Ethiopian Coffee Beans | Introduction to Yirgacheffe Region Natural Process Red Cherry Coffee Beans

For coffee enthusiasts, Ethiopia is considered a sacred destination. This country is the birthplace of coffee and currently serves as Africa's largest producer of Arabica coffee. It also boasts the world's largest coffee gene bank, with a vast variety of coffee species. It is estimated that Ethiopia now has nearly 15,000 different coffee varieties.

Ethiopia

Ethiopia is located on the East African plateau southwest of the Red Sea, bordering Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, and Eritrea. The country's terrain is dominated by mountainous plateaus, mostly belonging to the Ethiopian plateau. The central and western regions form the main part of the plateau, accounting for two-thirds of the country. Additionally, the East African Rift Valley runs through the entire territory, with mountains averaging an altitude of nearly 3,000 meters.

Ethiopia's national average elevation is 2,450 meters. Such high altitude gives Ethiopia an average annual temperature of 16°C, with the year generally divided into dry and rainy seasons, receiving 1,237 millimeters of rainfall annually. The country is rich in natural resources, including abundant water resources, high-altitude mountainous areas, and more than 50 volcanoes. These resources make the country an ideal region for coffee cultivation. Within Ethiopia, coffee cultivation is primarily based on garden coffee, where coffee is grown together with other crops near farmers' residences. Farmers care for the coffee plants daily and harvest them during the harvest season, after which middlemen or processing stations uniformly collect and process them. This model accounts for more than half of Ethiopia's total coffee production.

Yirgacheffe

Ethiopia has many famous coffee-producing regions, such as Sidamo, Jimma, Harrar, Guji, and Yirgacheffe. Among them, Guji and Yirgacheffe were originally part of the Sidamo region but became independent coffee-producing regions due to their unique flavors.

Yirgacheffe is a small town in the northwestern part of Sidamo province, located on the eastern edge of the East African Rift Valley. It is also one of Ethiopia's highest altitude coffee-producing regions, with elevations ranging from 1,750 to 2,200 meters. In the ancient language, "Yirga" means to settle down, while "Cheffe" means wetland. This region has a humid and mild climate, abundant rainfall, fertile soil, and sufficient sunlight exposure, allowing it to cultivate coffee beans with unique floral and fruity aromas, ever-changing and distinctive flavors. FrontStreet Coffee offers a washed Ethiopia Yirgacheffe coffee bean as an entry-level selection, featuring jasmine floral aroma, lemon-like acidity, and fruit flavors such as orange and berries, with a refreshing taste.

The Red Cherry Project (ORC)

Before the concept of specialty coffee emerged, farmers focused solely on yield rather than quality to earn more profits. During harvest time, they would harvest all berries regardless of whether they were ripe, resulting in coffee beans with poor flavor. It wasn't until 2007 that Dutch green coffee importer Trabocca introduced the "Red Cherry Project" (ORC), which improved this situation.

First, the Dutch green coffee importer invited all Ethiopian farms to produce small batches of about 1,500-3,000 kilograms of beans, requiring that these batches be made from 100% manually harvested ripe red fruits. They then purchased these beans at prices several times higher than the market rate. This approach, although requiring more labor for harvesting, selection, and processing, as well as greater financial investment, increased farmers' income and also raised the price of green coffee beans. However, not all green beans would be purchased at high prices by Trabocca. Trabocca also selected from them and required them to meet cupping standards from both Ethiopian and Dutch offices. In summary, the Red Cherry Project encourages farmers to carefully complete every process of coffee berry collection and processing by increasing the purchase price of high-quality green coffee beans. This produces coffee beans with better quality and superior taste, which gain market recognition and fetch relatively high purchase prices. Currently, the main regions of the Red Cherry Project include Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, Bench Maji, Lekempti, Kembata, Harar, and Limu.

FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry Coffee Beans

Region: Yirgacheffe

Altitude: 1,700-2,200 meters

Variety: Heirloom

Processing: Natural

Flavor: Berries, Lemon, Fermented Fruit Aroma, Strawberry

FrontStreet Coffee has acquired Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Red Cherry coffee beans, which use natural processing and are lightly roasted. FrontStreet Coffee uses V60 with a 1:15 ratio and water temperature of 92°C for brewing. It has a slight fermented fruit aroma when smelled, with fresh lemon acidity, berry and strawberry flavors upon tasting, and a refreshing mouthfeel.

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