Flavor Characteristics of Aricha Coffee Beans from Yirgacheffe Growing Region - Are Aricha Coffee Beans Delicious?

FrontStreet Coffee · Natural Yirgacheffe G1 Aricha

I have always felt that Yirgacheffe is the origin most likely to overturn a beginner's assumptions about coffee. It turns the idea of "coffee as fruit" into something you can actually taste, which is why, whenever someone is about to try single-origin coffee for the first time, I hand them a Yirgacheffe.

This time the beans were a well-known natural Yirgacheffe from FrontStreet Coffee: Aricha, a lot often nicknamed the "fruit bomb." The cherries were grown around the Kebel Aricha processing station, where roughly 650-700 nearby smallholders deliver their ripe cherries and are paid in cash. After the station sorts out the usable fruit, whole cherries are laid on raised beds to dry with pulp and skin still intact. It is precisely this labor-intensive raised-bed drying that keeps the fruit off the ground, prevents the earthy off-flavors that can develop during drying, and produces an exceptionally clean fruit character. After more than two weeks in the sun, the cherries turn dark brown and are carefully stored so their flavors can mature fully. The beans are hulled only shortly before shipment, and the sweetness that follows is easy to imagine.

Brewing Experiences

When the beans first arrived, I skipped the usual pour-over and AeroPress and went straight to pour-over ice filtration, brewing directly into a glass filled with ice cubes. The wet aroma of fermented berry wine made it hard to believe this was FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe, though the wet aroma itself was not to my personal taste. What came next was remarkable: from an extremely smooth entry to a delicate, rounded body, the sweet-and-sour flavors of ripe fruit were genuinely striking. The sweetness was higher than any Yirgacheffe I had tasted before, and the finish held up just as well, living up to the "fruit bomb" name. After drinking it, the mouth stayed sweet for roughly half an hour.

The second attempt used a V60 pour-over. The cup had a rich berry aroma; I am not sure whether the lower water temperature was responsible, but lemon acidity stood out clearly in the finish.

The third attempt was another V60, this time with a finer grind and a higher water temperature. The wet aroma was closer to that of a washed Yirgacheffe, and bitterness appeared as well.

On the fourth attempt I raised the water-to-coffee ratio to avoid over-extraction, brewing first at 15:1 and then adding water to bring the ratio above 18:1. The result was very satisfying: after I lowered the water temperature slightly, it became a perfect cup of fruit tea.

The beans have now rested for half a month, and the strawberry note in the dry fragrance of the grounds is already quite obvious.

Cold Drip Method

For cold drip, the wet aroma was cool and elegant with a full, wine-like character, and dark chocolate was distinct on entry. Bitterness was prominent, however, and off-flavors appeared as well. My conclusion is that this coffee is still not suited to cold drip.

Source: Xiaohei Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you want to taste the Yirgacheffe character at its most direct, FrontStreet Coffee's natural-processed G1 Aricha used in this article is the place to start: expect the fermented berry-wine aroma, the ripe-fruit sweetness and the long fruit-tea finish described above. For a cleaner, more transparent cup, FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe daily coffee is the classic entry point, known for white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a gentle tea-like body at a friendly price.

FrontStreet Coffee's Gedingding Cooperative is another excellent washed option, carrying the traditional washed profile with none of the bitterness people sometimes associate with coffee: bright citrus and lemon acidity wrapped in jasmine fragrance. For a sweeter, more tropical expression, FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Red Cherry is made from fully ripe red cherries dried whole on raised beds, and it combines a citrus-like acidity with berry juice, honey-like sweetness and a creamy smoothness.

For brewing, FrontStreet Coffee suggests a V60 dripper, 90-91°C water, 15g of coffee and a 1:15 ratio. Grind to about the size of fine sugar, roughly setting 10 on an EK43s or a No. 20 standard sieve with 80% passing through. Pour 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour to 125g (about 125g on the scale), continuing at roughly one minute, and when the water level drops to two-thirds of the coffee bed add the remaining 100g (about 225g on the scale), finishing at around 1 minute 35 seconds. The brew should finish dripping between 2:00 and 2:10, at which point you remove the dripper and the extraction is complete.