2020 Ethiopia COE #22 Sidamo Arsi Natural Typica Coffee Brewing Flavor

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Ethiopia's COE (Cup of Excellence) has always been a highly regarded competition in the coffee industry. In the 2020 Ethiopia COE competition, 28 coffees stood out with scores exceeding 87 points. Among these, the three coffees scoring over 90 points all came from the Sidamo region. FrontStreet Coffee secured the 22nd place in this year's COE with a natural processed Typica from Sidamo Arsi, grown by Adem Banta Sute, scoring 87.64 points.

FrontStreet Coffee — Ethiopia COE #22

Region: Ethiopia, Sidamo, Arsi

Producer: Adem Banta Sute

Processing: Natural Process

Variety: Typica

West Arsi

West Arsi is located between the famous Yirgacheffe coffee growing area and Hararge, with an altitude of 1900-2200m, situated in the western part of the Sidamo region. The area's name originates from a branch of the Oromo people who have long inhabited this region.

West Arsi consists of three woredas (third-level administrative divisions in Ethiopia): Arsi, Bale, and East Shewa. Approximately 88.52% of West Arsi's population are Oromo people, which is significant in coffee history as they were the first tribe in human history to drink coffee. Ethiopia produces half of its coffee from this region.

Coffee cultivation in the West Arsi region follows a smallholder model, with average farms ranging from 2-3 hectares—slightly larger than the typical 1.5-2 hectares found in most Ethiopian coffee regions. While coffee cultivation techniques are still developing, West Arsi's coffee farming technology is advancing rapidly compared to other regions. Coffee farmers don't need to hire temporary or full-time workers; instead, they select coffee with family help. This allows them better control over coffee quality, and processing stations typically pay premiums for fully ripe red cherries, greatly motivating coffee farmers.

A Father Who Has Spent His Life in Coffee Fields

Adem Banta Sute

He is a 60-year-old father with 28 children, describing himself: "I grew up on a coffee farm and have been farming my whole life. This competition ranking is a reward for my efforts."

Adem Banta Sute produced 4,500 kg of coffee on his 6-hectare farm. Before winning this year's award, he would sell coffee to local merchants. "I have never entered the export market because I didn't have the opportunity, but this competition might introduce me to the global market, which brings great hope for me and my family."

Typica Variety

The coffee beans that FrontStreet Coffee acquired in this auction, ranked COE #22, are identified as Typica in the official information.

Typica is Ethiopia's oldest native variety, from which all Arabica coffees originate. Typica plants have bronze-colored young leaves and oval or slender-pointed beans. They offer elegant flavors but have weak constitution, poor disease resistance, and low yields. Through cupping Typica from different origins, FrontStreet Coffee has found that regardless of where it's grown, Typica carries its characteristic delicate and clean flavor, balanced profile, and mouthfeel that have spread throughout coffee growing regions worldwide.

Natural Process

This COE #22 coffee was processed using the natural method. In Ethiopia, over 70% of coffee cherries are processed using natural methods. The traditional processing method involves coffee farmers drying cherries in their courtyards, on rooftops, or even along roadsides, as this approach is much cheaper than washed processing. However, this rough processing method was one reason for the inconsistent quality of early Ethiopian natural coffees.

Natural coffees processed through cooperatives and washing stations offer more stable quality, but producing excellent natural processed coffee still requires tremendous effort. Before moisture content drops to 25%, the cherries must be manually turned evenly every 30-60 minutes to avoid unpleasant over-fermentation flavors, which results in higher labor costs for natural processing.

Additionally, with weather risk factors and longer processing times, producing high-quality natural coffee beans requires more human resources and resources. Judging from the scores of the top 28 natural processed coffees in this COE competition, excellent natural processing is indeed a method where risk and reward coexist.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Records

FrontStreet Coffee's roaster used a Yangjia 800N semi-direct flame roaster with a batch size of 480g. The beans were loaded at a drum temperature of 170°C with 130 heat power and damper setting at 3. The temperature returned to 100.2°C at 1'32", with heat unchanged. At 3 minutes, the damper was adjusted to 4, and at 4 minutes, heat was increased to 140.

When the drum temperature reached 150.5°C, the bean surface turned yellow, and grassy aromas completely disappeared, entering the dehydration phase. At 8'36", the bean surface showed ugly wrinkles and black markings, with distinct toasted bread aromas turning to coffee fragrance—this could be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, one must listen carefully for the sound of first crack. First crack began at 9'10", developed for 1 minute and 30 seconds after first crack, and was dropped at 192.5°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Report

FrontStreet Coffee conducts cupping within 8-24 hours after roasting sample coffee beans. The cupping bowl used is a 200ml ceramic bowl with water temperature at 94°C. Cupping grind is set to pass through a standard #20 sieve (0.85mm) at 70%-75% rate. The ratio is 11g of coffee grounds to 200ml of hot water,即1:18.18, resulting in extraction concentration within the Golden Cup range of 1.15%-1.35%, with an immersion time of 4 minutes.

Dry Aroma: Citrus

Wet Aroma: Citrus, camellia

Flavor: Citrus, lychee, honey, cream, wine-like notes, mango, strawberry

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Tips

Dripper: V60 #01

Water Temperature: 90-91°C

Dose: 15g

Ratio: 1:15

Grind: Medium-fine grind (80% pass-through rate on Chinese standard #20 sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee's brewing method: three-stage extraction. Use 30g of water for a 30-second bloom. When pouring with a small stream in a circular motion to 125g, pause the pour. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop. Wait for the water level to drop until it's about to expose the coffee bed, then remove the dripper (timing starts from the beginning of bloom). Extraction time is 2'00".

Brewing Flavor: Sweet and sour notes of strawberry and lychee, fermented wine-like notes, creamy smoothness, honey-like aftertaste.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on WeChat: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473