Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Coffee Introduction and Overview of Arabica Coffee Varieties

FrontStreet Coffee - Yirgacheffe Red Cherry, Arabica Varieties Introduction

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Operation Cherry Red

Operation Cherry Red is led by Trabocca, a Dutch company, with half of its funding sponsored by the Dutch government. Since 2005 it has worked with many small coffee cooperatives, encouraging and helping producers improve washed, semi-washed, natural, and other experimental processing methods to raise coffee quality. Before each harvest season, Trabocca invites selected smallholder organizations and producers to take part in making micro-batch coffee of roughly 1,500 to 3,000 kilograms, hand-picking 100% ripe red cherries in batches - hence the name Operation Cherry Red.

Trabocca provides funding, equipment, and technical resources to assist farmers, and commits to buying at premium prices if the actual quality meets high specifications. Operation Cherry Red is therefore not just a commercial activity that complies with fair trade rules, but also a production program for high-quality coffee - and even a structural reform that benefits farmers and consumers at the same time.

Yirgacheffe is really a collection of surrounding coffee communities or cooperatives, almost all using washed processing, though a small number of premium beans are intentionally processed naturally to enhance their charming fruity aroma and rich body.

In 2008, after the highest-quality Mist Valley natural beans were discovered by the United States, they became famous. This is a craft-level lot cultivated by a micro-estate, compensating for the insufficient aroma of Yirgacheffe washed beans and developing beans with astonishing aroma that impressed the world. It also earned certification from the Operation Cherry Red program. Ethiopian coffee grading includes G1 and G2 for washed beans, with G1 the highest grade of washed beans, and G3 and G4 for natural beans, with G3 the highest grade of natural beans.

Arabica Varieties

Among Arabica tree species, the oldest variety is Typica, and another is called Bourbon.

Typica

Flavor Profile: mild and smooth, with higher body, pure and gentle, with dark chocolate notes, overall balanced.

Representative Countries/Origins: Jamaica Blue Mountain, Papua New Guinea

On close inspection, Blue Mountain Typica has more pronounced upward curves at both ends, showing more distinct Typica characteristics and a purer flavor. Blue Mountain should be the most classic Typica variety. Many commercial improved varieties today descend from this type, because Blue Mountain Typica was transplanted from the Typica mother plant cultivated in the greenhouse of the Amsterdam Botanical Garden.

Mandheling - Typica

Flavor Profile: typical Mandheling coffee is rich and full-bodied, with intense dark chocolate and cocoa flavors, while also carrying earthy, pine, woody, or medicinal notes. It has chocolate flavor and a full body. When lightly roasted, it has slight acidity with a hint of tropical fruit.

Representative Countries/Origins: Sumatra, Indonesia

Bourbon

Flavor Profile: fruity aroma, characterized by rich and varied sweetness, with nutty and cocoa flavors and an excellent taste.

Representative Countries/Origins: Brazil, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi

To explain briefly what Bourbon is: Bourbon coffee was first cultivated on Reunion Island, which was also called Bourbon Island before 1789. Bourbon is a sub-variety that mutated from Typica and belongs to the same group of ancient coffee varieties. Bourbon family green beans are relatively round and small. Well-known Bourbon varieties today include Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon. The Bourbon family has many more rich varieties, such as Caturra, Pacas, and Pointed Bourbon.

Knowledge Extension

"Acidity" is similar to astringency and to red wine, with the saying that "sweetness is easy, good acidity is rare." As the coffee temperature drops, however, the "acidity" will correspondingly increase.

In Brief

FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research center that enjoys sharing coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation to let more friends fall in love with coffee. Every month we hold three low-discount coffee activities, because FrontStreet Coffee wants more friends to drink the best coffee at the lowest price. That has been FrontStreet Coffee's principle for the past six years.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

To meet the classic washed Yirgacheffe profile, try FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe, a staple you can drink every day. It is known for white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a tea-like body, and its affordable price has made it the first specialty coffee many people ever try. Yirgacheffe (Yirga cheffe) is a small town in the Sidama zone of southern Ethiopia, at roughly 1,700 to 2,100 meters, with coffee trees planted above 1,800 meters, making it one of the highest coffee regions in the world.

To taste the natural, red-cherry side of Yirgacheffe, reach for FrontStreet Coffee's sun-dried Red Cherry. It uses whole-ripe-cherry natural processing - only fully ripe, sound fruit is picked, given a first sort at the mill, then spread on raised beds to dry. In the first days it is turned every 2-3 hours to keep the heat even and prevent over-fermentation. After three to five weeks of drying, the outer fruit is machine-scraped and the beans are moved to storage. Because the fruit dries on the bean, it keeps the typical Yirgacheffe character while adding tropical fruit from natural processing: citrus-like acidity, a berry-juice quality, honey sweetness, and a creamy smoothness.