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

FrontStreet Coffee · Natural Yirgacheffe G1 Aricha

I've always believed that Yirgacheffe beans are the most capable of directly changing coffee beginners' and laypeople's fundamental understanding of coffee. They can thoroughly interpret the concept of "coffee as fruit." This is also why whenever I have the opportunity, I give people drinking single-origin coffee for the first time a Yirgacheffe.

This time I got a rather famous natural Yirgacheffe from FrontStreet Coffee, Aricha, known as the "fruit bomb." This batch of FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe was produced at the Kebel Aricha processing station, where about 650-700 small coffee farmers nearby bring their ripe coffee cherries for processing in exchange for cash. After the processing station screens the usable coffee cherries, they place the entire coffee cherries with intact pulp and skin on raised beds for natural drying. It is precisely this high-intensity labor method of raised-bed drying that isolates contact with the ground, prevents earthy off-flavors during the drying process, and creates exceptionally clean fruit flavors. After more than two weeks of natural drying, the dark brown coffee cherries are professionally stored, waiting for the full flavor maturation. Before shipment, the processing station removes the coffee beans from the coffee cherries, so the sweetness is imaginable.

Brewing Experiences

When I got the beans, the first time I didn't use regular pour-over or Aeropress or anything, but rather pour-over ice filtration, brewing directly into a glass with ice cubes. The wet aroma of fermented berry fruit wine made it hard to believe this was FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe, but personally I didn't quite like this wet aroma. However, from the extremely smooth entry to the delicate body thickness, the emergence of ripe fruit's sweet and sour flavors was truly stunning. The sweetness exceeded any Yirgacheffe I had tasted before. The aftertaste performance was also quite good, worthy of its "fruit bomb" reputation – basically guaranteeing a sweet taste in the mouth for half an hour after drinking.

The second time using V60 pour-over, the brew had rich berry aroma. I'm not sure if it was due to the lower water temperature, but the lemon acidity was very prominent in the backend.

The third time was still V60 pour-over, with fine powder and higher water temperature. The wet aroma was close to washed Yirgacheffe, and bitterness also emerged.

The fourth time, I increased the water-to-coffee ratio to prevent over-extraction, first brewing with 15:1, then adding water to increase the ratio to above 18. This result was very satisfying! After slightly lowering the water temperature, it became a perfect cup of fruit tea.

Now the beans have been left for half a month, and the strawberry aroma 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 distinct dark chocolate flavor upon entry. However, bitterness was prominent, and off-flavors also appeared. I feel it's still not suitable for cold drip.

Source: Xiaohei Coffee

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473