The Difference Between Natural and Washed Yirgacheffe: Misconceptions About Its Acidity

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Yirgacheffe Processing Methods

Yirgacheffe is a small town in the Sidamo province of Ethiopia, in the northwestern part of the region. Surrounded by mountains and water, it resembles a small paradise and ranks among Ethiopia's highest-altitude specialty coffee areas. Its processing methods and flavors proved so distinctive that it was eventually separated out on its own, with the coffee produced there named after the region. Ethiopian farmers began competing for the honor of using "Yirgacheffe" in a coffee's name, and the area stepped out from Sidamo to form its own style, becoming Africa's most renowned producing region.

Because the Yirgacheffe region is dotted with so many producing areas and processing plants, varieties are more diverse and flavors are hard to generalize. Broadly speaking: the dry aroma is strongly floral, heavy with berry notes, full and rich; the wet aroma is syrupy, like apricot juice or concentrated fruit jam with honey; on entry the acidity is obvious but pleasant and fruity, lively and bright; the body is medium; and the cup carries fruity sweetness and black-tea flavor.

Yirgacheffe Processing Methods:

Fresh cherries must go through hulling and drying to become green coffee beans ready for trade and circulation. After that, the beans are roasted to different levels according to their character before they can be brewed. In recent years, beyond the traditional natural and washed processes, new methods have appeared one after another: honey processing, anaerobic fermentation, raisin processing and more. Yirgacheffe still mainly relies on the traditional natural and washed methods.

Natural Processing:

Natural processing is the earlier traditional method, in which whole coffee cherries are spread out to dry in the sun and turned at fixed intervals, and after about 1-2 weeks the dried cherries are hulled.

Advantages: During natural drying, the fruity aroma and sweetness of the coffee pulp migrate into the green beans, making the aroma of natural-processed beans complex and rich.

Washed Processing:

Washed processing is a newer method introduced from South America last century. The cherries are soaked in washing tanks for 72 hours, fermented and depulped, then washed with large amounts of water to remove the mucilage clinging to the parchment, like the shell of a dry soybean, before drying.

Advantages: Defective beans are fewer than in natural processing, the bean appearance and color are more uniform and attractive, and the taste is cleaner and clearer with bright acidity. So if you prefer a clean, clear cup, choose washed; if you prefer layered aromas and a slightly fuller body, choose natural.

Knowledge Point:

Ethiopia holds an ancestral place in the coffee world as the birthplace of arabica beans and as Africa's largest arabica-producing country today. Ethiopia's Kaffa Forest is even known as the "coffee gene bank."

In Summary:

FrontStreet Coffee is a specialty coffee research establishment, happy to share coffee knowledge with everyone. Our unreserved sharing exists to help more friends fall in love with coffee, and we have kept to that for 6 years.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

To compare the two styles side by side, start with FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe. The beans come from a cooperative team with skilled processing experience, and the washed method draws out the maximum jasmine fragrance and bright citrus acidity; roasted medium-light, the cup opens into green-tea and honey notes. It works well as pour-over, cold brew or espresso. FrontStreet suggests a V60 dripper at 90-91°C, with 15 g of coffee and a 1:15 ratio, ground to about the texture of fine granulated sugar (roughly 80% passing a No. 20 sieve).

Brew in three stages: bloom with 30 g of water for 30 seconds, then pour to 125 g, taking about one minute. When the water level drops to two-thirds of the bed, pour the remaining water to reach about 225 g, finishing around 1 minute 35 seconds. Dripping should complete between 2 minutes and 2 minutes 10 seconds; remove the dripper and the extraction is done.

For the natural side of Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet Coffee's naturally processed Red Cherry coffee is picked from fully ripe, deep-red cherries and dried on raised beds, turned every 2-3 hours over the first few days to prevent uneven heating and over-fermentation. After three to five weeks of sun drying, the dried fruit is removed by machine. Because the fruit stays on the bean during drying, the cup keeps the typical Yirgacheffe character while gaining tropical fruit, citrus acidity, berry juiciness, honey sweetness and a creamy smoothness.