Premium Pour-Over Coffee: Yirgacheffe Natural Process Gedeb with Tropical Fruit Flavors

FrontStreet Coffee - Premium Coffee: Introduction to Yirgacheffe Natural Process Gedeb

The Gedeb Cooperative was originally part of the Woka Cooperative under the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (YCFCU) before becoming independent in 2012. It currently has more than 300 smallholder farmer members. We first visited the Gedeb Cooperative at the end of December 2017. The YCFCU manager who received us told us we were the first Taiwanese green-bean supplier to visit, and we felt both excited and honored to be there. From Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, to the Gedeb Cooperative in southeastern Yirgacheffe, the journey takes about eight hours, roughly half of it over unpaved, primitive dirt roads. The trip was bumpy and difficult, but on entering the Yirgacheffe region the air began to fill with the rich aroma of fermented fruit pulp, a sign that a processing station or cooperative was nearby.

Arriving at the Gedeb Cooperative, we watched nearby farmers continuously deliver ripe cherries. Some came on foot, others by donkey or motorcycle—a very busy scene. Workers immediately spread the delivered cherries on African drying beds for natural processing over two to three weeks. They carefully sorted out unripe cherries and relied on experienced workers to turn them regularly to safeguard the quality of the green beans. Afterwards, the fruit flesh and parchment were removed, and the beans were stored in a warehouse until moisture dropped to 11–12% before being exported.

Yirgacheffe Natural Process Gedeb G1

Country: Ethiopia (Africa)

Region: SNNPR Region, Gedeo Zone, Yirgacheffe, Gedeb Woreda

Altitude: 1,850 ~ 2,100 meters

Producer: Members of Gedeb Cooperative

Processing Method: Natural Process

Grade: G1

Variety: Local native heirloom varieties

Flavor Characteristics

Gedeb has a strong, full-bodied fruit aroma. Even in the dry fragrance you can smell rich peach, strawberry, blueberry and violet notes. On tasting, grape gummy, mango and peach burst forth first, followed by blueberry, bergamot and floral-fruity notes.

Recommended Pour-Over Method

Water amount: 225ml

Coffee amount: 20g

Brewing time: 120 seconds

Water temperature: 91°C

Bloom time: 30 seconds

Knowledge Extension

Arabica has many subspecies, all descended from Ethiopia's oldest Typica and Yemen's Bourbon after being transplanted to Central and South America or Asia and undergoing variation.

Conclusion

FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research specialty shop, happy to share coffee knowledge with everyone. Our sharing is without reservation, simply to help more friends fall in love with coffee. We hold three discounted coffee events every month, because FrontStreet Coffee wants more friends to enjoy the best coffee at the lowest prices. That has been our mission for the past six years.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you enjoy the natural-process fruit intensity of this Gedeb coffee, FrontStreet's Yirgacheffe range is a natural next step. For the classic washed counterpart, the FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe is known for white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity and a tea-like body, and its friendly price has made it the first specialty bean for many new drinkers. Within the same region, the FrontStreet Gotiti Cooperative follows the most traditional washed processing and is celebrated as a single-origin lot with no bitterness at all—just clean, bright citrus and lemon acidity with jasmine fragrance.

For another natural-process Yirgacheffe, the FrontStreet Natural Red Cherry is made from a full-red-cherry selection, so it keeps the region's signature character while adding sun-dried tropical fruit, citrus acidity, a juicy berry body, honeyed sweetness and a creamy smoothness. If you like to brew at home, FrontStreet suggests a V60 with 90–91°C water, 15g of coffee and a 1:15 ratio, grinding to a fine-sugar texture, then blooming with 30g of water for 30 seconds before pouring in stages to about 225g.