Ethiopia Washed Yirgacheffe vs Natural Yirgacheffe: Differences and Regional Flavor Profiles

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Yirgacheffe

Yirgacheffe is undoubtedly a coffee region familiar to many, with its bright acidity and clean, refreshing coffee flavors that have made it the first specialty pour-over coffee bean for countless people. In recent years, Yirgacheffe has sparked a natural processing revival.

In many people's memories, Yirgacheffe has traditionally been a region dominated by washed processing. FrontStreet Coffee believes that Yirgacheffe favors washed processing because it highlights the floral notes and lemon acidity of Yirgacheffe, bringing a fresh and clean feeling. In fact, Yirgacheffe originally mostly used natural processing. It wasn't until 1972 when the Ethiopian government introduced washed processing from Central and South America to improve coffee quality that Yirgacheffe coffee became more refined and elegant, winning more people's hearts.

As mentioned earlier, Yirgacheffe has sparked a natural processing revival. What caused this trend? FrontStreet Coffee reviewed materials and found mention of a coffee trader named Abdullah Bagershi, who grew up drinking naturally processed coffee. Seeing that washed processing in Yirgacheffe was about to bury the traditional natural processing methods of their ancestors, in 2006 he launched the "Idido Natural Specialty Coffee Bean." This coffee bean made a stunning debut and won numerous awards. Natural processed Yirgacheffe offers fermented fruit aromas, pronounced sweetness, while still maintaining Yirgacheffe's floral and citrus notes.

In 2007, this natural processing trend became even more popular. Besides Idido, coffee beans from Yirgacheffe Biloa and near Yirgacheffe's Aricha became the top stars of the time. These three coffee beans, with exquisite natural processing, eliminated the common defects of natural processed beans. In addition to the melon and fruit sweetness, berry and mango aromas brought by natural processing, they also possessed the orange fragrance and subtle floral notes of washed Yirgacheffe. These three beans can be said to have shocked the global specialty coffee industry at that time, telling people "Who says Yirgacheffe beans can only be washed? Natural processing is not a waste of fine beans."

FrontStreet Coffee believes that both processing methods have their advantages. Washed processed Yirgacheffe brings a fresh, clean feeling with bright acidity, while natural processed Yirgacheffe offers a juicy sensation and relatively more pronounced sweetness than washed processing. Therefore, whether washed Yirgacheffe or natural Yirgacheffe tastes better depends on personal preference.

Yirgacheffe

Yirgacheffe is located on the eastern edge of the East African Rift Valley, with complex terrain cutting and elevations of 1800-2000m, making it one of the highest average altitude coffee producing regions in Ethiopia. To the west lies Lake Abaya, which has been a wetland since ancient times with abundant water resources, providing excellent resources for Yirgacheffe's washing stations.

Yirgacheffe is part of the Sidamo region but was separated due to its unique flavor profile, becoming independent and establishing its own style, also becoming the most renowned producing region in Africa.

Washed Processing

The washed method can remove impurities (stones or trash) and defective beans through each step, resulting in uniform appearance of green beans and generally considered high quality, with trading prices higher than naturally processed coffee beans. However, the more detailed the work division, the more procedures involved in operation and hygiene management, and the higher the risks, so washed processing doesn't necessarily equal high quality. FrontStreet Coffee believes that washed processed coffee has more pronounced acidity, better cleanliness, medium mouthfeel, and the most consistent green bean quality.

Put the selected coffee cherries into a depulper to initially remove the skin and pulp; place the coffee beans with residual pulp and mucilage in water to ferment for about 24 hours; after fermentation, put the coffee beans with parchment into flowing water channels to wash away the pulp and mucilage; after washing, dry the coffee beans in the sun or with drying machines until the moisture content drops to about 12%. Finally, remove the parchment from the coffee beans.

Natural Processing

Natural processing is one of the oldest and most traditional processing methods. Coffee fruits are dried immediately in the sun after harvesting, common in areas with abundant sunlight or scarce water resources. For example, nearly 70% of coffee fruits in all Ethiopian producing regions undergo natural processing. FrontStreet Coffee believes that compared to washed processed coffee, natural coffee has lower acidity, higher sweetness, clearer mouthfeel, but slightly less cleanliness. Flavor-wise, it produces more berry-like notes and is more complex.

