Sidamo Region Guanyue Coffee Bean Characteristics: 2022 Guanyue 6.0 Flavor Profile Description

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Sidamo Guji Coffee

In 2017, DW, a green coffee company from Ethiopia, sent its coffees to the Taste of Harvest (TOH) competition hosted by the African Coffee Association. Its natural (sun-dried) batch won the championship in Ethiopia's TOH — and as champion, that lot was given the name "Hua Kui," the "beauty queen" of Ethiopian coffee. FrontStreet Coffee's current release from this line is the 2022 Guanyue 6.0 batch, and its flavor profile description starts with the same Guji terroir explained below.

Ethiopian coffee enjoys an enormous reputation, and Sidamo and Yirgacheffe are two of its most beloved growing regions. The Sidama province lies in southern Ethiopia, with Arsi province to the north, Bale province extending eastward, and the Gamu Gofa provincial administrative region on its western border.

Ethiopia's administrative divisions are organized into four levels, from largest to smallest: Region, Zone, woreda, and kebele. Most coffee names follow this convention. Hua Kui, for example, sits southeast of Yirgacheffe in the Sidamo region, administratively belonging to Oromia Region → Guji Zone → Shakisso woreda → Hambella.

Hua Kui's home of Hambella is part of Guji (GUJI), Ethiopia's largest coffee-growing zone, within the Oromia Regional State. Hambella is separated from Yirgacheffe's Kochore by mountains to the west, and borders Guji's sub-regions of Shakiso, Uraga, and Kercha to the southeast, east, and north respectively. It is Ethiopia's highest-altitude coffee sub-region (Harrar being the highest-altitude main coffee region).

Natural Sun-Drying Process (African Drying Beds)

In natural processing, coffee cherries are spread directly on concrete ground or drying racks to sun-dry, the goal being to dry the coffee thoroughly for storage. Drying typically takes 2-4 weeks, depending on the weather.

Coffee destined for the commercial market is usually dried on concrete ground, requiring constant, timely turning of the cherries so they heat evenly on all sides — which speeds drying and prevents mold from prolonged contact with the ground.

Hand-picked cherries destined for specialty coffee, by contrast, are dried on African Beds: the cherries are spread in a breathable mesh layer to soak up the sun, with the spreading thickness adjusted to local conditions.

[Sun-dried Hua Kui Green Beans]: relatively small beans, yellowish-green, with significant variation in size.

[Sun-dried Hua Kui Roasted Beans]: lightly roasted, with a lighter color and no silver skin.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If the Guji natural profile described here tempts you, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe and Sidamo selections are the easiest way in. FrontStreet Natural Red Cherry, from the same Yirgacheffe region, uses only fully ripe red cherries sun-dried for three to five weeks — turning the beds every 2-3 hours at first — for citrus acidity, berry juiciness, honeyed sweetness, and a cream-smooth body. FrontStreet Yirgacheffe Guodingding, a washed G1 lot from the Guodingding cooperative (1900-2300m, local heirloom varieties), shows orange, berry, lemon, sugarcane, and green tea with sparkling clarity. For brewing, FrontStreet suggests a V60 with 90-91°C water, 15g of coffee at 1:15, and a medium-fine grind — 30g bloom for 30 seconds, then pours to 95g and 100g, finishing in 2:00-2:10.