Ethiopian Coffee Estates and Regional Flavor Profiles: Characteristics of Ethiopian Sidamo Coffee Beans

Famous Ethiopian Coffee Regions

Ethiopia is the birthplace of Arabica coffee, home to thousands of Arabica coffee varieties and known as a natural coffee gene treasure trove. Of course, it has also nurtured many famous coffee origins. Below, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce you to Ethiopia's renowned coffee-producing regions.

1. Yirgacheffe Coffee Region

Yirgacheffe is a small town in Ethiopia with an elevation ranging from 1,700 to 2,100 meters. It can be said to be synonymous with Ethiopian specialty coffee. This area has historically been wetland, and in the ancient language, "yirga" means "settle down" while "cheffe" means "wetland." Therefore, Yirgacheffe means "to settle down and make a living in this wetland."

Initially, Yirgacheffe was a sub-region of Ethiopia's Sidamo province, located in the northwest of Sidamo and one of Ethiopia's highest-altitude coffee-producing regions. Because the production methods and flavors here were so outstanding, Ethiopian coffee farmers competed to be proud of their coffee having Yirgacheffe-style flavors, so it became independent from the Sidamo region to become Africa's most renowned region. (In the future, more and more regions will become independent based on flavor orientation).

Subsequently, around 1995, Ethiopia made changes to its administrative divisions. The biggest impact on coffee regions was that the original Sidamo was divided into the new Sidamo (occupying a small portion of the original) and most of it was incorporated into the Oromia region. The Yirgacheffe area, which originally belonged to Sidamo province, is now part of the new Gedeo zone.

Yirgacheffe is Ethiopia's first famous coffee-producing region, where coffee has rich floral and citrus flavors. FrontStreet Coffee has also chosen washed Yirgacheffe as Ethiopia's daily drinking bean.

How to brew Yirgacheffe coffee beans?

FrontStreet Coffee is using medium-light roasted washed Yirgacheffe coffee beans for brewing. During cupping, the dry aroma of this bean showed fresh citrus and white floral notes. Sipping at different temperatures revealed bright citrus tones, honey, clean mouthfeel, with floral notes and tea sensations in between.

FrontStreet Coffee recommends a medium-fine grind size (78% pass-through rate on China's standard #20 sieve). Too coarse and you can't extract the body substances, making the brewed coffee seem thin. Too fine and it's easy to over-extract at high water temperatures, making the brewed coffee prone to bitterness and astringency.

To highlight the fresh and charming aroma of washed Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet Coffee uses a V60 dripper for brewing. The spiral rib design of the dripper allows the coffee grounds to degas better, maximizing the volatilization and dissolution of acidic aromatic substances.

During the cupping process, FrontStreet Coffee noticed that this bean shows different flavors at different temperatures, so the brewing technique will use three-stage extraction to allow different flavor substances to better express themselves during the gradual temperature increase of the coffee bed.

Regarding brewing water temperature, we can consider it from two aspects. For bright, uplifting acidity with a tea-like aftertaste, you can use 90-91°C for brewing. For full-bodied acidity and enhanced richness, you can use 92-93°C for brewing.

Regarding brewing ratio, washed Yirgacheffe flavors are relatively fresh, so to better appreciate the floral notes and honey sweetness, you can use a 1:16 ratio to slightly reduce the overall acidity of the coffee, giving lighter flavors a chance to express themselves.

2. Sidamo - Hambella Coffee Region

Hambella was originally a sub-region under Guji, which was itself a sub-region of Sidamo. It is administered by Ethiopia's southernmost administrative region - Oromia. To the west, it faces the Kochere region of Yirgacheffe across mountains at a distance of 3,200m, neighboring Shakiso to the east, bordering Uraga to the south, and connecting with Kercha to the north.

Currently, there are about 20 processing stations within Hambella, distributed in different villages and estates of the sub-region, varying in scale.

In 2017, a coffee bean from the Hambella region won the Ethiopian TOH (Taste of Harvest) natural process championship. From then on, Hambella soared to fame. That year, this championship bean was renamed "Flower Queen" when it came to China. Since then, all Flower Queen series coffees have been produced in Hambella.

How to brew Flower Queen coffee beans for the best taste?

FrontStreet Coffee suggests using a medium-fine grind size (80% pass-through rate on China's #20 sieve). To better express the full juice-like body and rich fruit aroma of Flower Queen coffee beans, it's recommended to use 91°C water temperature, and the brewing technique can use three-stage slow circular pouring with fine water flow.

Use 15g of coffee grounds with a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:15, meaning we need 15g of coffee grounds with 225g of hot water for extraction. First, use 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour water to 125g using a flow rate of 4g per second and 4 seconds per circle, starting from the center and spiraling outward before returning to the center, then stop pouring. Wait until the coffee bed drops to half its height, then use the same method to pour water to 225g and stop. After all the coffee liquid has flowed into the lower pot, remove the dripper to finish extraction. The total brewing time is 2 minutes and 10 seconds.

3. Guji - Uraga Coffee Region

Uraga is a sub-region within the Guji region, with an altitude reaching up to 2,300m. Although Uraga town is located within the Guji region, geographically it's closer to the high-altitude areas of Yirgacheffe at 2,200m. The region's geology consists of nutrient-rich black soil (Vertisol), and the high-altitude terrain creates Uraga's rich fruit flavors.

The 2020 Ethiopian TOH washed process champion came from the Uraga region. The most distinctive characteristic of this coffee bean is its honey pomelo tea-like flavor, which is highly recognizable.

How to brew this coffee bean?

Using 15g of coffee grounds as an example, through brewing experiments, FrontStreet Coffee found that this coffee easily develops tea-like astringency when steeped for too long, so the final grind size was chosen to be slightly coarser than normal pour-over grind, with a 70% pass-through rate on the #20 standard sieve.

Use a 1:16 coffee-to-water ratio, as a larger ratio helps highlight floral and fruit aromas. Use 91°C water temperature - this temperature is very suitable for brewing Ethiopian coffee beans and easily highlights citrus and other fruit tones.

Brewing Method

This time, we also use FrontStreet Coffee's three-stage brewing method. First, preheat the coffee pot and dripper, pour in 15g of coffee grounds, and gently level them. Pour 30g of water for a 30-second bloom. It's not recommended to have too long a bloom time as it can easily cause astringency.

For the second stage, pour 120g of water in concentric circles from the center outward. The pouring time should be about 1 minute. When you're about to see the coffee bed, start the final stage, pouring 90g of water using the same pouring method. After all the water has flowed into the lower pot, remove the dripper to finish extraction. The total brewing time is 2 minutes and 5 seconds.

Brewing Flavor Description

The wet aroma has light jasmine and citrus notes. In the front portion, you can experience citrus-like juice, while in the middle and back portions, you can taste a honey pomelo tea-like sensation. The aftertaste is an oolong tea-like sweet return.

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