Yirgacheffe natural processing involves selecting usable coffee cherries and placing the entire fruit with pulp and skin intact on raised beds for sun drying. It is precisely this labor-intensive raised bed drying method that isolates contact with the ground, prevents earthy off-flavors during the drying process, and creates exceptionally clean fruit flavors. After more than two weeks of sun drying, the dark brown coffee cherries are professionally stored, waiting for the full flavor maturation. Only before shipment are the coffee beans removed from the coffee cherries - the sweetness is imaginable.

Next, starting from Yirgacheffe washed and natural processed green beans, through roasting, cupping, brewing and a series of comparisons, let's see the differences between FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Washed Gedeb and Natural Red Cherry.

FrontStreet Coffee Green Bean Comparison

Natural processed beans in their green state appear yellow-green with more silver skin; while washed beans are blue-green with less silver skin. This is because washed beans are soaked in water for extended periods during processing, separating the silver skin from the coffee beans. When removing the parchment at the end, the outer silver skin is peeled away along with it, leaving very little silver skin residue on washed green beans.

Natural processed beans are the opposite - the pulp and skin remain attached to the outside of the beans, and the silver skin adheres more tightly to the coffee beans, making it difficult to remove when stripping the parchment, so natural processed green beans still have much outer silver skin attached.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasted Bean Comparison

Although green beans show that washed beans have less silver skin while natural beans have more, during the roasting process, the silver skin in the center line of washed coffee beans is the most difficult to remove. The outer silver skin of natural beans connects in whole pieces, making it easier to remove together with the center line silver skin, so after roasting, natural processed roasted beans have very clean silver skin removal.

Washed beans are the opposite - because there's almost no outer silver skin connection, the silver skin in the center line crack cannot be easily removed and instead remains after roasting. This is why from the perspective of roasted beans, washed beans have more silver skin while natural beans have less.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Recommendations

Natural Red Cherry using Yangjia 800N, bean input: 600g: Heat to 200°C, damper open to 3.5, after 1 minute adjust heat to 160°C, damper unchanged, adjust heat once at 148°C, reduce to 130°C, roast to 5'03", temperature 151°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration complete, adjust heat to 105°C, damper open to 4; at 8 minutes, bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast smell明显转为咖啡香, can be defined as prelude to first crack, at this time listen carefully for the first crack sound, at 9'07" first crack begins, adjust heat to 70°C, damper fully open (adjust heat must be very careful, not too small to lose cracking sound), drop at 194°C.

Washed Gedeb using Yangjia 800N, bean input: 480g: Heat to 175°C, damper open to 3, heat at 120; return point at 1'32", at 140°C heat unchanged, damper open to 4; at this time bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, entering dehydration stage, at 166°C heat reduced to 100, at 176°C heat reduced to 80, damper unchanged. At 8'28", bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast smell明显转为咖啡香, can be defined as prelude to first crack, at this time listen carefully for the first crack sound, at 9'38" first crack begins, adjust damper to 5 (adjust heat must be very careful, not too small to lose cracking sound), develop for 1'30" after first crack, drop at 193.5°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Report

The dry aroma of Natural Red Cherry emits intense fruit fragrance, with rich dried fruit notes of strawberry, mango, and apricot jam. The wet aroma is like sweet syrup, like thick apricot juice wrapped in rustic honey or chocolate. The entry is not intense, with medium body, like fruit black tea.

The dry aroma of Washed Gedeb emits fresh passion fruit, citrus, and berry fragrance. The wet aroma is citrus and berries, with citrus acidity and berry sweetness on entry, almond, tea-like sensation, and honey sweetness in the aftertaste. Light body, bright acidity, clean and refreshing.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

Dripper: V60 #01
Water temperature: 90-91°C
Coffee amount: 15g
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Grind size: BG6m/fine sugar size (80% pass through #20 sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee brewing method: First pour 30g of water for 30 seconds bloom, then pour 95g (scale shows about 125g), finish pouring in about 1 minute. When water level drops to 2/3 of the coffee bed, pour remaining 100g (scale shows about 225g), finish pouring in about 1 minute 35 seconds. Complete dripping between 2'00"-2'10", remove the dripper, complete extraction.

Washed Gedeb brewing flavor: Entry shows citrus, black tea, with cream, caramel, almond notes as temperature changes, with obvious sweet aftertaste and clean, sweet taste.

Natural Red Cherry brewing flavor: Lemon, licorice, citrus, berries, sweet orange, overall higher sweetness, caramel and cream flavors in aftertaste, with black tea aroma in the finish.

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Tel:020 38364473