Sidamo vs. Yirgacheffe: Brewing Guide & Flavor Descriptions for Washed Yirgacheffe & Natural Sidamo

FrontStreet Coffee believes that coffee has been integrated into Ethiopia's social structure and cultural economy for hundreds of years. In Ethiopia, coffee is at the core of their culture and an important source of income for most people. The country is also recognized worldwide as the birthplace of coffee, highly esteemed in the specialty coffee market, and Ethiopian coffee can be found on nearly every coffee shop menu around the world, and FrontStreet Coffee is no exception.

At FrontStreet Coffee, Ethiopian coffee has always been highly popular among enthusiasts. Many customers come in asking if FrontStreet Coffee has Yirgacheffe or Sidamo—these two coffee-producing regions seem to have become synonymous with Ethiopian coffee. This time, FrontStreet Coffee will explain the differences between Yirgacheffe and Sidamo.

Ethiopian Coffee Varieties

Those who frequently drink Ethiopian coffee should have heard of the Heirloom variety. Most Ethiopian varieties are named with this term, mainly because Ethiopia has too many varieties—it's like a natural gene bank for Arabica. On one hand, there are numerous varieties making identification and classification difficult, and on the other hand, the Ethiopian government, for conservation reasons, is unwilling to disclose information about these varieties, so they are collectively called Heirloom.

The term "heirloom" represents ancient plant varieties that were originally cultivated for consumption. Some define varieties over 100 years old as heirlooms, while others say 50 years. Some people define varieties that existed before 1945 as heirlooms, which is approximately when hybrid varieties began to emerge, or 1951 when hybrid varieties became more widespread.

Yirgacheffe Coffee Region

Yirgacheffe has always been one of the most important coffee-producing regions in Ethiopia. It was formerly part of the Sidamo coffee region but later became an independent coffee-producing region due to the unique flavor of Yirgacheffe coffee beans. It can be said that Yirgacheffe is not just a coffee region name but also a term describing specific coffee flavors. The Yirgacheffe coffee region is considered a high-altitude coffee-producing region, with an altitude of about 2000 meters. The Yirgacheffe coffee region has over 40 cooperatives, mainly managing coffee cultivation through family-operated models. Under the Yirgacheffe coffee region, there are many well-known micro-regions such as Kochere, Fog Valley, and Gedeb. These micro-regions all have excellent cooperatives, and the Yirgacheffe coffee beans they produce each have their unique Yirgacheffe characteristics. When FrontStreet Coffee selects Yirgacheffe coffee beans, besides valuing the unique characteristics and excellent quality of Yirgacheffe coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee also values their uniqueness. FrontStreet Coffee believes that each FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe has its unique flavor, such as the prominent tea aroma of FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Gotiti and the berry-toned profile of FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Red Cherry. Therefore, each variety of FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe coffee beans offered by FrontStreet Coffee, even from the same coffee region, still has differences between them, which is one of FrontStreet Coffee's purposes in selecting coffee.

Sidamo Coffee Region

The Sidamo coffee region is located in southern Ethiopia. The industry here is dominated by agriculture, with coffee-growing areas situated around the Great Rift Valley. Sidamo's coffee flavors are very diverse due to different soil compositions, regional microclimates, and countless heirloom coffee varieties, creating FrontStreet Coffee's Sidamo coffee with floral notes, berry fruitiness, and smooth citrus acidity, with quality comparable to FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe. The Sidamo coffee region is located in southern Ethiopia. The industry here is dominated by agriculture, with coffee-growing areas situated around the Great Rift Valley.

When mentioning the Sidamo region, coffee enthusiasts immediately think of FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Queen coffee from Sidamo's Hambella Guji. Hambella (generally translated as "Hambella") is located in Ethiopia's largest coffee-producing region, Guji, and is administratively under the Oromia Regional State. Hambella's west faces Yirgacheffe's Kochore across mountains, with a highland of 3200 meters altitude and about 30 kilometers width separating the two regions. To the southeast, east, and north, it borders Guji's Shakiso, Uraga, and Kercha sub-regions respectively, making it Ethiopia's highest-altitude coffee sub-region (Harrar is Ethiopia's highest-altitude main region).

Currently, there are about 20 processing plants of various scales in the Hambella region. DW Company has four estate processing plants in Hambella's core Dimtu region: "Buku Abel," "Buku Saysay," "Haro Soresa," and "Tirtiro Goye," with an annual coffee production of about 1100 tons.

