What Does Yirgacheffe Mean? What Coffee Bean Variety is Yirgacheffe? Is it Suitable for Pour-Over? Taste Description

At FrontStreet Coffee, if you're visiting for the first time and looking for a coffee with a refreshing acidity profile, the barista will recommend trying FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe. This article introduces you to the mystery of this floral and fruit-forward coffee representative.

What Does Yirgacheffe Mean?

Yirgacheffe in the ancient Ethiopian language: (Yirga) means "settle down," and (Cheffe) means "wetland," so Yirgacheffe carries the meaning "let us settle down in this wetland." It was originally the name of a small town in Ethiopia, the homeland of coffee. The altitude here is around 1700-2200 meters, with relatively low temperatures, allowing coffee to grow more slowly and accumulate more nutrients and flavor compounds over time. Due to the unique flavor and high quality of the coffee beans produced, Ethiopian farmers take pride in their coffee featuring Yirgacheffe characteristics. In 2004, to promote the country's coffee, the Ethiopian government even patented the "Yirgacheffe" regional name. Today, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe has become synonymous with Ethiopian specialty coffee.

Friends who have tried FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe will immediately recall its bright, uplifting lemon acidity, floral aromas, and honey-like sweet fragrance, with gentle fruit acidity and citrus notes, creating a refreshing and pleasant mouthfeel. Unlike traditional bitter-tasting coffees, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe not only lacks heavy, burnt flavors but instead presents a flavor profile reminiscent of fruit tea, making people fall in love at first sip. That's why FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe has become the gateway coffee for many coffee enthusiasts.

The Secret Behind FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe's Unique Flavor

The reason FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe possesses such a distinctive style is largely attributed to the washed processing method, in addition to natural terroir conditions. Ethiopia generally has high altitudes and abundant sunshine, making it quite suitable for sun-drying coffee fruits. Traditional natural processing was rather crude, with each coffee farmer able to process it in their own small courtyard, directly spreading it on rooftops or the ground to dry. These rough methods introduced many unpleasant flavors and resulted in 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 have access to continuous fresh water, resulting in higher production costs. During processing, the fermented beans are placed in the pool and moved back and forth, using the friction between 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, resulting in more uniform green bean quality, and the final trading price is higher than naturally processed coffee.

Washed processing not only significantly reduces the defect rate of coffee but also gives FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe its refreshing citrus notes and elegant white floral aromas, with overall flavors that are bright, delicate, and clean. FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe daily brew beans use washed processing, featuring classic Yirgacheffe flavor notes, suitable for various brewing methods including pour-over, cold brew, and French press.

Does FrontStreet Coffee Have Natural Process Yirgacheffe?

Although washed coffee once became popular, natural processing still accounts for the majority of Ethiopian coffee. Unlike in the past, today's natural processing involves more attention to manual selection and ensuring uniform drying. FrontStreet Coffee's Red Cherry coffee beans on their menu are selected from natural processed Yirgacheffe.

To improve the income of local Ethiopian farmers and coffee quality, the Dutch trading company Trabocca BV launched the "Operation Cherry Red Project" in 2007. This project primarily aims to improve processing technologies including washed, semi-washed, and natural methods in high-altitude areas like Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe region. Professional cuppers participate, and different microclimate zones are assigned different coffee harvest volumes during the harvest season, requiring only 100% mature red coffee cherries to be picked, with production approximately 1500-3000KG. The economic loans, new hardware equipment, and production knowledge provided by Trabocca have significantly improved the quality of coffee beans in the Yirgacheffe region and even throughout Ethiopia. Consequently, the coffee commands higher prices, thereby increasing farmers' income.

Freshly picked red coffee fruits are manually sorted to remove 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 growing regions use different drying racks - some use tarps, raised beds, etc., but the most common are African drying beds. The drying process generally takes 27-30 days until the coffee turns dark purple and moisture content drops to 11%. Natural processed FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe has a more intense flavor and richer layers, with wine-like fermentation notes and higher sweetness.

What Varieties Are in FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe?

Friends who frequently drink Ethiopian coffee may have noticed that Ethiopian coffee varieties are always labeled as local native varieties or Heirloom native varieties. In the dictionary, "Heirloom" refers to "valuable property passed down through generations," meaning that for Ethiopians, coffee is an irreplaceable "treasure."

It is estimated that Ethiopia currently has about 10,000 to 15,000 heirloom varieties, most of which have not yet undergone formal genetic identification. Due to the numerous and complex Ethiopian coffee bean varieties, organizing and classifying them completely is extremely difficult. Additionally, to protect various wild varieties, the local government decided to harvest and process different coffee bean varieties together, collectively naming them "Ethiopia Heirloom." This is why we always see that Ethiopian beans are not as uniform and consistent as coffee beans from some other regions, but rather "vary in size, with different shapes and weights."

How to Brew FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopian Yirgacheffe?

Unlike the era when "coffee was bitter," light-roasted Ethiopian Yirgacheffe can be said to have opened the "new era of fruit-acidity coffee." The main reason coffee tastes strong and bitter is that roasters roast coffee beans deeply, with the main flavor direction being nuts and dark chocolate. With the emergence of specialty coffee concepts, to preserve more acidity, FrontStreet Coffee only roasts their Yirgacheffe to an appropriate light level, allowing FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe to express pleasant fruit acidity and white floral aromas.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Brewing Parameters:

Filter: V60
Water Temperature: 92-93°C
Coffee Dose: 15g
Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: Fine sugar size (78% retention through #20 sieve)

First pour 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour 95g more (scale shows around 125g), completing in about 1 minute. When the water level drops to 2/3 of the coffee bed, pour the remaining 100g (scale shows around 225g), completing in about 1 minute and 35 seconds. At 2'10", the drip filtration completes, remove the filter cup, and finish extraction.

FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Process Red Cherry flavor notes: Lemon, licorice, citrus, berries, sweet orange, with overall high sweetness, caramel and cream notes in the aftertaste, with black tea aroma in the finish.

FrontStreet Coffee's Washed Gedeb Cooperative flavor notes: Citrus and black tea on entry, with cream, caramel, and almond notes appearing as temperature changes, with a distinct sweet aftertaste and clean, refreshing mouthfeel.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473