Rare Wushwush Variety Coffee from Birch Manor Estate in Colombia's Huilan Region

Discovering Wush Wush: The Enigmatic Coffee Variety

Beyond Ethiopia's famous native heirlooms, a growing cast of varieties has emerged in recent years — the 74 series, Wush Wush, Dega, and others. Of these, Wush Wush is the charmer: rarely seen on the market, but whenever it appears on a coffee menu, it turns heads. Rather than waiting for the perfect moment, FrontStreet Coffee is introducing this variety today.

Like the celebrated Geisha, Wush Wush is an Ethiopian heirloom, discovered in a small village called Wush Wush in the town of Gimbo, just a few kilometers from the Kafa Biosphere Reserve. The village is known for its fertile highlands, which not only preserve varieties that have risen to coffee-world fame but also produce a well-loved local tea of the same name.

History and Development

In 1970, a severe coffee anthracnose (CBD) epidemic swept Ethiopia — the same disease that had earlier wiped out more than 70% of Kenya's coffee production. To fight it, Ethiopia's renowned Jimma Agricultural Research Center (JARC) set out to find naturally resistant varieties among wild coffee trees.

JARC explored the forested west of the country, including Bishari, Gera, Wasi, Wush Wush, and other sites. In this heartland of Arabica origin, with its complex genetic diversity, researchers collected hundreds of coffee plants and brought them back to the laboratory.

After years of research and cultivation, JARC selected 13 anthracnose-resistant varieties in 1978 and began promoting them across Ethiopia. Following the selection year, these varieties received "74***" or "75***" designations — the origins, if you know your Ethiopian coffees, of today's famous 74110 and 74158.

Around 2002, JARC turned its attention to 25 anthracnose-resistant selections from Wush Wush village, continuing their cultivation and purification — and discovered they not only resisted disease but also carried excellent flavor. In 2006, JARC officially released the purified Wush Wush variety, which requires cultivation at high altitudes of 1,700-2,100 meters — giving us the sought-after coffee we have today.

From Ethiopia to Colombia

Curiously, FrontStreet Coffee has found that most Wush Wush on the market doesn't come from Ethiopia at all, but from Colombia — whose production has long overtaken the variety's homeland. So how did a variety from a small Ethiopian village end up in South America?

In the late 1970s, Colombia's National Coffee Research Center, Cenicafé, brought Wush Wush seedlings from Ethiopia for cultivation and research. After selection, the seedlings were distributed to representative estates across Colombia between 1980 and 1990 for the first trial plantings. There, Wush Wush not only took root but gradually developed stronger adaptability, shaped by the differences in terroir, climate, soil, and farming practices from farm to farm.

Today the variety grows across Santander, Tolima, and Huila, with each terroir and management style yielding its own flavor expression. To taste this "niche" coffee, FrontStreet Coffee recently acquired a naturally processed Colombian Wush Wush from the historic Finca Betulia in Huila.

FrontStreet Coffee: Colombia Finca Betulia Wush Wush

Region: Colombia, Huila
Estate: Finca Betulia
Altitude: 1,450-1,550 meters
Variety: Wush Wush
Processing: Natural
Flavor: Dark plum, black plum, lemon, dried blueberry

Finca Betulia sits in the municipality of Acevedo, Huila. Luis Anibal Calderón is a second-generation coffee farmer who began working the fields alongside his father at age 12. At 15, his father handed him a small plot of land, and the yearly income it generated sparked his passion for coffee cultivation. In 2005, Luis finally saved enough to buy a 20-hectare farm and founded Finca Betulia.

In 2012, facing financial strain, Luis began experimenting with Geisha, planting about 5,000 seedlings — 5% of his coffee trees at the time. By 2015 the Geisha flowered and fruited as hoped, bringing solid returns and convincing him that rare, superior varieties were the way forward. Since then he has introduced Pink Bourbon, Striped Bourbon, Sidra, Java, Papayo — and the Wush Wush FrontStreet Coffee brings you today.

Tasting Profile and Brewing Method

This natural Wush Wush produces small, rounded green beans. To highlight its fruity acidity, FrontStreet Coffee roasts it medium-light and ran a cupping to map the profile.

The dry aroma bursts with berries after grinding, with hints of raisin and preserved plum. As hot water hits, a brown sugar sweetness rises. In the cup: rich acidity led by dark berries, plums, and grapes, dark plum aromatics, a subtle spicy finish, and a round, substantial body.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

Given the variety's rich fruit acidity, FrontStreet Coffee brews it in a V60 to unlock its full layers. The V60's full-length flow ribs and large central hole speed the drawdown, while the spiral air grooves lengthen the water's path, increasing contact time between water and grounds. Every stream converges along the grooves toward the center, concentrating pressure on the bed and drawing out a more layered cup.

Brewing parameters for Finca Betulia Wush Wush:

Dripper: V60
Water Temperature: 91-92°C
Dose: 15 g
Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: Fine sugar (78-80% pass-through on a #20 sieve)

Three-stage extraction: Add 15 g of coffee to the dripper and zero the scale. First pour: 30 g of water for a 30-second bloom, timer started — a small stream spiraling from the center outward until the entire bed is wet.

Second pour: a slightly larger stream adds 120 g of water to lift the whole coffee bed. Pour vertically and evenly; the scale should read 150 g, completed around 55 seconds.

When the water level drops to half, start the third pour: 90 g of water in small circles, keeping the stream narrow so the bed isn't disturbed into under-extraction. Total pour: 240 g, drawdown complete around 2 minutes 10 seconds. Remove the dripper, swirl the server to blend, and serve.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If rare varieties like Wush Wush excite you, Geisha deserves the same curiosity — and FrontStreet Coffee carries it in every register. For a gentle introduction at a friendly price, the FrontStreet Coffee Boquete Geisha from Panama delivers the classic "orange-blossom honey" character, oolong-tea finish, and delicate fruit acidity of high-grade Panamanian Geisha. For the full legend, the FrontStreet Coffee Esmeralda Red-Label Geisha (Esmeralda Special) grows at 1,600-1,800 meters, must score above 90 on the cupping table, and comes from single named plots like the famous Jaramillo block.

Back in Geisha's birthplace of Ethiopia, the FrontStreet Coffee Genji Challa (Granada) Estate Geisha — hand-picked, dried 14-20 days on raised beds, and roasted medium-light — shows bright citrus, elegant ginger-flower aromatics, and ripe, silky fruit sweetness. Whichever you choose, brew it like the Wush Wush above: a V60 at 91°C, a 78% #20-sieve grind, and a three-stage pour to 225 g — and let the variety, not the recipe, do the talking.