What's the Difference Between Natural and Washed Coffee Beans - Introduction to Flavor Characteristics of Pour-Over Coffee Guanyin

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FrontStreet Coffee: Differences Between Washed and Natural Sidamo Guji

The Sidamo region lies in southern Ethiopia, where agriculture dominates the economy. Its coffee-growing areas sit around the East African Rift Valley. The largest city in Sidamo is Hawassa, once an important coffee export and distribution center. Sidamo coffee flavors are extremely diverse, thanks to differing soil compositions and climates, which create obvious differences and distinct characteristics from town to town and region to region.

After harvesting, Sidamo beans must be processed immediately, or they will begin to ferment and develop off-flavors. There are two processing methods, "natural" and "washed," and each shapes a different flavor profile. Natural beans have fuller, more complete natural richness, a gentler aroma, and more mucilage; washed beans have good richness, high aroma, and vibrant acidity.

FrontStreet Coffee Natural Sidamo Guji

The beans are relatively small and greenish-yellow in color. On Sidamo's natural drying fields, coffee is spread on burlap-net wooden racks, and workers take turns stirring it by hand under the sun.

FrontStreet Coffee Washed Sidamo Guji

The green beans are greenish with a slight gray tint, coarse in some areas and fine in others. The cup has both a soft and a bright acidity, appropriate richness, a sweet and spicy aroma, clear fruit acidity, a smooth mouthfeel, and delicate floral and grassy notes.

Hand Brew Parameter Recommendations:

FrontStreet Coffee Natural Sidamo Guji

Use 15g of coffee with 90°C water, BG 6S grind size, a V60 dripper, and a 1:15 ratio. First pour 30g of water and bloom for 30 seconds, pour the second stage to 120g and stop, then pour to 225g. Discard the tail water. Extraction time is about 2:02.

Flavor:

Fermented aroma, strawberry, jackfruit, passion fruit

FrontStreet Coffee Washed Sidamo Guji

Use 15g of coffee with 92°C water, BG 6S grind size, a V60 dripper, and a 1:14 ratio. First pour 30g of water and bloom for 30 seconds, pour the second stage to 125g and stop, then pour to 220g. Discard the tail water. Extraction time is about 2:05.

Flavor:

Lemon, jasmine, berries

Knowledge Extension:

Unroasted coffee beans are called "green coffee beans." Their normal colors are generally blue-green, emerald green, light green, or yellow-green.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

The natural-versus-washed question is best answered by tasting the two side by side, and FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopian lineup is built for exactly that. On the washed side, start with the FrontStreet Gutingding Cooperative from the Worka area of Yirgacheffe: a traditional washed lot showing citrus, lemon, and elegant white floral notes with a bright, fine overall profile. Then compare it with the FrontStreet Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry, which keeps the classic Yirgacheffe character while layering on tropical fruit, full fermentation sweetness, and a heavier body.

If you want to push the natural style further, the FrontStreet Natural Huakui from the Hambella area of Guji was dried for 21 days on raised beds and leans into jammy peach, cocoa, honey, and lemon. For a cleaner, more perfumed natural, the FrontStreet Sidamo Natural Hamasho — built mainly on the JARC 74158 selection — offers strawberry, star fruit, and green grape sweetness with a gentle floral lift. Together they show just how wide the natural-versus-washed gap can be within a single region.