The 8 Most Famous Coffees in the World—What Makes Ethiopian Coffee Special?

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The Cultural Significance of Ethiopian Coffee

Today, whether domestically or internationally, coffee has become an extremely popular beverage. However, in Ethiopia, on the African continent, coffee also represents their culture and faith. In Ethiopia, regardless of wealth or status, the coffee ceremony has become an indispensable part of social and family life. Whenever there's a social gathering, a respectful coffee ceremony begins.

Traditional Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

According to legend, on the highlands of Ethiopia in Africa, a shepherd named Kaldi discovered while herding that his goats became unusually excited after eating certain wild red fruits. Curious, he picked some and took them home to taste. After eating them, he felt refreshed and particularly energized, so he shared them with the villagers. As the news spread, coffee beans reached the Arabian Peninsula, and cultivation and trade gradually developed, beginning coffee's centuries-long global journey.

Although the story may not be completely historically accurate, Ethiopians have had a tradition of drinking coffee since ancient times. A cup of aromatic coffee in the morning is needed to start a refreshing day, and in every corner of the villages, the air is always filled with the rich aroma of coffee. Here, the Ethiopian people have excellently preserved the most original purity of coffee. They use the most primitive iron pestles to grind charcoal-roasted coffee beans into powder, place them in a coffee brewing pot, and the boiling coffee slowly releases its unique aroma, to be enjoyed with traditional bread.

Ethiopians have a coffee ceremony with a very long history. First, raw coffee beans are roasted in a flat pan, then pounded with a mortar and pestle, and finally placed in a clay pot called a "Jebena" to brew. When the hot water mixed with coffee grounds boils, it means the coffee is ready to be tasted. The coffee ceremony consists of three rounds. The first cup is called Abol, during which the elder says blessings. The second cup is Tona, when people begin to chat about daily life. The third cup, Beraka, symbolizes joy, and only after drinking this cup is the ceremony truly complete.

It's worth mentioning that in the Ethiopian language, coffee is "bunn" or "buna." The origin of coffee is Kaffa. Therefore, coffee is sometimes called "Kaffa bunn," or coffee from Kaffa. Consequently, the term "coffee bean" is often considered to be the English adaptation of "Kaffa bunn." The English word "coffee" originates from the Ethiopian place name "Kaffa."

Ethiopia's Garden Coffee Cultivation Model

Ethiopia's elevated terrain creates an excellent climate environment, belonging to a tropical rainforest climate with abundant rainfall and lingering mist. The extremely high altitude of about two thousand meters creates significant temperature differences, providing a uniquely advantageous growing environment for coffee trees.

Local coffee production is divided into four types: forest coffee, semi-forest coffee, garden coffee, and large plantations, with garden coffee being the most common. So-called garden coffee refers to farmers managing coffee trees mixed with other economic crops in their own gardens, usually planted together with banana trees. Because of this, every household's front and back yards form unique green landscapes, which is also Ethiopia's main production method.

Administratively, all five major regions of Ethiopia grow coffee, with the four major cultivation systems distributed across the following nine producing areas: Jimma, Sidamo, Yirgacheffe, Harrar, Limu, Illubabor, Gimbi (Lekempti), Tepi, and Bebeka. Yirgacheffe coffee, Harrar coffee, and Sidamo coffee have the highest recognition. Yirgacheffe is a very small town that produces thousands of tons of specialty coffee annually, showing the pivotal position of the Yirgacheffe region in Ethiopia.

Due to the small production volume of coffee from small-scale farmers, there are various coffee cooperatives and processing plants locally, mainly responsible for processing raw coffee beans in the area. Farmers deliver their harvested coffee beans to nearby processing plants (cooperatives) built near water sources for unified processing, and subsequently sell them under the name of the processing plant. For example, the Gotiti Cooperative coffee beans on FrontStreet Coffee's menu are collected from coffee trees grown in Yirgacheffe town, sent to the town for unified washed processing, and then produced under the cooperative's name.

Differences Between Washed and Natural Process Coffee

Ethiopia generally has high altitudes and abundant sunshine, making it quite suitable for natural drying of coffee fruits. Traditional natural processing was too crude, with each coffee farmer able to do it in their own small courtyard, directly spreading the coffee on rooftops or the ground to dry. The crude methods brought many unpleasant flavors and caused inconsistent coffee quality.

In 1972, the Ethiopian government introduced more advanced washed processing technology and related equipment from Central and South America. Farms using the washed method must build washing pools and be able to access a continuous supply of fresh water, resulting in higher production costs. During processing, the fermented beans are placed in pools and moved back and forth, using the friction of the beans and the power of flowing water to wash the coffee beans until they are smooth and clean. Each step removes impurities and defective beans, so the raw bean quality is more uniform, and the final trading price is higher than naturally processed coffee. Washing not only greatly reduced the defect rate of coffee but also won Yirgacheffe its fresh citrus tones and elegant white floral aromas, with overall flavors that are bright, delicate, and clean.

