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

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Yirgacheffe Processing Methods

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Yirgacheffe is a small town in the Sidamo province of Ethiopia, located in the northwestern part of Sidamo. Surrounded by mountains and water, it resembles a paradise and is one of Ethiopia's highest altitude specialty coffee producing regions. However, due to the outstanding production methods and flavors here, it was eventually separated independently, and the coffee produced is named after this producing region. This has led Ethiopian coffee farmers to compete for the honor of using coffee with Yirgacheffe in its name, thus becoming independent from the Sidamo region, forming its own style, and becoming Africa's most renowned producing region.

Due to the numerous producing areas and processing plants in the Yirgacheffe region, coffee varieties are more diverse, and flavors are difficult to generalize. Generally speaking: the dry aroma has strong floral notes, heavy berry flavors, and is full and rich; the wet aroma is like syrup, similar to apricot juice and concentrated fruit jams like honey; upon entry, the acidity is obvious but pleasant fruit acidity, lively and bright; the body is medium; with fruity sweetness and black tea flavor...

Yirgacheffe Processing Methods:

Fresh coffee cherries need to undergo hulling and drying processing to become green coffee beans for trade and circulation. Afterwards, according to the characteristics of the coffee beans, different degrees of roasting are applied before they can be used for brewing and drinking. In recent years, besides traditional natural and washed processes, new coffee processing methods have emerged endlessly - honey processing, anaerobic fermentation, raisin processing, etc. Yirgacheffe mainly still adopts traditional natural and washed processing methods.

Natural Processing:

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

Advantages: During the natural drying process, the fruity aroma and sweetness of the coffee pulp enter the green beans, making the aroma of naturally processed beans complex and rich.

Washed Processing:

Washed processing is a new processing method introduced from South America last century. Coffee cherries are soaked in washing tanks for 72 hours, fermented and hulled, then washed with large amounts of water to remove the fruit mucilage attached to the coffee parchment (like the shell of dry soybeans), and then dried.

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

Knowledge Point:

Ethiopia holds an ancestor status in the coffee world, being the birthplace of Arabica beans and currently Africa's largest Arabica producing country. The Kaffa Forest in Ethiopia is even known as the "coffee gene bank."

In Summary:

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