Ethiopian Guji Hambella Coffee Beans: Pour-Over Flavor Profile and Characteristics

As the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia is home to many coffee varieties that have spread from here. When mentioning Ethiopia, many friends might think of the bright acidity and fresh coffee flavors of FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe coffee, perhaps already considering Yirgacheffe as one of Ethiopia's representative coffee beans. Although FrontStreet Coffee's baristas love FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe coffee, Ethiopia actually primarily uses natural processing methods. Even now, natural processing in Ethiopia accounts for about 70% of the national production. When it comes to natural processing, we must talk about FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion coffee, which is beloved by FrontStreet Coffee enthusiasts!

Why is FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion Coffee Bean Called "Flower Champion"?

Flower Champion sounds like the name of the king of all flowers, very beautiful. In Chinese culture, "flower champion" refers to the top-ranking geisha, but what does this name mean in the context of coffee beans? And where did it come from?

The original name of Flower Champion coffee beans is Hambella. The name "Flower Champion" was given by domestic green bean suppliers. It is called Flower Champion in China because when this batch of green beans was introduced by Beijing's green bean traders, Li Jianfei won second place with this coffee bean among many Geisha competitors in the 2017 China Coffee Competition. It's worth noting that almost all competition beans that year were Geisha varieties. The legend of a non-Geisha coffee bean defeating the competition is truly extraordinary. Furthermore, since the English word "Geisha" is homophonous with the Japanese word for geisha, to highlight the status of this coffee bean, it was named "Flower Champion," meaning the leader among geishas.

Hambella Growing Region

Coffee beans are typically named after their origin, and "Flower Champion" is actually produced in the Hambella region within Ethiopia's Guji zone. Hambella is located in Guji, Ethiopia's largest coffee-producing region, and is administratively part of the Oromia Regional State. The Guji region was formerly part of the Sidamo region but was established as an independent region by the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) in 2010. The most famous coffee bean from the Guji region is undoubtedly the Flower Champion coffee bean, which won the TOH (Ethiopia National Taste of Harvest Competition) in 2017 with its outstanding strawberry cream flavor, truly deserving the title of Flower Champion. However, not all coffee produced in Hambella can be called "Flower Champion" - only natural processed coffee beans from the "Buku Abel" processing station can be called FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion.

Western Hambella faces Yirgacheffe Kochere across mountains, with the two regions separated by a highland of 3,200 meters altitude and about 30 kilometers wide. To the southeast, north, and south, it borders the Guji sub-regions of Shakisso, Uraga, and Kercha, making it the highest altitude coffee sub-region in Ethiopia. Currently, there are about 20 processing stations of various scales in the Hambella region.

Buku Processing Station and FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion Natural Processing

Buku Processing Station is located in Buku Abel village at an altitude of 2,200 meters. From its initial cultivation, it was chosen for its noble "family environment" - fertile, humus-rich reddish-brown soil, and given shade protection by "Enset" trees. This allows Flower Champion to receive sufficient sunlight to develop rich flavors while not consuming excessive nutrients, thereby retaining more essence within the coffee fruit. During the harvest and processing season (December-January), its unique growing environment and natural climate create the distinctive flavors of Flower Champion.

Buku Processing Station only accepts red cherries with sugar content above 30 for natural processing. In the first two days of natural processing, we must maintain the humidity of the red cherries to allow their fructose to fully begin fermentation. Meanwhile, the high-altitude location allows the processing station's nighttime temperature to drop to around 12 degrees Celsius, preventing over-fermentation odors due to high temperatures. When temperatures are higher at noon, we provide timely shade to prevent sun-scalding of the red cherries. Only fully ripe red coffee cherries are selected, all hand-picked, dried on African raised beds, with limited cherry layer thickness and continuous turning every 24 hours to ensure even drying and ventilation, more accurately controlling the fermentation degree. FrontStreet Coffee believes that because Flower Champion coffee beans use fully ripe, high-sugar coffee berries, through natural drying, the sugars from the fruit pulp and mucilage are absorbed by the coffee beans, making FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion coffee beans have a sweeter flavor profile than coffee beans from other Sidamo regions.

FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion Coffee Varieties

As the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia possesses an enormous number of coffee varieties, and Flower Champion's coffee variety is also known by the name of heirloom varieties. Why does this phenomenon exist? According to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding: many factors contribute to this phenomenon, including numerous varieties, smallholder farming models, mixed harvesting and processing, and early green bean grading systems in Ethiopia, so they are collectively called Heirloom varieties. This is also the main reason why Ethiopian beans appear to vary in size.

How to Distinguish Flower Champion Coffee Beans?

When you search for Flower Champion coffee beans, you'll find Flower Champion 2.0, 3.0, 4.0... Why do these numbers appear? Are there differences? And what are the flavor differences? FrontStreet Coffee has previously written about the differences between various Flower Champion versions, so today FrontStreet Coffee will again explain the differences between various Flower Champion coffee bean versions.

