Sun-Dried Yirgacheffe Coffee Bean Flavor Profile and Taste Characteristics - Yirgacheffe Coffee Varieties, Origin, and Grade Introduction

In FrontStreet Coffee's coffee bean menu, Ethiopian coffee beans often have the largest selection.

1. There is the Gedeb cooperative, which became independent from the Woka cooperative due to its delicate flavor profile;

2. There are also Ethiopia's rare estate-grown models—FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Label Geisha, Red Label Geisha, and Chaka Geisha from Gesha Village Estate;

3. As well as FrontStreet Coffee's Sidamo Natural Sun-Dried Guji coffee with its classic berry flavor profile.

FrontStreet Coffee understands every coffee bean producing region, even different coffee bean varieties from the same region, different processing methods for the same coffee bean, and so on. For example: between natural sun-dried coffee beans and washed coffee beans, there will be different flavor profiles and mouthfeels. Similarly, different coffee bean producing regions will all have their differences. About this information, FrontStreet Coffee will establish corresponding databases one by one, providing more detailed coffee information for those who love coffee and enjoy coffee, allowing more people to understand the world of coffee.

Yirgacheffe Coffee Region

The Yirgacheffe region is located in Ethiopia and was originally a sub-region under the Sidamo region. Its coffee flavor is bright and delicate, forming a distinctive coffee flavor profile within the Sidamo region. Due to its high recognizability, coffee farmers compete to be proud of their coffee beans having Yirgacheffe flavor, so it became independent from Sidamo to become today's most renowned Yirgacheffe region.

Initially, the Yirgacheffe region used the most traditional natural sun-drying method to process coffee beans. Later, after the Ethiopian government introduced washed processing methods from Central and South America, the quality of Yirgacheffe coffee beans instantly improved. Its bright, uplifting acidity and white floral aroma characteristics quickly gained a large number of loyal fans. The Yirgacheffe coffee region is considered a high-altitude coffee growing region, with an altitude of about 2000 meters. The Yirgacheffe coffee region has more than 40 cooperatives, mainly managing coffee cultivation through family-operated models. Under the Yirgacheffe coffee region, there are also many well-known micro-regions, such as Kochere, Fog Valley, Gedeb, etc. These micro-regions all have excellent cooperatives, and the FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe coffee beans they produce all have their unique flavor characteristics.

Banko Gotiti Cooperative

Banko Gotiti Cooperative, located in the Woka region at the southeastern end of Yirgacheffe, was originally part of the Woka cooperative under the Yirgacheffe Union YCFCU. Later, as people pursued traceability of raw coffee beans, "single origin" was excavated one by one by coffee hunters from around the world.

In 2012, Banko Gotiti, with about 300 member farmers, independently established the "Banko Gotiti Cooperative." Banko Gotiti village was one of the earliest village areas to become independent, and many small farmers were originally members of the Woka cooperative, so their coffee production skills are unquestionable. Banko Gotiti Cooperative is known as the last pure land of Yirgacheffe, so it also uses very traditional raw bean processing methods (washed and natural sun-dried processing methods).

Coffee Bean Processing Method

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Banko Gotiti cooperative coffee beans use washed processing. After using a pulper to remove the skin/pulp of the coffee cherry, they are left in fermentation tanks for 18-36 hours until the mucilage layer decomposes (duration depends on local temperature and humidity conditions). Then the parchment beans are scrubbed through washing channels for 30-60 minutes.

At this time, through channel design combined with water flow flushing, beans with low specific gravity and poor quality can be removed. Then the high-quality parchment beans are placed on African-style drying racks for about 14 days. After drying is complete, they are first stored in the processing plant's warehouse. Before export, the parchment beans are transported to a Dry Mill for dehulling, and go through a series of complex screening processes such as foreign material removal, silver skin polishing, gravity screening, color sorting, etc., before finally being bagged for export.

FrontStreet Coffee · Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Washed Banko Gotiti Coffee Beans

Region: Yirgacheffe Gedeo Zone

Altitude: 1900-2300m

Variety: Heirloom

Processing: Washed

Grade: G1

Flavor: Berries, cream, honey, citrus, juicy sensation

Friends familiar with Ethiopian coffee will surely also be familiar with the Red Cherry Project. FrontStreet Coffee will now share with everyone what exactly the Red Cherry Project is all about.

About the Red Cherry Project

The core content of the Red Cherry Project is to use fully red coffee cherries for processing to improve coffee quality. Looking at it today, processing with fully red cherries is nothing new (isn't it natural to use fully red cherries?). But in 2007, this was a landmark innovative event.

In 2007, Trabocca, the largest raw coffee bean importer in the Netherlands, proposed the "Red Cherry Project" (Operation Cherry Red) to pursue high-quality Ethiopian beans—a project aimed at improving the production quality of small-scale farms. Previously, both local processing stations and raw coffee bean traders would try to lower the purchase price of coffee cherries as much as possible to achieve higher profits. For coffee farmers, the quantity of coffee cherries sold determined their income, so they didn't care about quality. The exploitation by raw coffee bean traders and the farmers' pursuit of quantity created a vicious cycle for coffee bean quality. Therefore, Trabocca recognized this point and had to break this deadlock. Thus, the win-win "Red Cherry Project" was born.

