The Difference Between Yirgacheffe Coffee and Arabica Coffee: Introduction to Yirgacheffe Coffee's Ethiopian Native Varieties

As the homeland of coffee, all Arabica coffee varieties currently originate from the Ethiopia region. The difference between Yirgacheffe coffee and Arabica coffee is that the former refers to coffee beans grown in the Yirgacheffe region of Ethiopia, while the latter is a collective term for the major coffee varieties within the Rubiaceae coffee genus.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Coffee Introduction

The town of Yirgacheffe is located in the Gedeo region of southern Ethiopia, at an altitude of approximately 1,700-2,100 meters. It originally belonged to the Sidamo production area, but due to different coffee processing methods and distinctly recognizable coffee flavors, it became its own production area. It is one of the highest-altitude coffee production areas in the world and synonymous with Ethiopian specialty coffee.

According to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, the reason why FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe coffee beans can have such a distinctive style, in addition to innate terroir conditions, is largely attributed to the washed processing method. The local altitude in Ethiopia is generally high, with abundant sunshine, making it very suitable for directly drying coffee fruits under the sun. Initially, Yirgacheffe was also a place focusing on producing natural process coffee. Traditional natural processing involved simply spreading them on the ground to dry without sorting or flotation, so the quality of coffee beans was mostly uneven. It wasn't until the 1970s that Yirgacheffe town established the first washing station in the Sidamo region, and the local area gradually began to have more washed processing methods.

With the establishment of more and more farmer cooperatives, in order to improve the quality of green coffee beans for export and thereby increase everyone's income while also serving multiple communities, people began to have the willingness to build washed processing plants. Unlike natural processing, washing stations first need to solve the water resource problem, followed by investing in machines for pulp removal, and then having sufficient workforce. Therefore, from a production perspective, places with people, water, and roads are the best locations for establishing washing stations, and Yirgacheffe is precisely such a treasure land.

The town of Yirgacheffe, located in the Gedeo region, is situated downstream from large lakes, with abundant springs and river channels flowing through, providing ample freshwater resources for washing stations. FrontStreet Coffee also noted that in the ancient Ethiopian language, the English "Yirgacheffe" consists of two words: Yirga (ይርጋ) meaning calm, settled down, and Cheffe (ጨፌ) meaning marsh-like wetland. Therefore, Yirgacheffe has the meaning of "let us settle and make a living in this wetland." At that time, the so-called "Yirgacheffe coffee" referred to beans processed through washing methods in Yirgacheffe town.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Coffee Variety Introduction

Currently, the coffee varieties grown in the Yirgacheffe region are all Arabica species, also known as small-fruited coffee. Due to the extremely numerous and diverse coffee varieties within Ethiopia, there are varieties that have been recorded and named by researchers, as well as many undocumented wild varieties.

It is not an easy task to subdivide these varieties. Therefore, coffee grown in the Ethiopian region is rarely subdivided by variety, and farmers are distributed mixed varieties. Although they are mixed varieties, many high-quality Ethiopian coffee beans have bright citrus acidity and a refreshing, clean taste. At the same time, the yield is also very high, making them beloved by coffee enthusiasts worldwide.

In order to make these mixed variety coffee beans better meet the requirements for specialty coffee sales (requiring indication of origin, growing altitude, processing method, and coffee variety), these mixed varieties grown in the Ethiopian region were named Ethiopian Heirloom varieties, which means "heirloom" in the local language.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Coffee Bean Characteristics and Flavor Profile

According to FrontStreet Coffee's observations and understanding, most Ethiopian beans usually vary in size, which is because different coffee varieties have certain differences in bean size. Through FrontStreet Coffee's cupping results, it was noted that FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe coffee beans, despite their small size, nurture unique regional flavors of citrus and floral notes, tasting pleasantly sweet and sour.

Unlike the era of "bitter coffee," lightly roasted FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe can be said to have opened the "new era of fruity acidity coffee." The reason coffee is strong and bitter is mainly because 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, roasters only roast FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe coffee to an appropriate light degree, allowing FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe to express pleasant fruity sweetness and white floral notes. Preferring sweetness and fearing bitterness happens to be the public's taste, which is one of the reasons why Yirgacheffe is so popular worldwide. For such popular Yirgacheffe coffee, FrontStreet Coffee has of course added it to FrontStreet Coffee's introductory series of daily beans.

Yirgacheffe Coffee Bean Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee: FrontStreet Coffee's Gotiti Cooperative Coffee Beans

Region: Yirgacheffe Production Area
Altitude: 1900-2000m
Processing: Washed
Variety: Heirloom
Flavor: Jasmine, citrus, berries, tea-like sensation

FrontStreet Coffee: FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Process Red Cherry Coffee Beans

Region: Yirgacheffe Production Area, Altelanga Estate
Altitude: 1700-2200m
Processing: Natural
Variety: Heirloom
Flavor: Berries, jasmine, lemon

FrontStreet Coffee's Barista Pour-Over Suggestions

Medium-light roast allows the coffee beans to retain more floral and fruity aromas. Compared to medium-dark roast, high-altitude lightly roasted coffee beans have a more compact internal structure, requiring higher water temperature and finer grinding to better extract the coffee's flavor compounds. Here, FrontStreet Coffee will use hot water at 92-93°C for extraction, and for grinding fineness, FrontStreet Coffee will use a #20 standard sieve with 80% pass rate.

Dripper: V60
Water Temperature: 92-93°C
Coffee Amount: 15g
Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: Fine sugar size, EK43s - setting 10 (80% pass rate through #20 sieve)

For the first pour, inject 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then inject 95g (electronic scale shows around 125g), completing the pour in about 1 minute. When the water level drops to 2/3 of the coffee bed, inject the remaining 100g (electronic scale shows around 225g), completing the pour in about 1 minute and 35 seconds. Complete the drip filter at 2'10", remove the dripper, and finish the extraction.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473