Konga Cooperative with Fair Trade and Organic Certifications - An Introduction to Yirgacheffe Konga Coffee

Ethiopia's coffee-producing regions are home to various cooperatives of different sizes, with each cooperative helping coffee farmers in specific areas better cultivate and sell their coffee beans. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee continues to discuss the cooperatives in the Yirgacheffe region, focusing on the Konga Cooperative, which holds both Fair Trade and organic cultivation certifications.

Konga Cooperative

The Konga Cooperative is located in the Gedeo region, just a few kilometers south of Yirgacheffe town, and belongs to the Yirgacheffe coffee-producing region. The cooperative derives its name from the nearby Konga River and the local Konga village. Situated at an altitude of over 1,800 meters, the Konga Cooperative's harvest period runs from October to February each year.

The Konga Cooperative is part of the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (YCFCU), which it joined in 2002. According to data from the YCFCU's official website, the Konga Cooperative comprises 2,292 member farmers who cultivate coffee on 3,361 hectares of land. The Konga Cooperative holds both Fair Trade and organic cultivation certifications.

Located in the Gedeo region, where most soils have high iron content with a depth of over 1.5 meters, the deep soil allows coffee trees to establish stronger root systems, enabling better absorption of moisture and nutrients from the soil. Iron is a micronutrient essential for chlorophyll synthesis, and iron-deficient plants cannot produce chlorophyll even in the presence of light. FrontStreet Coffee believes that high-iron soil allows coffee trees to produce sufficient chlorophyll, enabling better photosynthesis to store nutrients, thereby improving the quality of coffee cherries.

Konga Cooperative Wins New Harvest Season TOH Natural Process Championship

According to foreign media reports, the champion of the 2020 new harvest season Ethiopia TOH (Taste of Harvest) Natural Process category came from the Konga Cooperative. T.O.H (Taste of Harvest) is initiated by the African Fine Coffees Association (AFCA) and is a harvest season cupping competition held annually in 12 coffee-producing African countries, similar in nature to the Cup of Excellence (C.O.E) competition. The T.O.H competition process is as follows: In the preliminary stage, batches scoring below 80 points in cupping are eliminated, gradually selecting the highest quality green beans from each region to enter the national competition. Then, domestic and international judges conduct cupping and scoring based on standards from the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), with the highest scorer being crowned the national champion of the year.

FrontStreet Coffee — Yirgacheffe Konga Cooperative Wote Natural Process G1

• Region: Yirgacheffe, Konga Cooperative
• Washing Station: Wote Konga Processing Station
• Altitude: 1850-2050m
• Variety: Local Indigenous Varieties
• Processing Method: Natural Process
• Grade: G1

Wote Processing Station

Located in Konga village, Yirgacheffe, Wote is the name of the river that flows past this processing station, which also sources its water from this river. The Wote Processing Station collects coffee cherries from 600 to 700 surrounding coffee farmers, each owning an average cultivation area of less than one hectare. Each hectare contains fewer than 1,500 coffee trees, which are intercropped with other crops such as sweet potatoes, mangoes, and avocados. The Konga coffee beans acquired by FrontStreet Coffee are processed using the natural method, which imparts complex fruit juice characteristics and the sweet and sour notes of ripe berries.

The harvested ripe coffee cherries are first sorted to remove impurities and defective beans. The cherries are poured into water tanks, where mature and full cherries sink to the bottom, while unripe or damaged cherries float on the surface. The ripe coffee cherries that sink to the bottom are scooped out and spread on raised beds in exposed areas for natural drying, isolating them from ground contact to prevent earthy off-flavors during the drying process. The moisture content is reduced from approximately 70% to 10-12%, requiring several turnings daily for even drying, and covering at night to prevent moisture absorption. After about two to four weeks of sun exposure, the outer layer of the coffee seeds becomes dry and hard, at which point a huller is used to remove the outer shell, completing the process.

Coffee Varieties

The variety of these coffee beans from FrontStreet Coffee is indigenous varieties. Most Ethiopian coffee varieties are named as such because there are too many varieties to specifically classify. Ethiopia is like a natural gene bank of Arabica—on one hand, the diversity of varieties makes identification and classification difficult; on the other hand, the Ethiopian government,出于保护 considerations, is unwilling or unable to disclose information about these varieties. This is also why Ethiopian coffee beans vary in size.

FrontStreet Coffee Konga Coffee Bean Roasting Suggestions

FrontStreet Coffee's roasters use the Yangjia 800N semi-direct heat roaster. Bean input: 480g; when the drum temperature reaches 175°C, the beans are added with the damper set to 3 and heat at 130. The damper remains unchanged. The return temperature point is at 1'28". When the drum temperature reaches 140°C, the damper is adjusted to 4. At 150°C, the damper remains unchanged while the heat is reduced to 110. At this point, the bean surface turns yellow and the grassy aroma completely disappears, entering the dehydration stage.

At 8'00", the bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, with the toast aroma clearly transitioning to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this moment, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. At 8'48", first crack begins, the damper is adjusted to 5, and the development time after first crack is 0'50", with the beans discharged at 189°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Konga Coffee Bean Cupping Report

FrontStreet Coffee conducts cupping within 8-24 hours after roasting sample coffee beans. The cupping bowls used are 200ml ceramic bowls, with water temperature at 94°C. The cupping grind size is set so that 70%-75% passes through a standard #20 sieve (0.85mm). Ratio: 11 grams of coffee powder to 200ml of hot water, or 1:18.18, which extracts a concentration within the Golden Cup range of 1.15%-1.35%. The immersion time is 4 minutes.

• Dry Aroma: Citrus
• Wet Aroma: Jasmine
• Flavor Notes: Citrus, honey, green tea, jasmine

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Tips for Konga Coffee Beans

• Dripper: V60 #01
• Water Temperature: 90-91°C
• Dose: 15g
• Ratio: 1:15
• Grind Size: Medium-fine grind/coarse sugar size (20-mesh sieve retention rate at 80%)

FrontStreet Coffee's brewing method: First, wet the filter paper and preheat the dripper and coffee server. Use 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour in a small circular motion to 125g for the first pour. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop. Wait until the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, then remove the dripper (timing starts from the beginning of the bloom). Total extraction time is 2'10".

Brewing Flavor: At high temperature, it presents berry, cream, honey, citrus, with a juice-like texture and bright acidity. As the temperature slightly decreases, it offers notes of berry, cream, smoothness, and citrus.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473