Introduction to Yirgacheffe Champion Coffee Bean Aricha: Flavor Profile and Characteristics of Sun-Dried Aricha Coffee Beans

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FrontStreet Coffee - T·O·H Champion Bean Airuicha Introduction

Yirgacheffe is a small town in Ethiopia sitting at 1,700-2,100 meters, making it one of the highest coffee-growing regions in the world and a synonym for Ethiopian specialty coffee. Lakes Turkana, Abaya, and Chamo bring abundant water vapor to the area. The rift valley, represented by Misty Valley, is wrapped in fog year-round, with spring-like seasons, gentle breezes, and cool, humid air. Thousands of coffee varieties flourish and multiply here, nurturing Yirgacheffe's singular terroir, where floral and fruity aromas intertwine and shift in unpredictable ways.

Adorsi Processing Station

This year's natural-process category at Ethiopia's harvest-season cupping competition was won by Adorsi Processing Station.

Adorsi Processing Station is owned by Testi Coffee, an export company run by the Yonis family and established in 2009 by Faysel A. Yonis.

As for the results, this champion lot scored 91 points, while last year's Mudan (Peony) scored 88 points in the same competition—this year's Adorsi came in 3 points higher.

T.O.H

Taste of Harvest (TOH), the "Harvest Season Flavor Cupping Competition," is a green bean competition held among African producing countries by the African Fine Coffees Association (AFCA), comparable to the Cup of Excellence in Central and South America.

There are currently seven member countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, and the Republic of Congo. The competition is split into regional rounds and an all-Africa round, and lots cupping below 80 points are eliminated in the preliminary round. TOH selects the finest green beans from each producing region, which are cupped and scored by domestic and international judges against Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) standards. This lot scored 91 points, the highest of the year, taking the championship.

This bean is the local indigenous heirloom variety. Anyone who drinks Ethiopian coffee regularly has probably heard of heirloom. Most Ethiopian varieties go by this name, largely because the country holds so many of them—it is a natural gene bank for Arabica. On one hand, the sheer number of varieties makes identification and classification difficult; on the other, the Ethiopian government, out of conservation concerns, is unwilling to disclose information about them, so they are grouped together as heirloom.

Cupping Notes:

Grape juice, jackfruit, fermented wine aroma, citrus, lemon

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Champion natural lots like this Airuicha are prized for the exact qualities that define Yirgacheffe at its best, and they are a wonderful way to explore how processing shapes flavor. For a clean counterpart, FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe staple shows the other side of the region—white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a tea-like body at a price that has made it the entry point to specialty coffee for many new drinkers. Yirgacheffe is a small town in southern Ethiopia's Sidamo zone at roughly 1,700-2,100 meters, with the trees planted above 1,800 meters, and its reputation grew so large that in 2010 the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange formally separated it from Sidama.

For a tighter expression of washed Yirgacheffe, the Gudingding cooperative is a standout team from Gudingding village known for precise, clean processing; its washed lot keeps jasmine florals and bright citrus and lemon acidity without any heavy bitterness, and a medium-light roast adds green tea and honey notes. If you want to compare natural processing directly, FrontStreet's natural Red Cherry is sorted from fully ripe red cherries, dried on raised beds for three to five weeks with turning every two to three hours early on, and stored after the outer pulp is removed—delivering citrus-like acidity, berry juice, honey sweetness, and a creamy texture right alongside Yirgacheffe's classic character. Brew these beans in a V60 with 15g of coffee, a 1:15 ratio, and 90-91°C water, grinding to about fine-sugar size (roughly 80% passing a No. 20 sieve on an EK43s at setting 10): bloom with 30g for 30 seconds, pour to about 125g over the next minute, then add the rest to roughly 225g and let it finish in two to two and a half minutes, so the florals and fruit stay bright and clean in the cup.