What Variety and Origin is Queen Coffee Bean - Introduction to Ethiopian Sidamo Queen 6.0 Coffee Flavor and Taste Characteristics

Whenever FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Queen coffee beans are mentioned, their name always evokes the feeling of "the leader of a hundred flowers, graceful and enchanting." This FrontStreet Coffee sun-dried Sidamo coffee bean is just like its name "Flower Queen," displaying fascinating aromas and flavors in the mouth. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will guide you to understand how this Ethiopian sun-dried Sidamo coffee bean transformed from "unknown" to "the leader of a hundred flowers."

The Origin of Flower Queen Coffee Beans

FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Queen coffee comes from the Guji region of Sidamo. Guji was once part of the Sidamo region but was established as an independent region by the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) in 2010 due to its excellent coffee bean flavors.

The Guji region is located next to Yirgacheffe and features various types of terrain, fertile black soil with depths reaching up to two meters, allowing plants to root deeper. Additionally, the average altitude is above 1,800 meters, with significant temperature differences between day and night—all favorable conditions for growing high-quality coffee in Guji. Coffee cultivation rarely requires chemical fertilizers, as fallen leaves, decaying matter around trees, plant residues, and organic matter in the soil provide sufficient nutrients for the coffee trees to grow vigorously.

Currently, we can still often see both Sidamo and Guji regions mentioned simultaneously. This is mainly due to Ethiopia's administrative divisions, which are organized into four levels in descending order: Region, Zone, Woreda, and Kebele. Most coffee raw bean names follow this rule for naming. For example, Flower Queen is located southeast of Yirgacheffe in the Sidamo region and administratively belongs to Oromia Region → Guji Zone → Shakisso Woreda → Hambella.

This area has reddish-brown organic soil, abundant rainfall, and significant temperature differences between day and night, resulting in coffee with delicate flavors and high-quality, bright acidity. During each harvest season, farmers manually pick fully ripe red fruits, place them in baskets, and send them to processing facilities with professional equipment. Sun-drying processing only begins when the sugar content of the red fruits reaches above 21. With scientific measurements and refined management, traditional sun-drying techniques are preserved while coffee beans gain more consistent quality and better sweetness.

The excellent sweet and sour taste and stable quality attracted the attention of Ethiopian DW raw coffee company. In 2017, DW Company entered sun-dried coffee beans from the Buku processing plant in this region into the TOH (The Taste of Harvest) East African raw coffee cupping competition. This batch of coffee beans won the championship with its rich and full berry notes, creamy smooth texture, and high sweetness. In the same year, a Chinese raw coffee company imported this competition batch of coffee raw beans and gave it the mysterious name "Flower Queen" to describe the flavor characteristics of these beans.

However, this was not yet the key to its fame. In 2017, Li Jianfei, the runner-up of the China region in the World Brewers Cup, used this batch of Flower Queen coffee beans to defeat the Geisha coffee beans of many contestants. In an era when Geisha coffee beans dominated competitions of all sizes, a sun-dried coffee bean from Ethiopia managed to defeat so many Geisha coffee beans. Naturally, everyone began to view this coffee bean with new respect and considered this Flower Queen coffee bean comparable to Geisha coffee beans.

Subsequently, DW Company established processing plants in Dimtu, the core area of Hambella: Buku Abel, Buku Saysay, Haro Soresa, and Tirtiro Goye, with an annual coffee production of approximately 1,100 tons. In terms of growing region and processing plant, only sun-dried coffee beans from the "Buku Abel" processing plant can be called "Flower Queen." FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Queen coffee beans sold over the years all come from the Buku Abel processing plant.

Why Does Flower Queen Coffee Bean Have So Many X.0 Series?

Theoretically, only the championship batch from 2017 can be called Flower Queen coffee beans. Since coffee beans are agricultural products, their flavors vary each year due to environmental factors such as climate and soil. Therefore, to differentiate them, DW Company numbered each year's sun-dried Flower Queen coffee beans from the Buku processing plant with an X.0 series. For example, 2018 was called Flower Queen 2.0, and by 2024, it has reached the Flower Queen 8.0 series.

What Are the Flavor Differences Between Flower Queen 5.0 Coffee Beans and 2017 Flower Queen Coffee Beans?

According to FrontStreet Coffee's cupping records, the 2017 FrontStreet Coffee Flower Queen coffee beans had rich strawberry aroma and strawberry sweet and sour taste, with a smooth texture like cream melting in the mouth, and outstanding, charming sweetness. However, while the 2021 FrontStreet Coffee Flower Queen 5.0 coffee beans don't have rich strawberry aroma, they feature clear flavors and high cleanliness, with berry-like main notes, tropical fruit aromas, and oolong tea aftertaste, with noticeable sweetness.

Is Flower Queen Coffee Bean a Coffee Variety?

No, Flower Queen is just the name of the coffee beans. The variety of FrontStreet Coffee's Sidamo Flower Queen is Ethiopian native varieties, which we often see as Heirloom. As the birthplace of Arabica coffee, Ethiopia's thousands of Heirloom varieties make it a unique origin.

In Ethiopia, coffee is generally divided into three main systems: smallholder cultivation, semi-forest cultivation, and forest cultivation. Among these, semi-forest cultivated coffee trees are typically wild varieties growing in the wild. Farmers manage the coffee tree growing areas and also plant other cash crops. Because there are too many and too complex varieties, it's almost impossible to conduct genetic testing and verification on a larger scale. At the same time, the local government hopes to protect these unknown varieties to avoid practitioners from various countries competing to obtain them, so they decided to name these varieties "Heirloom."

According to FrontStreet Coffee's observations, native varieties are generally small in size, relatively round in shape, not very uniform, mostly between 14-15 mesh. In cupping, they often exhibit elegant floral and fruit flavors, deeply loved by people.

FrontStreet Coffee's Sidamo Flower Queen 5.0 Coffee Bean Roasting Insights

When FrontStreet Coffee first obtained the raw Sidamo Flower Queen 5.0 coffee beans, they noticed a fermented coffee flower aroma, completely different from the grassy aroma of typical raw beans. At the same time, it was observed that the Flower Queen raw beans vary in size, with many pointed at both ends, and have a good moisture content of around 11%. However, they are not the very hard SHB beans. Due to the large density and high hardness of the beans, the dehydration time in the early stage is extended, entering first crack with temperature increase before first crack, trying to preserve the loss of aromatic substances such as floral notes.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Suggestions

Filter: V60#01 Water Temperature: 90-91°C Coffee Dose: 15g Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15 Grind Size: Medium-fine grind (80% pass-through rate on China standard #20 sieve)

Brewing Method: Three-stage extraction. Bloom with 30g of water for 30 seconds. When the water level drops to about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring water in a circular motion with a small flow to 125g. When the water level drops to about to expose the coffee bed again, continue pouring to 225g and stop. Wait for the water level to drop to about to expose the coffee bed, then remove the filter cup. (Timing starts from the beginning of blooming) Extraction time: 2'00".

FrontStreet Coffee's Sidamo Sun-dried Flower Queen 5.0 Coffee Bean Brewing Flavor: Floral notes, berries, citrus, plum sweet and sour taste, mango juice, honey, with a black tea sweet aftertaste.

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