Although washed coffee once became popular, natural processing still occupies the main portion of Ethiopian coffee. Unlike in the past, today's natural processing spends more effort on manual selection and ensuring uniform drying. Freshly picked red coffee fruits are manually sorted, removing defective beans and those that are overripe or insect-damaged, leaving only good beans. They are then sent to drying areas for processing. Of course, different producing areas use different drying racks - some use waterproof tarps, raised beds, etc., but the most common are African raised beds. Drying time generally requires 27-30 days until the coffee turns dark purple and the moisture content drops to 11% to be considered complete.

The Gotiti Cooperative coffee beans on FrontStreet Coffee's menu use classic washed processed Yirgacheffe, while another Red Cherry coffee bean uses refined natural processed Yirgacheffe, with more intense flavors, richer layers, fuller fermentation notes, and tropical fruit flavors, and also has a relatively high sweetness.

Flavor Characteristics of Ethiopian Coffee

As a star product among African coffees, Ethiopian beans, with their rich floral aromas, fresh citrus tones, and clear, crisp taste, have become an introductory single-origin for many people. FrontStreet Coffee, as a fan of floral and fruit-flavored coffee, has multiple Ethiopian coffee beans on its menu, with the most representative being washed Gotiti Cooperative, natural Red Cherry, Sidamo Flower Queen, and washed Yirgacheffe daily drink beans - the face of Ethiopian coffee.

Among customers who come to FrontStreet Coffee to drink coffee, if they want to drink washed, fruity coffee, FrontStreet Coffee's baristas will优先 recommend the Gotiti Cooperative from the bean shelf; if they want full, rounded fruit sweetness, FrontStreet Coffee thinks natural Red Cherry is more suitable; if they want to experience tropical fruit fermentation aromas, FrontStreet Coffee recommends the Flower Queen coffee beans from the Sidamo Hambela region.

FrontStreet Coffee believes that Ethiopian coffee is mainly characterized by fruity acidity tones and is more suitable for medium-light roasting, which highlights sweetness while preserving more floral aromas and fruit acidity.

Cupping Flavors:

Washed Gotiti Cooperative Coffee: The dry aroma reveals fresh passion fruit, citrus, and berry acidity. The wet aroma is citrus and berries. Upon entry, there's citrus acidity, berry sweetness, almond, tea notes, and a finish with honey sweetness. Light body, bright acidity, clean and refreshing.

Natural Red Cherry Coffee: The dry aroma shows full berry sweet and sour notes. Sipped at different temperatures, it presents soft berry sweet and sour, mature fruit fermentation, obvious honey sweetness, and red tea finish, with a smooth mouthfeel.

Natural Sidamo Flower Queen Coffee: The dry aroma has nuts, honey, berries, and a light fermentation aroma. The entry is full passion fruit, cream, and strawberry sweet and sour notes, with a thick body and cocoa finish.

Ethiopian Flavor Coffee Bean Recommendations

If you are a newcomer to specialty coffee, FrontStreet Coffee recommends starting with this washed Yirgacheffe daily drink bean. FrontStreet Coffee believes that Yirgacheffe is synonymous with Ethiopian specialty coffee, and washed processing fully showcases Yirgacheffe's charm. Therefore, it serves as the "face representative" of Ethiopian coffee, allowing everyone to taste Ethiopian flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee's daily drink bean series allows friends new to the coffee circle to taste the basic flavors of producing regions at affordable prices, and the small packaging design also avoids waste from not being able to finish drinking. If you want to taste the classic aroma of Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet Coffee thinks that hand-brewed extracted black coffee is most suitable. To ensure coffee bean freshness, FrontStreet Coffee ships coffee beans freshly roasted within 5 days, and usually, you can receive them in 1-3 days. This way, the coffee beans everyone receives are at their optimal tasting period, and you can start studying how to extract them.

FrontStreet Coffee's Hand-Brew Recommendations

Dripper: V60

Water Temperature: 92-93°C

Dose: 15g

Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: Fine sugar size (78% through #20 sieve)

Three-Stage Pouring: Use twice the coffee grounds' weight in water to wet the coffee bed, forming a dome for a 30s bloom. Then use a small water stream to pour from inside to outside in circles until 125g for the first stage. When the coffee bed drops to half the filter cup's height, continue with the same fine water stream for the third stage to 225g. Remove the filter cup when all coffee liquid has filtered through, taking about 2 minutes total.

After grinding the washed Yirgacheffe daily drink beans into powder, you can smell honey and jasmine freshness. When FrontStreet Coffee pours hot water, it begins to release hints of berry flavors. The hand-brewed black coffee entry is bright lemon, citrus, and green tea. As the temperature changes, there are berry, cream, and sugarcane notes in the finish, with obvious aftertaste and a clean, sweet mouthfeel.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473