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

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe Growing Region

Early in the third wave coffee movement, "heirloom" was often used to describe Ethiopian coffee, but that was not entirely accurate. Because people did not fully understand these varieties, many local producers were denied the chance to learn more about them and earn higher incomes. Roasters could not distinguish the differences among the varieties, and consumers could not taste new varieties and flavors because they simply did not know what was available.

The True Meaning of Heirloom Varieties

The term "heirloom" refers to ancient plant varieties originally cultivated for food. Some define a heirloom as any variety more than 100 years old, others use 50 years. Some define it as a variety that existed before 1945, around when hybrid varieties began to appear, or before 1951, when hybrids became more widespread.

In coffee, you will find "heirloom" applied to varieties introduced to South America and Asia more than a century ago, as well as to many coffee varieties from Africa, particularly Ethiopia.

Getu Bekele, East African Supply Chain Manager at Counter Culture Coffee USA, is dedicated to building an index of Ethiopian coffee varieties. He notes that in Ethiopia the term "heirloom" emerged after the specialty coffee movement began. At that time, specialty coffee buyers who could not tell Typica from Bourbon lumped these unknown varieties together as "heirlooms."

Yirgacheffe Coffee Beans

The earliest definition of Yirgacheffe coffee beans was simply coffee produced in the Ethiopian town of Yirgacheffe.

Most coffee enthusiasts are likely familiar with Ethiopia: it is the birthplace of Arabica and one of the world's most important banks of heirloom and wild coffee genes. Most production there comes from smallholder cooperatives, with the harvest running from October to December each year.

Because Yirgacheffe's flavor is truly exceptional and much loved, Ethiopia's definition of "Yirgacheffe" reaches beyond geography. Under the country's ECX trading system, Yirgacheffe covers not only coffee produced in Yirgacheffe town but also the officially recognized areas of Wanago, Yirgacheffe town, Kochere, and Gelena Abaya.

That means coffee not necessarily grown in Yirgacheffe town itself can still be called Yirgacheffe.

Knowledge Extension

In Ethiopian culture, the most direct expression of coffee is its very name, which holds a deeply rooted status. It appears in many phrases tied to life, food, and social interaction.

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. We also 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. That has been our mission for six years.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you want to understand the Ethiopia region, begin with the most classic bottling: FrontStreet's Washed Yirgacheffe. It is known for white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a tea-like finish, and its friendly price has made it the first specialty bean for countless newcomers.

To go a step further into village-level traceability, FrontStreet's Gotiti Cooperative is a strong choice. Yirgacheffe town is really a patchwork of small villages and even smaller hamlets, and many of them run their own processing stations, or cooperatives, with mature technique that lifts the flavor a level higher. Gotiti, in particular, keeps the most traditional washed processing and yields clean, bright citrus and lemon acidity with jasmine fragrance.

For a natural contrast, FrontStreet's Sun-Dried Red Cherry uses a full red-cherry natural process, picking only fully ripe, sound fruit. It carries the classic Yirgacheffe character alongside the tropical fruit of the natural method: citrus-like acidity, berry juice, honeyed sweetness, and a creamy smoothness.