How to Brew Biloa Coffee with Yirgacheffe and Sidamo Regional Flavors?

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When talking about Ethiopia's coffee-producing regions, the renowned Yirgacheffe and Sidamo always hold a special place in coffee lovers' hearts. FrontStreet Coffee, through cupping coffee beans from both regions, discovered that Yirgacheffe region's coffee beans have a subtle floral aroma, bringing a refreshing and clean feeling to the palate—best described as light and fresh. Sidamo region's coffee beans, however, bring a rich and full sensation to the palate, like a pile of mixed fruits eagerly releasing their juices in the mouth.

So is there a coffee bean that can offer both characteristics? Yes! FrontStreet Coffee cupped a coffee bean from Ethiopia's Biloa region and found that coffee beans from this region have the floral notes and citrus acidity of Yirgacheffe, while also possessing the fullness and fermented sensation that Sidamo brings to the palate.

Beloya Coffee Region

When discussing Beloya, we must first talk about the Kochere region. Kochere is a small sub-region located about 25 kilometers southeast of Yirgacheffe. The harvested coffee beans come from local small-scale coffee farmers, consisting of numerous individual small coffee farmers. These small farmers' coffee cultivation areas average about 1 hectare, with planting altitudes between 1900-2000 meters. It belongs to the Gediyo part of Yirgacheffe and is also one of Yirgacheffe's most important producing areas.

The Beloya processing station is named after its location, the small town of Kore Biloya, situated in the Kochere sub-region of the Yirgacheffe coffee-producing area within the Gediyo district. The coffee at the Beloya processing station comes from 211 nearby small farmers who grow, harvest, and transport it themselves. This coffee grows at high altitudes between 1870-2100m.

The Beloya processing station was built in 2001 and can process nearly one million kilograms of coffee cherries annually. The station's 138 raised drying beds cover 2.5 hectares, with a land area of 1700 square meters. The Beloya processing station encourages farmers to bring their best coffee to the station by offering prizes and rewards to those with the highest coffee quality, thereby improving the overall coffee quality.

Like most coffee growers in other parts of Ethiopia, coffee farmers near Beloya also grow coffee alongside other crops such as bananas and corn. The hills in this region are densely forested, with distinctive trees providing good shade for the native Arabica varieties grown here.

Coffee Bean Varieties

The variety of this coffee is Ethiopia's native heirloom. Most Ethiopian varieties are named this way, 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. On the other hand, the Ethiopian government,出于保护的考虑，is unwilling to disclose information about these varieties, so they are collectively called "Heirloom."

Why are Ethiopian beans of different sizes? As mentioned above, Ethiopia's coffee varieties are complex, and coffee trees are mixed-planted. FrontStreet Coffee calls this planting method "natural blending." Each variety of coffee tree produces beans with their own characteristics and sizes. When farmers harvest, they mix everything together, resulting in coffee beans of varying sizes.

Coffee Bean Processing Method

This batch of coffee uses natural sun-drying processing on raised drying beds. During the harvest season (October to mid-January), farmers bring freshly picked red coffee cherries from the trees to the washing station. First, visual inspection ensures that every bag received contains only red cherries.

First, the coffee cherries delivered to the washing station are separated by hand to remove less dense defective coffee cherries. Then, qualified coffee cherries are spread evenly on raised drying beds for sun-drying, which takes approximately 21 days. The coffee cherries are dried to a moisture content of about 12%. During the sun-drying period, Beloya staff will inspect and remove over-fermented and mold-infected coffee cherries, ensuring that every resulting coffee bean is of specialty quality. FrontStreet Coffee believes that naturally processed coffee has noticeable sweetness, gentle acidity, and produces more complex fruit flavor profiles.

Origin: Ethiopia

Region: Yirgacheffe, Kochere

Processing Station: Beloya

Altitude: 1870-2100m

Variety: Local Heirloom

Processing Method: Natural Processing

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Insights

To highlight the bright citrus and berry acidity of Yirgacheffe region coffee and the enhanced sweetness from natural processing, FrontStreet Coffee's roaster used a medium-light roast for this bean.

Yangjia 800N, bean input 480g: Heat to 165°C, damper open to 3, heat at 130. Return temperature point: 1'32". Temperature rises to 115°C, damper open to 4. Roast to 5'50", temperature 151.5°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration complete. When ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, and the toast aroma clearly turns to coffee aroma, this can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the first crack sound. First crack begins at 9'15", damper unchanged, heat reduced to 90 at 181°C, first crack development time 1'28", drop at 195°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Report

FrontStreet Coffee conducts cupping within 8-24 hours after roasting sample coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee's baristas typically use 200ml ceramic cupping bowls marked with 150ml and 200ml graduation lines. According to SCAA standards, water TDS is around 150ppm—too low TDS can easily cause over-extraction, while too high affects mouthfeel and can cause under-extraction. Cupping water temperature is 94°C. Cupping grind size follows SCAA cupping standards, controlled to achieve 70%-75% pass-through through a #20 standard sieve (0.85mm). Ratio: 11g coffee powder plus 200ml hot water,即1:18.18, so the extracted concentration falls within the 1.15%-1.35% golden cup range. Steeping time: 4 minutes.

Dry Aroma: Roasted almonds

Wet Aroma: Rose

Flavor: Floral, citrus, strawberry, honey, jackfruit

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Insights

For medium-light roast beans, recommended brewing temperature is 90-91°C. Using higher water temperature can extract the aromatic substances and acidity (fruit and floral aromas, fruit acidity) of light roast beans. Because medium-light roast beans are harder, increasing water temperature can improve extraction efficiency of the coffee grounds, avoiding uncomfortable flavors like sharp acidity. The V60 conical filter has a large opening, and its unique spiral ribbed design allows air to be more easily discharged, thereby improving extraction quality. The mouthfeel might not be rich enough, but its high concentration brings out distinct sweetness and acidity with obvious aromas—this is its major characteristic.

Filter: V60 #01

Dose: 15g

Ratio: 1:15

Grind: BG6m (80% pass-through through #20 sieve)

Temperature: 90-91°C

FrontStreet Coffee uses segmented extraction, also called three-stage brewing: Use 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour in a small circular motion to 125g for segmentation. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop pouring. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed again, remove the filter cup. (Timing starts from the bloom) Extraction time: 1'55"-2'00".

Brewing Flavor: Lavender aroma, roses, full berry juice sensation, citrus acidity, honey, almond aftertaste.

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473