Ethiopian Coffee Flavor Introduction: How to Make Iced Pour-Over with Luckin Sidamo Guji Coffee Beans

Professional Coffee Knowledge Exchange

For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style). For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat of FrontStreet Coffee, WeChat ID: qjcoffeex.

Recently, Luckin Coffee re-launched a coffee bean SOE series from the Sidamo region of Ethiopia, which has been loved by many friends. The Sidamo production area has received increasing attention from coffee enthusiasts.

The Sidamo Region

The Sidamo administrative region is located in southern Ethiopia, bordering Kenya. Sidamo and Yirgacheffe, a town within the administrative region, can be said to be the main production areas for Ethiopian specialty coffee beans.

Sidamo coffee is cultivated at altitudes between 1400m-2000m. The industry here is primarily agricultural, with the main coffee growing areas located around the Great Rift Valley. Sidamo has developed quite rapidly in recent years and is an important coffee export distribution center.

Sidamo's coffee flavors are very diverse. Different soil types, microclimates, and countless native coffee varieties create obvious differences and characteristics in the coffee produced by each town. Through cupping comparisons by FrontStreet Coffee, it was found that coffee beans from the Sidamo region typically have rich fruit aromas and smooth mouthfeel, very much like tasting a glass of fruit juice.

Yirgacheffe: A Special Sub-region

Although the Yirgacheffe region belongs to Sidamo, its unique natural geographical environment, including soil composition and water content, creates its distinctive aroma and flavor, making it well-known in the world specialty coffee community. Through cupping comparisons by FrontStreet Coffee, it was found that coffee beans from the Yirgacheffe region typically have clean lemon acidity and refreshing mouthfeel, very much like tasting a cup of citrus fruit tea.

Therefore, because the coffee beans from Yirgacheffe have a unique flavor, you often hear "Sidamo" and "Yirgacheffe" called separately on the market. While Yirgacheffe region coffee beans are famous for their characteristic flavors, Sidamo region coffee beans became famous largely due to the natural processed coffee beans from the Buku Albe processing plant in this administrative region - what we call Flower Queen coffee beans.

The Rise of Flower Queen Coffee

Flower Queen coffee beans became famous because in the 2017 East African Harvest Season Flavor Competition TOH, the natural processed coffee beans from the Buku Able processing plant in this region won the natural process category championship with their rich strawberry flavor, creamy smooth mouthfeel, just-right fermentation aroma, and obvious sweetness.

In the same year, the award-winning batch of coffee beans was imported to China by a raw bean merchant and named "Flower Queen." Then, Li Jianfei, the runner-up of the 2017 World Brewers Cup China region competition, used this batch of Flower Queen coffee beans to defeat many contestants using Geisha coffee beans. Starting from this year, Flower Queen coffee beans became well-known among domestic coffee enthusiasts, and the Sidamo production area gradually gained attention from the coffee industry.

Processing Methods

Sidamo region coffee beans typically use natural processing. After the coffee cherries are harvested, they are placed as whole fruits on hemp net wooden racks, where workers take turns manually stirring them under sun exposure to ensure even heating of the coffee beans. The final natural processed Sidamo coffee beans will appear yellowish-green. It is precisely during the natural drying process that the sugars from the pulp and mucilage are concentrated, and the coffee beans also absorb these sugars, producing more sweetness and appropriate fermentation aromas.

Flower Queen coffee beans, however, must meet the following conditions to be called Flower Queen: natural processed Ethiopian native varieties from the Sidamo administrative region - Guji zone - Hambela Wamena district - Buku Albe processing plant. The Flower Queen coffee beans currently sold by FrontStreet Coffee all meet the above conditions, so everyone can purchase with confidence.

Flavor Evolution

As agricultural products, coffee beans' flavors are affected by terroir and climate each year. The strawberry cream sensation of Flower Queen coffee beans after 2017 was not as intense, but you can still feel the style of the original Flower Queen coffee beans. According to cupping comparisons by FrontStreet Coffee, the flavor profile of new crop Flower Queen coffee beans is: passion fruit, strawberry, fermentation aroma, tea-like sensation.