Flower Champion coffee beans are also an agricultural product, so of course they are related to climate, and each year's flavor will be somewhat different. First, let's go back to 2017, when a natural processed coffee bean from DW company's "Buku Abel" processing station won the TOH natural processing championship. At that time, Chinese green bean merchants introduced this championship bean to China and named it "Flower Champion." DW company increased its processing stations in the Hambella region to four: "Buku Abel," "Buku Saysay," "Haro Soresa," and "Tirtiro Goye." Strictly speaking, only natural processed coffee beans from the "Buku Abel" processing station can be called Flower Champion coffee beans. The Flower Champion X.0 naming convention is based on the year - Flower Champion 2.0 was launched in 2018, Flower Champion 3.0 and 3.1 in 2019, Flower Champion 4.0 in 2020, Flower Champion 5.0 in 2021, and Flower Champion 6.0 in 2022.

In 2021, the latest FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion 5.0 was released. Besides FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion 5.0, there's also a series called Small Bean Flower Champion. FrontStreet Coffee's Small Bean Flower Champion coffee beans differ from the X.0 series - they don't change with the year. In fact, FrontStreet Coffee selected small coffee beans from Flower Champion 2.0 and 3.1 and discovered they possessed the strawberry flavor of the original 2017 Flower Champion, leading them to believe that Flower Champion's unique aroma and sweetness mainly come from these small coffee beans. In version 4.0, some batches of Flower Champion coffee also had a high proportion of small beans, and those batches had excellent aroma and sweetness. Until this year, DW company began separating small coffee beans to form an independent Small Bean Flower Champion coffee bean product line. FrontStreet Coffee compared the flavors of FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion 5.0 and FrontStreet Coffee's Small Bean Flower Champion coffee, finding that the sweetness and strawberry aroma of FrontStreet Coffee's Small Bean Flower Champion coffee beans were more pronounced than FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion 5.0, while FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion 5.0 coffee has rich citrus and berry notes, making it more enjoyable to drink.

In 2022, Hongshun launched the Flower Champion 6.0 series, and FrontStreet Coffee also obtained FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion 6.0 green beans quite early. However, this batch of green beans appeared somewhat flatter and shriveled compared to previous Flower Champion beans, and after roasting, there were many flat beans and shell beans.

The above picture shows irregular coffee beans that FrontStreet Coffee randomly selected from 15g of roasted Flower Champion 6.0. The quantity is much higher than in previous years. Considering this aspect, FrontStreet Coffee decided not to sell FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion 6.0 and continue selling FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion 5.0.

Some friends might wonder, doesn't a new version come out every year? Isn't Flower Champion 5.0 past-season beans? Please rest assured on this point. The reason Flower Champion uses the X.0 naming convention is mainly because the original Flower Champion had rich strawberry flavor, but in subsequent harvest seasons, this strawberry flavor became increasingly lighter, and by the 4.0 series, the strawberry flavor disappeared completely.

When it came to the 5.0 series, FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion 5.0's flavor profile was juicy oranges and mangoes, which was well-received by everyone. Therefore, in 2022, besides launching the new 6.0 series, the 5.0 series was also retained. These are all new harvest season coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee recommends using freshly roasted coffee beans for brewing to maximize the rich flavors of the coffee. The coffee beans shipped by FrontStreet Coffee are all roasted within 5 days, because FrontStreet Coffee deeply understands that the freshness of coffee beans has a great impact on flavor. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy is "Freshly roasted good coffee," ensuring that every customer who places an order receives the freshest coffee when it arrives. The coffee's resting period is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive it, it's at its peak flavor.

Dripper: Hario V60, Water Temperature: 90°C, Coffee Amount: 15g, Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15, Grind Size: Medium-fine grind (Chinese standard 80% pass-through rate for #20 sieve)

Using segmented extraction, bloom with 2 times the coffee weight in water, that is, bloom with 30g water for 30 seconds. When continuing to pour water to 125g, segment, continue pouring to 225g and stop. Remove the dripper after the water has finished dripping from the dripper. Time from the start of pouring, extraction time is 2'00".

Flavor Descriptions

FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion G1: Smooth, passion fruit, fermented wine aroma, jackfruit, strawberry.

FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion 2.0: Overall clean cup, more prominent berry aroma, with nutty fragrance, richer mouthfeel.

FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion 3.0: Light strawberry jam, black tea sensation, short sweet aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion 3.1: Floral notes, cream, tropical fruits, caramel, persistent sweet aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion 4.0: Citrus acidity, full-bodied berry juice, lemon black tea sensation, persistent sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee's Small Bean Flower Champion: Sweet berry aroma, creamy strawberry, passion fruit, rich fruit sweetness, full mouthfeel.

FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion 5.0: Floral notes, berries, citrus, plum's sweet and sour notes, mango juice, honey, aftertaste of sweet black tea.

FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Champion 6.0: Full-bodied berry juice, black tea aftertaste.

The above is about the flavor differences between various Flower Champion versions. Of course, FrontStreet Coffee's Sidamo Flower Champion is just one coffee bean among many in Ethiopia. There are many more single-origin beans, and FrontStreet Coffee has over 50 types of single-origin beans, each with its own story behind it. When you learn about them, you might just fall in love with them!

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473