Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry Coffee Introduction - Red Cherry Coffee Bean Flavor Description

FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry Introduction

Operation Cherry Red is a quality-improvement project for small-scale farms that began in 2005, led by the Dutch trading company Trabocca BV and partly funded by the Dutch government. By giving producers professional expertise and related technical support, the program aims to raise coffee production capacity and quality in remote parts of Ethiopia. Since 2005 it has selected high-altitude small coffee cooperatives in the current regions of Sidamo, Yirgacheffe, and Limu.

The program encourages and assists producers to improve washing, semi-washing, natural drying, and other experimental processing methods in order to raise coffee quality. Through testing, with professional cuppers also stationed in the producing regions to keep a direct read on flavor, it safeguards the quality of every batch. Before the harvest season, Trabocca invites selected small farmer organizations and producers to take part in producing micro-batch coffee (roughly 1500 to 3000 kg), manually selecting 100% ripe red cherries in batches, which is where the name Red Cherry Project comes from. Trabocca provides financial loan support, new hardware, and production know-how, and commits to buying at premium prices as long as the actual quality meets cupping standards in both Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

This year, Trabocca has set the passing standard at 88 points. After processing at origin, Red Cherry Project beans are packed immediately in GrainPro bags or vacuum-sealed bags and shipped to Djibouti for ocean freight. With real-time monitoring, safe transport, and timely and appropriate processing methods, the project pursues perfect quality.

Kebede is a small coffee cooperative in a small town within the Darra production area of Sidamo province. Each smallholder here farms about 0.6 hectares on average, and the cooperative is made up of hundreds of coffee farmers. Cultivation reaches nearly 2000 meters, with large temperature swings and fertile soil providing an excellent growing environment. The green beans themselves give off rich raisin and fermented wine aromas. Though the yellowish-brown beans are not large and are slender, they feel substantial in the hand. After roasting, the bright berry aroma or the rich chocolate-like aftertaste makes this bean perform impressively whether roasted light or dark.

Flavor: berries, tropical fruits, fermented wine aroma, jujubes, tea notes, milk chocolate. Medium body, with cocoa notes in the aftertaste accompanied by spices and tea aromas, complex and persistent. When cooled, it tastes cleaner and the balance becomes more prominent.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

FrontStreet Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry is the most direct way to taste what the Red Cherry Project is aiming for. Made from fully ripe red cherries dried on raised beds over three to five weeks, it holds the classic Yirgacheffe character while adding tropical fruit and a natural-process lift, showing citrus acidity, a berry-juice texture, honeyed sweetness, and a creamy smoothness.

If you would like to compare it against the washed side of the same region, FrontStreet's washed Yirgacheffe daily drinker delivers white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a tea-like body at a very accessible price. For a more specific single lot, FrontStreet Gotiti Cooperative comes from the Worka area at Yirgacheffe's southeastern edge; its traditional washed processing brings out clean citrus and lemon acidity along with an elegant white floral note, bright and delicate from start to finish.