To preserve Flower Queen coffee's unique fruity character, FrontStreet Coffee uses medium-light roast. Everyone can use medium-fine grinding (granulated sugar size / 80% pass rate through China No. 20 standard sieve), 91°C water temperature, paired with V60 conical filter to enhance layers, using 15g coffee powder with 225g water.

Brewing Method for Hot Pour Over

The brewing technique is as follows: Use 2 times the amount of coffee powder for blooming, that is, 30g water for 30 seconds. The reason for the blooming process is to allow the coffee powder to release internal carbon dioxide gas, thereby making the later extraction more stable. Use small water flow in circular motion to inject to 125g, then continue injecting to 225g and stop. Wait for the water in the filter cup to finish dripping, then remove the filter cup. Start timing from the beginning of injection, extraction time is 2'00". Next, take the entire cup of coffee and shake it evenly, then pour into cups for tasting.

Iced Pour Over Method

In addition to regular hot pour over, many friends also like to make Flower Queen coffee into iced drinks. So next, FrontStreet Coffee will also teach everyone how to brew delicious Flower Queen iced pour over at home.

Compared to hot pour over, iced pour over adds the key element of ice cubes. To ensure the final coffee is strong enough, flavorful enough, and cold enough, we must find a way to exchange some hot water for ice cubes to achieve the above goals. According to the principle that pour over extraction is strong at the beginning and weak at the end, the less water injected, the more concentrated the coffee liquid obtained, so it won't be diluted too much when added to ice cubes.

FrontStreet Coffee has summarized iced brewing solutions for multiple coffee beans. When the ratio of coffee powder to hot water is controlled at 1:10, the iced coffee concentration is optimal. Then add 5 times the amount of ice cubes of the coffee powder, and the coffee liquid can still show good flavor after being diluted and cooled. This is the formula mentioned above by FrontStreet Coffee. Taking a single serving of 15g coffee powder as an example, 10 times hot water requires 150g, and 5 times ice amount is 75g; if brewing for two people with 20g, you'll need 200g hot water and 100g ice cubes.

However, it should be noted that the less hot water injected, the entire extraction process time will shorten accordingly. The most common situation is changing from the original 2 minutes to 1 minute 20 seconds. This also means there's no opportunity for the later flavor compounds to be released, so the entire cup of iced coffee will likely have extraction insufficiency. In other words, although the concentration is sufficient, the flavor is lacking! Therefore to coordinate the release proportion of aromatic compounds, we need to adjust the grind finer, which in turn extends the extraction time.

Unlike other clear parameters, the grind degree of coffee powder has always been difficult to describe accurately in words. Once the deviation is too large, it can easily cause extraction problems. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee believes you only need to adjust slightly finer based on the grind setting normally used for hot brewing. For example, FrontStreet Coffee stores use the EK43s grinder. If a coffee uses setting 10 when brewing hot, then adjust to setting 9 to 9.5 when brewing iced. When using the C40 hand grinder, if a bean uses setting 24 for hot brewing, then adjust to setting 22 for iced brewing.

Iced Brew Recipe

Medium-light roast coffee beans: Sidamo · Flower Queen 8.0
Coffee amount: 15 grams
10 times hot water: 150 grams
5 times ice amount: 75 grams
Water temperature: 93°C
Grind degree: EK43s setting 9 (85% pass rate through No. 20 sieve)
Filter cup: Hario V60
Technique: Three-stage method

Before pouring water, first place ice cubes in the sharing pot (whether adding ice before or after doesn't have much impact on flavor), and pour in 15g coffee powder. First, inject 30g of water from the center outward in small circles for 30 seconds of blooming. For the second stage, inject 60g of water using the same technique. When the water in the filter cup is about to finish dripping, inject the remaining 60g of hot water. The final extraction time should fall between 1 minute 50 seconds to 2 minutes.

Finally, shake the sharing pot to accelerate ice melting while thoroughly mixing and cooling the coffee liquid, and it's ready to enjoy. The Flower Queen 8.0 iced pour over brewed by FrontStreet Coffee using the above method has citrus, blueberry, and cranberry aromas, with very clear fruit acidity. It's cool and refreshing in the mouth, very suitable for summer.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473