor profile also varies.

Take FrontStreet Coffee's Hacienda La Esmeralda Geisha coffee for example: FrontStreet Coffee's red label Geisha has more refined flavors, with distinct juice-like qualities and floral notes, along with prominent and bright citrus-lemon acidity. In comparison, FrontStreet Coffee's blue label Geisha has a less substantial body and less concrete floral notes. FrontStreet Coffee's Hua Kui is similar—FrontStreet Coffee's small-bean Hua Kui has richer floral and fruit aromas. Overall, FrontStreet Coffee's Hua Kui has a relatively heavier fermentation character, with notes of fermented fruits and tropical fruits, and an oolong tea sensation in the aftertaste.

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 account: kaixinguoguo0925

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