When Will Hua Kui 9.0 Be Released? What Does Hua Kui X Mean? What Is Hua Kui Coffee?

This year marks the ninth anniversary of Huakui Coffee's rise to fame. If the old naming convention still held, this year's Huakui should carry a "9.0" suffix.

Yet more than half a year has passed, and many coffee lovers have noticed that "Huakui 9.0" barely appears on café menus. Even FrontStreet Coffee, which usually publishes its reviews early, has said nothing about 9.0. That naturally raises the question: is there no Huakui 9.0 this year?

The answer is both yes and no. The new-crop Huakui was in fact released long ago, and FrontStreet Coffee has already stocked the latest batch. By our earlier reading of the naming convention it should indeed be called Huakui 9.0, but the convention turned out to differ from what we assumed, so this year's Huakui is not sold under that name. That does not stop it from being Huakui. Today FrontStreet Coffee will explain why there is no Huakui 9.0 this year, and whether the new-crop Huakui still carries that consistent "Huakui flavor."

Why is this coffee called "Huakui"?

Before it became "Huakui," the coffee was known as "Hambella," named after the region where it is grown. Hambella is a sub-region of Ethiopia's Guji zone, which means Huakui comes from Guji Hambella. To be precise, it is a natural-processed G1 coffee produced by the Buku Abel processing station in Dimtu town, within the Hambella region.

In February 2017, when Ethiopia's DW Coffee Company entered the raw bean competition TOH (the Ethiopia National Taste of Harvest competition) organized by the African Fine Coffee Association, it selected this natural-processed lot from Hambella's Buku Abel station. The coffee went on to win the championship on the strength of its intense berry aroma and creamy texture.

The winning lot was then purchased by a Beijing-based green coffee trader, who named it "Huakui" based on its flavor and performance — a phrase meaning "the finest among hundreds of flowers, outshining all others." So "Huakui" is neither a variety name nor a place name, but a commercial name. After it was introduced to China, Huakui was used as a competition bean by an entrant in a Chinese coffee brewing competition. Thanks to its excellent aroma and the competitor's skillful presentation, the coffee earned a notable second-place finish. Because most of the competitors ranked below them had chosen Gesha as their competition bean, Huakui drew attention not only for placing second but for "outshining numerous Geshas" that year, and it quickly became the rising star of 2017.

Huakui's advantage lies not only in its excellent flavor but also in its very affordable price. When people finally encountered Huakui offline, they were won over by its outstanding value. Word spread, and Huakui's fame grew. That explosive popularity increased demand, and DW Company is reported to have produced tens of millions of tons of Huakui that year. Such volume could not be handled by the previous capacity, so after Huakui became famous, DW gradually expanded production to meet demand. Besides Buku Abel, four nearby villages — Buku Saysay, Haro Soresa, Tirtiro Goye, and Seke Bokosa — also joined Huakui production, satisfying the market.

Why does Huakui carry a version number?

As FrontStreet Coffee has always emphasized, coffee beans are agricultural products, and their flavor is shaped by many factors. Coffee cannot stay as consistent as an industrial product. Even beans from the same origin and the same processing station taste different from year to year, and Huakui is no exception. The new-crop Huakui of 2018, for instance, already differed somewhat from the previous year's championship-winning Huakui. The flavor did not change dramatically, but its mouthfeel, aftertaste, and other aspects were a little inferior.

To keep selling this natural-processed coffee from Hambella, the domestic green coffee trading company made a clever decision: to distinguish later Huakui from the original version. The method was simple — add a version number. Starting in 2018, every Huakui would carry a suffix. The 2018 batch was called "Huakui 2.0," the 2019 batch "Huakui 3.0," the 2020 batch "Huakui 4.0," and so on. In short, from 2017 onward the number rose by one each year, so the suffix told you which year's Huakui you had and whether it was the latest batch.

By that logic, this year's batch should be version "9.0." It is not. FrontStreet Coffee joked in last year's Huakui 8.0 article that the naming was a little like Apple's iPhone. In response, the domestic trading company responsible for naming Huakui announced that, as a tribute to Steve Jobs, this year's version number would skip 9 in the same way the iPhone did and use X instead. So the batch that should have been Huakui 9.0 became "Huakui X."

Unlike a phone, though, the change appears only in the name's suffix. Huakui itself remains the natural-processed G1 bean from Hambella. Some cafés, to keep attention on the beans rather than the version name, simply dropped the suffix and sold it as "Huakui" — FrontStreet Coffee among them.

How does this year's Huakui taste?

Now for the question everyone cares about most: does this year's Huakui still have that Huakui flavor?

Although the name "Huakui Coffee" suggests floral aroma as its main characteristic, that is actually not the case. Compared with florals, fruit notes such as strawberry, mango, pineapple, blueberry, and citrus define Huakui, along with its creamy texture. It was these enchanting aromas that won Huakui the competition back then — what we call the "Huakui flavor." These are also characteristic fruit notes of Ethiopia's natural-processed Sidamo beans. In FrontStreet Coffee's selection you can taste similar characteristics in FrontStreet Coffee's Sidamo Alo and Etto. Without further ado, let FrontStreet Coffee share how this new-crop Huakui performs.

FrontStreet Coffee:
Origin: Ethiopia · Huakui
Region: Guji Hambella
Processing Station: Buku Abel
Altitude: 2250-2350 meters
Variety: Local native varieties
Processing Method: Natural
Flavor Notes: Orange blossom, lemon, berries, blueberry, black tea

The new-crop Huakui shows very distinct aromas in its dry fragrance, with strawberry, orange, lemon, and jasmine notes. Once hot water is added, you smell sweet aromas of chocolate, cream, and berries.

Through slurping, FrontStreet Coffee tasted clear fruit notes of orange, yellow peach, mango, and pineapple in this new-crop Huakui — a round, full, juice-like sensation. With careful tasting you can catch notes similar to orange blossom. As the temperature drops slightly, the sweetness deepens and some fruit-candy flavors emerge. After swallowing, you can feel a black tea texture. Excellent, with very rich layers.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Huakui belongs to a family of Ethiopian coffees that FrontStreet Coffee has followed closely for years. Alongside the natural-processed Huakui from Guji Hambella, FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopian lineup includes several lots that express the same bright, fruit-forward character. The washed Yirgacheffe is the classic starting point, with clear jasmine florals and a bright citrus acidity — a clean, light cup that drinks like iced lemon tea. The Guodingding Cooperative, in the Woka area at the southeast end of Yirgacheffe, shows citrus and lemon tones with elegant white florals, bright and delicate throughout.

For those who want fruit sweetness rather than florals, the natural Red Cherry is a strong choice, with peach, cocoa, honey, and lemon. The natural Huakui itself comes from Hambella in Guji, Sidamo, where the 200-hectare farm dries its cherries on raised beds for 21 days, turning over the fruit regularly to keep drying even and removing defective or moldy beans every three to five days. After a light-to-medium roast it shows a light fermented wine aroma, florals, citrus, and mango, with honey sweetness, cocoa notes, and a touch of spice — a thick body and a long finish.

Other lots in the range include the Sidamo natural Hamasho, built mainly on the JARC 74-series disease-resistant varieties such as 74158, with sweet aromas of perfume lemon, strawberry, and star fruit; and the Kafa Forest, grown under shade at 1400-2100 meters, whose light-to-medium roast brings white florals, bright lemon acidity, sweet orange, bergamot, and a green-tea finish.