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What Coffee Varieties Does Ethiopia Have? What Are the Flavor Characteristics of Yirgacheffe?

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style). FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe growing region. In the early days of the third wave coffee movement, heirloom varieties were often used to describe Ethiopian coffee, but this wasn't entirely accurate. Since people didn't fully understand these varieties, it led to many local green

Professional coffee knowledge exchange | For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style)

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe Growing Region

In the early days of the third wave coffee movement, "heirloom" was often used to describe Ethiopian coffee, but this wasn't entirely accurate. Because people didn't fully understand these varieties, many local producers were deprived of opportunities to learn more about varieties and earn higher incomes. Roasters couldn't distinguish the differences between these varieties, and consumers couldn't taste new varieties and flavors because they simply didn't know what options were available.

The True Meaning of Heirloom Varieties

The term "heirloom" represents ancient plant varieties originally cultivated for food consumption. Some define varieties over 100 years old as heirlooms, while others say 50 years. Some define varieties existing before 1945 as heirlooms—around the time hybrid varieties began to emerge—or 1951, when hybrids became more widespread.

In the coffee world, you'll find the term "heirloom" applied to varieties introduced to South America and Asia over a century ago, as well as many coffee varieties from Africa, particularly those from Ethiopia.

Getu Bekele, East African Supply Chain Manager at Counter Culture Coffee USA, is dedicated to establishing an index of Ethiopian coffee varieties. He states that in Ethiopia, the term "heirloom" emerged after the specialty coffee movement began. At that time, specialty coffee buyers who couldn't distinguish between Typica and Bourbon would collectively refer to these unknown varieties as "heirlooms."

Yirgacheffe Coffee Beans

The earliest definition of Yirgacheffe coffee beans was coffee produced in a town called Yirgacheffe within Ethiopia.

Most coffee enthusiasts are likely familiar with Ethiopia—it's the birthplace of Arabica and one of the world's most important heirloom/wild coffee gene banks. Most production there takes the form of smallholder cooperatives, with harvest seasons from October to December each year.

Because Yirgacheffe's flavor is truly exceptional and beloved, Ethiopia's definition of "Yirgacheffe" extends beyond just geographical origin. Under Ethiopia's ECX trading system classification, Yirgacheffe includes not only coffee produced in Yirgacheffe town but also officially recognized regions including Wanago, Yirgacheffe town, Kochere, and Gelena Abaya.

This means that coffee not necessarily produced in Yirgacheffe town itself can also be called Yirgacheffe!

Knowledge Extension

In Ethiopian culture, the most direct manifestation of coffee is its word, which holds a deeply rooted status. It appears in many expressions related to life, food, and social interactions.

In Summary

FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research institution that enjoys sharing coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation solely to help more friends fall in love with coffee. Additionally, we hold three low-discount coffee events each month because FrontStreet Coffee wants to provide the best coffee at the lowest possible price to more friends—this has been our mission for six years!