Project requirements: harvesting raw coffee beans not only requires picking fully red fruits but also completely manual harvesting. However, this is just the most basic requirement—the project is far from this simple. The main purpose is to encourage coffee farmers. Trabocca, the largest coffee bean importer in the Netherlands, invites all Ethiopian farms to produce small batches of about 1500-3000 kg (25-50 bags) of beans before the harvest season. Women can only select fully 100% mature red cherries, which makes a huge difference in the brewed coffee flavor. Therefore, careful, good-eyed, and hardworking Ethiopian women are important promoters of the Red Cherry Project.

The Red Cherry Project is also an enhancement approach that makes farms spend more thought on the bean selection process. These coffees also have relatively higher prices. The Red Cherry Action includes washed, natural, semi-washed, semi-natural, and experimental coffees. The main producing regions include Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, Bench Maji, Lekempti, Kembata, Illubabor, Harar, Limu, and in 2011 added the Golocha production area (near Harar). These all have unique flavors and can fully showcase the flavor of Ethiopian coffee.

First, high cupping score requirements. In cupping labs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Amsterdam, Netherlands, Trabocca conducts additional screening after receiving coffee from producing regions. They judge whether the coffee beans meet standards through two cupping sessions in Ethiopia and the Netherlands. Coffee beans that meet the standards are organized by Trabocca for auction to coffee bean purchasers worldwide. Generally, coffee beans auctioned through this platform can reach prices more than 4 times the international general coffee spot price, with the highest even reaching 20 times.

Second, small production requirements and high quality requirements. To have enough energy to care for these top-quality local Ethiopian beans, Trabocca proposed that beans participating in the project must always be small batches, with production between 1500kg～3000kg.

Finally, Trabocca's investment and attention to this project is significant and highly valued. Trabocca has donated new sun-drying racks, shade nets, generators, etc. locally. At the same time, they also provide financial loan support, new hardware equipment, and production processing knowledge and technology to assist farmers in improving their production levels. Moreover, through real-time monitoring, safe transportation, and other methods, they ensure that the "Red Cherry Project" beans receive the best care at every stage.

Specifically, the Red Cherry Project encourages coffee farmers to complete every process of coffee bean picking and processing more attentively by increasing the purchase price of high-quality raw coffee beans. The coffee beans produced this way have better quality and superior taste, can better gain terminal market recognition, thus balancing the relatively high coffee purchase price. Although the advantages of Red Cherry Project coffee beans may not seem significant now, the project has made great contributions to the specialization of coffee.

How does Yirgacheffe Red Cherry coffee bean flavor perform?

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Red Cherry coffee beans use fully red cherry natural processing from the Ardentran farm. Each small coffee farmer at the Ardentran farm here owns an average cultivation area of about 0.6 hectares, composed of hundreds of coffee farmers. The cultivation altitude is nearly 2000 meters, with large temperature differences and fertile soil, providing an excellent growing environment. Fully red cherry manual harvesting can maximize the lower limit of coffee quality.

The raw beans are light yellow, full-bodied, with complete bean appearance and low defect rate, belonging to G1 grade. As single-origin pour-over coffee, FrontStreet Coffee uses medium-light roast for Red Cherry coffee beans. After roasting, Red Cherry coffee beans have uniform color with obvious berry aroma. Below are two beans from FrontStreet Coffee's menu—FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Project and FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Konga. These two FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopian coffee beans are both natural processing methods, from different processing plants in the same Yirgacheffe region.

FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Coffee Beans vs. FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe Konga Coffee Beans Brewing Parameters

Dripper: V60#01

Water Temperature: 90-91°C

Dose: 15g

Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: Medium-fine grind (Chinese standard #20 sieve 80% pass-through)

FrontStreet Coffee · Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Coffee Beans

Country: Ethiopia

Region: Yirgacheffe

Processing Station: Ardentran

Altitude: 2300m

Variety: Local Heirloom

Processing: Natural

Grade: G1

FrontStreet Coffee · Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Konga Coffee Beans

Region: Yirgacheffe

Washing Station: Wet Konga Processing Station

Altitude: 1850 to 2050 meters

Soil: Vertisol

Coffee Variety: Heirloom

Processing Method: Natural

Harvest Year: 2020

Grade: G1

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Method Sharing

Three-stage extraction. Use 30g of water for 30-second bloom, then continue pouring in small circles until reaching 125g for segmentation. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop pouring. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper (timing starts from bloom). Extraction time is 2'00".

FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Coffee Beans: Lemon, citrus, berries, sweet orange, overall high sweetness, aftertaste with caramel and cream flavors, finish with black tea aroma.

FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe Konga Coffee Beans: At high temperature: berries, cream, honey, citrus, juice-like mouthfeel, bright acidity. When temperature slightly drops: berries, cream, smooth, citrus.

FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Coffee Beans Roasting Record

FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Coffee Beans Roasting Record

For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

For professional coffee knowledge exchange, please add WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473