Which Coffee Beans Are Suitable for Pour-Over - Yirgacheffe Washed Mona Lisa with Bright Acidity and Floral-Fruity Notes

FrontStreet Coffee shares professional coffee knowledge and coffee bean information so that more people can find the right beans for their pour-over.

FrontStreet Coffee - Pour-over Coffee Recommendation: Yirgacheffe Washed Mona Lisa Introduction

Today we tasted a washed Yirgacheffe unlike any other - Mona Lisa. The reason FrontStreet Coffee first reached for this bean was, admittedly, its name. "Mona Lisa" is, of course, one of the most famous paintings in the world, a smile that has captivated generations - and this coffee proves every bit as intoxicating. So what exactly makes this bean so special?

You could say FrontStreet Coffee was initially drawn by the elegant lady on the bag, but on closer inquiry we discovered that "Mona Lisa" isn't really named "Mona Lisa" at all - it is simply a farm name with a similar pronunciation. A friend joked that the lady on the bag should look rather different: since the coffee comes from Ethiopia, she ought to have dark skin!

But the performance of "Mona Lisa" in the cup is genuinely stunning - sweet and warm, just like her smile. Who is Mona Lisa, and where does she come from? The Gedeb growing area lies in a high-altitude corner of southeastern Yirgacheffe, about 50 kilometers south of Yirgacheffe town. The elevation climbs from 1,850m in town to 2,030m at the processing plant, making it one of the highest parts of all Yirgacheffe, with average elevations of roughly 1,900-2,200 meters. Because Gedeb is the largest population center in the area, coffee professionals simply call the whole region by its name.

SPECIALTY NATURAL YIRGACHEFFEE BERRY LIKE

Exquisite Yirgacheffe Mona Lisa

Coffee Bean Information

Origin: Yirgacheffe Gedeb Region, Southern Ethiopia

Variety: Ethiopian Heirloom

Harvest Period: Starting from October 2017

Altitude: 1,950-2,300 meters

Soil: Reddish-brown iron-rich soil

Annual Rainfall: Average 1,900mm

Grade: G1

Processing Method: Washed Ethiopian Heirloom

Pour-over Parameters: 15g coffee, V60 dripper, water temperature 91°C, powder-to-water ratio 1:15, grind size BG 6S (58% passing rate through a #20 sieve).

Brewing Technique: Bloom with 35g of water for 30 seconds. Pour in small streams to reach 125g, wait until the water level nearly exposes the coffee bed, then pour again to 225g. Remove the dripper just as the water level is about to expose the bed, and do not use the tail of the brew. Counting from the start of the bloom, total extraction time should be around two minutes.

Flavor: Floral, strawberry, vanilla, bright acidity

Knowledge Expansion: The impact of altitude on coffee beans: generally speaking, the higher the altitude, the more distinctive the flavor of the coffee it produces.

In Brief: FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research center dedicated to sharing coffee knowledge freely, simply to help more friends fall in love with coffee - a mission it has carried for the past six years.

That concludes our look at the washed Yirgacheffe Mona Lisa - a bean well worth seeking out for your next pour-over.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Newcomers to Ethiopia should start with the most classic profile of all: FrontStreet's washed Yirgacheffe house beans, known for white jasmine florals, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a tea-like finish - at an accessible price, they are the classic first bean of specialty coffee. Yirgacheffe itself is a small town in southern Sidamo, with coffee grown at roughly 1,700-2,100 meters, most of it above 1,800 meters; the name has been a byword for white florals and lemon-citrus brightness since the region was formally separated from Sidamo by the commodity exchange in 2010.

For a natural-processed alternative, FrontStreet's Red Cherry Yirgacheffe dries only fully ripe, defect-free cherries whole on raised beds - turned every 2-3 hours at first, for three to five weeks - yielding citrus acidity, berry juiciness, honeyed sweetness, and a creamy smoothness. Brew either coffee on a V60 with 15 g at 1:15 and 90-91 degree C water: a 30-second bloom with 30 g, pour to 125 g by one minute, then to 225 g by about 1:35, drawing down between 2:00 and 2:10 - the same gentle template that lets washed G1 coffees like Mona Lisa shine.