Introduction to Specialty Coffee Beans—Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Specialty Coffee and Its Characteristics

If you enjoy coffee that isn't overly bitter, FrontStreet Coffee would highly recommend Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. As one of the signature representatives of Ethiopian coffee, FrontStreet Coffee offers 3 different Yirgacheffe varieties among dozens of coffee beans, demonstrating the immense popularity of FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe.

What we refer to as FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe specifically denotes high-quality coffee beans that present a unique bright citrus acidity and elegant white jasmine fragrance. The name "Yirgacheffe" comes from the scenic Yirgacheffe town in the local area, originally belonging to Ethiopia's Sidamo province, but later became an independent producing region due to its outstanding performance. It also includes several sub-regions such as Wenago, Kochere, Gelena, and Abaya.

Unique Terroir and High Altitude

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe is one of the highest altitude producing regions globally, with average elevations mostly between 1700-2100 meters. The significant temperature difference between day and night at high altitudes causes coffee trees to grow slowly, and fruits take longer to mature, consequently storing more aromatic compounds and nurturing Yirgacheffe's unique intertwining of floral and fruit notes—a mysterious and ever-changing terroir character.

The harvest season here generally runs from October to January of the following year. You can see busy farmers harvesting coffee fruits in the mountains and their home gardens, then sending them to village cooperatives for unified processing. We often hear about well-known micro-regions under Yirgacheffe such as Kochere, Fog Valley, and Gedeb, all of which have excellent cooperative production teams and produce highly distinctive coffees.

Notable Cooperatives and Processing

It's worth mentioning that in the Worka producing area, located in the southeastern part of FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe, there is a mature production team called "Hambela Cooperative" with about 300 farmer members. Due to the bright and elevated flavor profile of their Yirgacheffe, it was established as a separate entity in 2012. Many small farmers were originally members of the Worka cooperative, so their coffee production skills are unquestionable. FrontStreet Coffee's popular Hambela Cooperative coffee in their stores uses traditional washed processing, which not only lacks the heavy bitterness of traditional black coffee but presents fresh, bright citrus and lemon acidity, along with jasmine fragrance, making many coffee enthusiasts fall in love at first taste.

Traditionally, farmers would place harvested coffee cherries directly on terraces or spread them on the ground for direct sun-drying until the moisture content reaches only about 12%, at which point they can be sent for hulling and packaging. Coffee processed this way can easily develop earthy flavors, over-fermentation, and rotten fruit tastes.

Processing Methods and Varieties

To improve the flawed flavors caused by this sun-drying method, Ethiopia introduced washed processing technology from Central and South America. During the washing process, multiple steps can remove defective beans, and the flavor profile exhibits cleaner acidity, elevating FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe aroma to another level. To allow curious coffee lovers to taste the unique "Yirgacheffe character," FrontStreet Coffee launched FrontStreet Coffee's Washed Yirgacheffe as the flagship representative of Ethiopian coffee, using medium-light roasting with classic Yirgacheffe flavor notes, suitable for various brewing methods including pour-over, cold brew, and French press. FrontStreet Coffee's daily bean series allows friends new to the coffee world to taste the basic regional flavors at an affordable price, with small packaging designs that prevent waste from unfinished coffee, making it suitable for beginners trying pour-over coffee.

Although washed coffee once became popular, natural processing still occupies the main portion of Ethiopian coffee. Unlike the past, today's natural processing invests more thought into manual sorting and ensuring even drying. FrontStreet Coffee's Hambela Cooperative coffee beans on their menu use classic washed processing Yirgacheffe, while another variety—FrontStreet Coffee's Red Cherry coffee beans—uses refined natural processing FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe, offering fuller fermentation sensations and tropical fruit flavors.

Brewing Recommendations

Some fans have left messages inquiring with FrontStreet Coffee, saying that their brewed FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe coffee only has sourness without the rich aromas they taste at FrontStreet Coffee's stores. Actually, each package of coffee beans has a QR code with brewing suggestions on the label that everyone can scan for reference.

Because FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe uses light roasting, the coffee beans are quite hard and require high-temperature water at 92℃-93℃ to fully extract the floral and fruit notes from the coffee. FrontStreet Coffee recommends medium-fine grinding (78% pass rate through Chinese standard #20 sieve). Too coarse grinding cannot extract the full body, resulting in thin coffee. Too fine grinding can easily lead to over-extraction at high water temperatures, producing bitter and astringent coffee.

Dripper: V60
Water Temperature: 92-93℃
Dose: 15g
Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: Fine sugar size (78% pass through #20 sieve)

Three-Pour Method: Use twice the amount of water as coffee grounds to wet the coffee bed, forming a dome and bloom for 30 seconds. Then use a small water stream to pour in circles from inside to outside until reaching 125g, then pause. Wait for the coffee bed to drop to half the dripper's height, then continue with the same fine stream to pour the third stage to 225g. Remove the dripper once all coffee liquid has filtered through, taking about 2 minutes total. After the coffee from the dripper flows into the server, remove the dripper, then gently swirl the server to evenly distribute the coffee liquid, and you can begin tasting FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe flavors from high temperature.

Flavor Profile

When FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe coffee beans are ground into powder, you can smell the fragrance of honey and jasmine. When FrontStreet Coffee pours hot water, it begins to release subtle berry aromas. The pour-over black coffee enters with bright lemon, citrus, and green tea notes. As the temperature changes, there are berry, cream, and sugarcane aftertastes, with obvious sweet aftertaste and a clean, sweet mouthfeel.

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Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473