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What Are the Characteristics of Sidamo Coffee? Is Sidamo from the African Savanna Very Acidic?

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style). FrontStreet Coffee's Sidamo Coffee Introduction - Ethiopia is the famous birthplace of Arabica coffee beans, where people still maintain the tradition of harvesting wild coffee beans. Coffee gardens at altitudes exceeding 1,500 meters have formed unique coffee characteristics through thousands of years of evolution and adaptation.

FrontStreet Coffee's Introduction to Sidamo Coffee

Ethiopia is the renowned birthplace of Arabica coffee beans, where people have maintained the tradition of harvesting wild coffee beans to this day. Coffee plantations at elevations exceeding 1,500 meters have undergone thousands of years of evolution and adaptation, forming a unique coffee terroir. Ethiopian coffee grown in natural wild environments is known as "wilderness coffee," preserving the most original and natural flavors of coffee beans, with the most direct and complete expression of terroir.

Due to administrative division changes in Ethiopia around 1995, the most significant impact on coffee regions was that the former Sidamo province was divided into the new Sidama region (occupying a small portion of the original) and mostly incorporated into the Oromia region. Additionally, Yirgacheffe, which originally belonged to Sidamo province, is now part of the new Gedeo zone. Consequently, the Ethiopian coffee varieties currently circulating in the market may appear with mixed naming based on both new and old regional names.

Sidamo

Sidamo is located on the fertile highlands of the East African Rift Valley and is one of Ethiopia's three trademarked coffee-producing regions (the other two being Harrar and Yirgacheffe). Its elevation ranges from 1,550 to 2,200 meters, with abundant rainfall, suitable temperatures, and fertile soil. It is reported that approximately 60% of the coffee beans produced here are processed using the washed method. Sidamo coffee is famous for its rich flavor, full body, bright acidity, as well as its floral and citrus notes.

Similar to Yirgacheffe's coffee cultivation model, Sidamo mostly follows a garden coffee pattern, where coffee farmers plant coffee trees near their living areas, harvest them themselves during the harvest season, and then send them to nearby processing stations built near water sources for unified processing (or they are collected by middlemen).

Except for a small number of relatively powerful plantations that independently plant, harvest, and process raw coffee beans, many coffee beans from different regions and varieties are centrally processed by processing stations and then sent to auction houses for official evaluation and grading.

Sidamo green coffee beans are slightly grayish, with some being large and coarse while others are small and fine. They possess both gentle and bright acidity, with moderate body, sweetness, and spiciness. However, unlike Yirgacheffe coffee, Sidamo's coffee flavor carries citrus sweetness, along with full berry aromas and tropical fruit notes, offering a very rich and delicate texture.

Knowledge Point: Arabica coffee is generally considered to originate from the Ethiopian highlands and is widely distributed in tropical regions. Through repeated mutations and breeding, it has derived numerous varieties.

In Brief

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