Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Pour-Over Coffee | How to Make Yirgacheffe Coffee at Home

FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry

Operation Cherry Red (OCR)

Operation Cherry Red (OCR) is an initiative launched by the Dutch trading company Trabocca BV to improve coffee production capacity and quality in remote areas of Ethiopia by giving producers professional technical assistance. Partly funded by the Dutch government, it has run as a small-farm quality improvement project since 2005. The project selects high-altitude small coffee cooperatives in what are now the Yirgacheffe, Limu, and Sidamo regions.

It encourages and assists producers to improve coffee quality through washed, semi-washed, natural, or other experimental processing methods. Professional cuppers are stationed in the producing regions to control flavor directly and ensure the quality of each batch. Before the harvest season, Trabocca invites selected small farmer organizations and producers to take part in producing micro-batches of approximately 1500-3000KG, with careful hand-picking of 100% ripe red cherries in batches, which is where the name Operation Cherry Red comes from.

Product details

Product Name: FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe Operation Cherry Red

Variety: Heirloom

Altitude: 1850-2100 meters

Processing Method: Natural Process

Roast Level: Light Roast

Net Weight: 150g

Flavor Notes: Citrus, Apricot, Blueberry, Pineapple, Jasmine Floral, Brown Sugar Sweetness, Honey

Brewing recommendations

Water Temperature: 90-94°C

Grind Size: Medium Grind

Recommended Brew Ratio: 1:15-1:18, with the concentration adjusted to personal taste

Knowledge point

Honey processing, also known as semi-washed processing, uses a pulping machine to remove the skin and part of the pulp. The proportion of pulp retained determines the classification into black, red, yellow, or white honey.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

The Red Cherry project exists because Yirgacheffe, worked carefully, produces one of the most recognizable cups in coffee: white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a clean, tea-like body. It is the kind of coffee that rewards a light touch and a patient pour.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe range is a good place to see the difference process makes within a single small region. The washed Yirgacheffe daily bean is the beginner's introduction, known for white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a tea-like quality, all at an accessible price; Yirgacheffe itself sits at roughly 1,700-2,100 meters in southern Ethiopia, with trees planted above 1,800 meters, making it one of the highest growing areas in the world. The Gutingtin cooperative coffee comes from Gutingtin village, where growers deliver their cherries to a shared station with veteran processing experience; Gutingtin sits at the southeastern edge of Yirgacheffe in the Worka area and was originally part of the Worka cooperative under the Yirgacheffe Union, later pulled out as a single origin as the demand for traceability grew. Its traditional washed processing leaves no bitter note, just clean, bright citrus and lemon acidity and jasmine florals, and many coffee people fall for it on the first cup. The sun-dried Red Cherry coffee uses the whole-ripe-fruit natural method: only fully ripe, sound cherries are picked, given a first sort at the station, then laid out to dry on raised beds, turned every 2-3 hours in the first days to prevent uneven heat and over-fermentation; after three to five weeks, depending on weather and temperature, the outer fruit is scraped away by machine and the beans are moved to storage. Because the coffee dries with the fruit still on, it keeps the classic Yirgacheffe character while adding the tropical fruit of a natural process, with citrus acidity, berry juice, honey sweetness, and a creamy smoothness.

For a Yirgacheffe pour-over, use a V60 at 90-91°C with 15g of coffee and a 1:15 ratio, grinding to fine sugar, about EK43s setting 10 or 80% pass-through on a no. 20 sieve. FrontStreet Coffee pours in three stages: 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom, then 95 grams (about 125 grams on the scale), finishing in roughly one minute, and when the water level drops to two-thirds of the bed, the remaining 100 grams (about 225 grams on the scale), finishing in about 1 minute 35 seconds. Drawdown completes in 2 to 2 minutes 10 seconds, then remove the dripper and the brew is done.