Among all these estates and processing stations, only the sun-dried coffee from the "Buku Abel" estate and processing plant is called "Flower Queen." The FrontStreet Coffee Sidamo Flower Queen on FrontStreet Coffee's menu officially comes from Buku Abel.

Coffee Bean Processing Methods

Traditionally, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe used the most ancient natural processing method, but in 1972, Ethiopia introduced the washed processing technology from Central and South America to improve coffee quality, making FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe's jasmine fragrance and citrus aroma clearer and brighter. The most fundamental difference between natural processing and washed processing is that natural processing retains the pulp flavor, while washed processing removes the pulp flavor, representing the most essential flavor of coffee beans. In terms of taste, there are obvious differences—washed processing is cleaner and brighter, while natural processing is richer in taste. FrontStreet Coffee precisely because washed processing can reflect the most essential flavor of coffee beans, so when recommending coffee beans each time, if customers are tasting coffee beans from this region for the first time, FrontStreet Coffee will prioritize recommending washed-processed coffee beans, which allows people to more clearly understand the flavor characteristics of the region.

FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Queen from the Sidamo region generally uses African raised bed drying, limiting the thickness of the fruit layer and turning it regularly 24 hours a day, with low-temperature fermentation in the unique natural environment of Buku Abel estate. During the harvest and processing season (December-January), its unique growing environment and natural climate create the distinctive flavor of Flower Queen. Coffee farmers only begin natural processing when the sugar content of harvested red fruits reaches above 30. In the first two days of natural processing, it's essential to maintain the moisture of red fruits to allow their fructose to fully start fermentation. At the same time, the high-altitude geographical location allows the processing station's nighttime temperature to drop to about 12 degrees Celsius, avoiding over-fermentation odors due to high temperatures. When the temperature is higher at noon, timely shading is provided to prevent sun damage to red fruits. The naturally processed FrontStreet Coffee Sidamo Flower Queen has rich and enchanting floral notes, mellow red wine and tropical fruit flavors, and a bright sweet and sour juiciness.

Next, FrontStreet Coffee will brew two representative coffees: FrontStreet Coffee's Gotiti from Yirgacheffe with washed processing and FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Queen 4.0 from Sidamo with natural processing.

FrontStreet Coffee · Yirgacheffe Gotiti Cooperative

Region: Yirgacheffe Gedeo Zone

Altitude: 1900-2300m

Variety: Heirloom

Processing: Washed

Grade: G1

FrontStreet Coffee · Sidamo Flower Queen 4.0

Region: Ethiopia Sidamo

Altitude: 2250-2350m

Variety: Heirloom

Processing: Natural

Brewing Water Temperature

For coffee beans with different roasting levels, the water temperature used should also be adjusted. Generally, FrontStreet Coffee recommends a temperature between 86-93°C when brewing coffee. FrontStreet Coffee suggests using lower water temperature when brewing dark-roasted beans, recommending between 86-88°C, because dark-roasted beans have a looser structure, higher water absorption efficiency, and are easier to extract. If the water temperature is too high, it easily results in bitter and burnt flavors; for light-roasted beans, FrontStreet Coffee recommends 90-93°C, as higher water temperatures can extract the aromatic substances and acidity (floral and fruit acidity) of light-roasted beans. Because light-roasted beans are harder in texture, increasing water temperature can improve extraction efficiency for coffee grounds, avoiding uncomfortable flavors such as sharp acidity. Medium roasts can choose 88-90°C. For these two FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopian coffee beans brewed this time, FrontStreet Coffee used 91-92 degree water temperature.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Parameters

Dripper: HARIO V60

Water Temperature: 90-91°C

Grind Size: BG#6m (fine sugar size)

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Method: First, pour 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour 95g more (electronic scale shows around 125g), finishing in about 1 minute. When the water level drops to 2/3 of the coffee bed, pour the remaining 100g (electronic scale shows around 225g), finishing in about 1 minute 40 seconds. Complete drip filtration between 1'55"~2'00", remove the dripper, and complete extraction.

FrontStreet Coffee · Yirgacheffe Gotiti Brewing Flavor: Bright citrus acidity upon entry, full-bodied berry fruit juice, with distinct oolong tea notes.

FrontStreet Coffee · Sidamo Flower Queen 4.0 Brewing Flavor: Light floral notes, citrus acidity, full-bodied berry fruit juice, with raisin sweetness.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473