Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union YCFCU | Flavor Characteristics of Gedeb, Woka Cooperative Beans

Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (YCFCU) | Flavor Characteristics of Gedeb and Worka Cooperative Coffee

The Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, abbreviated as YCFCU, was established in June 2002 and shortly thereafter registered as a cooperative under proclamation No. 147/1998. The union began with 13 member organizations. Their history was not an easy one: many of these primary cooperatives had originally been created during the era of the Derg regime as instruments of state policy, and for years they were subjected to constant interference in their resources and finances by the government of the time and various institutional organizations, leaving them exploited and operating under corrupt and adverse conditions. After the fall of the former regime, with the socialist model discredited, the primary cooperatives ceased operations. With no ownership or governance structure to speak of, they could not attract farmers and drifted toward bankruptcy. Even after the cooperative proclamation was issued, farmers were reluctant to try cooperatives again, and the coffee crisis of the late 1990s made things worse; the primary cooperatives were not ready to join until the union had established strong credibility. In the years that followed, the union grew and prospered, having proven itself a worthy creditor and guarantor for its member cooperatives. That is the success story of the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union.

Since then, the union has grown to include 28 cooperative members with over 45,100 farmers, supporting more than 300,000 family members. All these cooperatives are located in the Gedeo region of southern Ethiopia, an area of the country famous for coffee cultivation. Its 62,000 hectares of gardens are dedicated exclusively to coffee, producing an average of 15,500 tons of Yirgacheffe coffee annually.

Introduction to Gedeb and Worka Cooperative Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee offers a brief introduction to the coffee from two of its member cooperatives, Gedeb and Worka.

This coffee bean is processed by the Worka Cooperative. The Alemayehu Alako farm is a member of the Worka Cooperative. This washed coffee is pure and refreshing, with distinctive floral aromas. Both the dry and wet aromas reveal rich citrus notes, with lemon, kumquat, and white grape juice at the forefront, and a sweetness reminiscent of soda.

Gedeb village is one of the village areas that became independent from the larger cooperative several years ago (Banko Gotiti separated from the large Worka Cooperative in 2012). Many of its smallholder farmers were once members of the original Worka Cooperative, so their production techniques are naturally excellent.

This washed coffee presents floral, berry, and citrus flavors with a slight tea-like finish.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Yirgacheffe is a small town in southern Ethiopia's Sidamo province at roughly 1700-2100 meters, with coffee trees planted above 1800 meters, among the highest coffee-growing elevations in the world, and its name has become shorthand for the region's unmistakable white florals and lemon-citrus acidity. If this introduction to YCFCU's cooperatives has sparked your interest, FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe daily-drinker is the classic starting point: jasmine florals, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a light tea-like elegance at an approachable price.

For a taste of the cooperative structure described above, the FrontStreet washed Guji (Diding) Cooperative from the Worka area is an independent station of about 300 farming families that split from the union in 2012 in pursuit of greater traceability. Washed with the fruit pulp removed before drying, it shows exceptionally clear citrus and lemon tones with graceful white jasmine florals. Brew these light-roast beans in a V60 with 15g of coffee, a 1:15 ratio, water at 90-91 degrees C, and a fine-granulated-sugar grind size, blooming with 30g of water for 30 seconds before finishing the pour at 225g for a clean, luminous cup.