Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Origin Flavor Characteristics of Washed Yirgacheffe Coffee Beans

Introduction to FrontStreet Coffee's Daily Beans

Many fans first became acquainted with FrontStreet Coffee through their daily beans. Those unfamiliar with FrontStreet Coffee might have some misconceptions about the daily beans series, thinking that the term "daily beans" merely caters to coffee novices satisfying their curiosity about coffee beans, or that with promotional prices as low as 9.9 yuan, the bean quality must be poor with messy and complex flavors. However, FrontStreet Coffee's daily beans serve as the "flagship representatives" among coffee beans from major growing regions. These daily beans feature highly recognizable basic regional flavors while offering excellent value at affordable prices.

When selecting a "daily bean" for their collection, FrontStreet Coffee carefully chooses beans that best represent the original local flavors from major growing regions, introducing them to enthusiasts in 100g portions at very reasonable prices. The significance of FrontStreet Coffee's daily beans lies in allowing every coffee beginner, enthusiast, and explorer to recognize the basic flavors of major growing regions at affordable prices. For example, the citrus and lemon acidity of Yirgacheffe; the rich body and herbal notes of Mandheling; the nutty and chocolate flavors of Brazil and Colombia, and so on.

FrontStreet Coffee currently offers daily beans from seven growing regions: Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, Costa Rica Tarrazú, Colombia Huila, Indonesia Lintong Mandheling, China Yunnan Baoshan, Guatemala Huehuetenango, and Brazil Minas Gerais.

Spotlight on Ethiopia Yirgacheffe

Next, let's take a detailed look at the refreshing representative of FrontStreet Coffee's daily beans—Ethiopia Washed Yirgacheffe, and explore what characteristics this region has to offer.

Country: Ethiopia

Region: Yirgacheffe

Altitude: 1800-2000 meters

Variety: Local heirloom

Processing: Washed

Flavor: Jasmine, berries, lemon, citrus

Yirgacheffe is a small town in Ethiopia situated at an altitude of 1700-2100 meters, making it one of the highest altitude coffee growing regions in the world and synonymous with Ethiopian specialty coffee. Lakes Turkana, Abaya, and Chamo bring abundant moisture to this area. Represented by Misty Valley, the rift valley is filled with year-round mist, spring-like seasons, gentle breezes, and cool, humid conditions where thousands of coffee tree varieties thrive and multiply, cultivating Yirgacheffe's unique terroir characterized by interwoven and unpredictable floral and fruity aromas. The so-called Yirgacheffe flavor refers to rich citrus and lemon fruit acidity, intense jasmine floral notes, a light and elegant mouthfeel with tea-like qualities, drinking as refreshingly clean as lemon tea.

Traditionally, Yirgacheffe used the oldest natural processing method, but because early natural-processed coffee beans were often dried directly on the ground, they inevitably absorbed earthy and dusty impurities. Coupled with lack of proper screening, naturally processed beans generally had mediocre quality. In 1972, Ethiopia introduced Central and South American washing techniques to improve coffee quality, making Yirgacheffe's jasmine fragrance and citrus-lemon aroma clearer and brighter, elevating it to become one of the world's representative specialty coffees.

Washed Processing Method

The selected coffee cherries are put into a depulper to initially remove their skin and pulp; the coffee beans with remaining pulp and mucilage are placed in water to ferment for about 24 hours; after fermentation, the coffee beans with parchment are placed in flowing water channels to wash away the pulp and mucilage; after washing, the coffee beans are dried or dried using dryers until the moisture content drops to around 12%. Finally, the parchment is removed from the coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee specifically considers that washed processing better demonstrates the clean mouthfeel and pure flavor presentation of coffee. Therefore, when analyzing the specific flavors of a coffee growing region, FrontStreet Coffee uses washed beans from that region as reference. For beginners who haven't tried Yirgacheffe before, FrontStreet Coffee also recommends washed Yirgacheffe first, helping to form an understanding of regional flavor characteristics. Later, when trying natural, honey-processed, or other processing methods of Yirgacheffe, they'll have a comparative reference.

Yirgacheffe Coffee Varieties

Yirgacheffe coffee varieties are local heirlooms. Most Ethiopian varieties are named "Heirloom," mainly because Ethiopia has so many varieties—it's like a natural gene bank for Arabica. On one hand, there are numerous varieties making identification and classification difficult; on the other hand, the Ethiopian government,出于保护考虑, is unwilling to disclose information about these varieties, so they are collectively called Heirloom.

Careful observers will notice that Yirgacheffe coffee beans vary in size, which is due to the numerous varieties and centralized processing. Ethiopia has nearly 2000 recorded coffee varieties, including 1927 native varieties and 128 introduced foreign varieties. So judging by appearance alone, Ethiopian coffee varieties are like a "grand view garden" with everything imaginable—long, short, thin, fat... All of FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopian beans belong to small-grain varieties, with relatively round shapes, very small beans, mostly between 14-15 screen size. The term "heirloom" emerged after the specialty coffee movement began. At that time, specialty coffee buyers who couldn't distinguish between Typica and Bourbon differences would collectively refer to these unknown varieties as heirloom. Additionally, Ethiopia has too many coffee varieties, like a natural gene bank for Arabica—on one hand, numerous varieties make identification and classification difficult; on the other hand, the Ethiopian government, for protection reasons, is unwilling or unable to disclose information about these varieties.

How FrontStreet Coffee Roasts Washed Yirgacheffe

To preserve the bright citrus acidity and floral characteristics of washed Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet Coffee's roasters chose a light-medium roast for this bean. The beans are charged at 200°C, yellowing occurs at 5'35, first crack begins at 9'08 at 182.1°C, with 2 minutes of development after first crack before dropping at 195°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

Water Temperature: 90-91°C

Grind Size: BG#6m (fine sugar size / 20# sieve to 80% pass-through)

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Coffee Amount: 15 grams

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Method: 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 40 seconds. Complete extraction at 1'55''-2'00'', remove the filter cone.

Brewing Flavor: Jasmine aroma, berry juice sensation, lemon and citrus acidity, overall bright, clean, and refreshing.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473