Yirgacheffe Coffee: Characteristics, Flavor Profile, Origin Estates, Regions, and Varieties

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FrontStreet Coffee has observed that many friends first experience light roast coffee beans starting with Yirgacheffe coffee. With its bright citrus and lemon acidity and fresh jasmine floral notes, Yirgacheffe has become a highly representative specialty coffee, always enjoying prestige among global coffee connoisseurs. To understand the characteristics of Yirgacheffe coffee, first join FrontStreet Coffee as we explore what factors create Yirgacheffe's flavor.

For FrontStreet Coffee's natural processed Yirgacheffe, to highlight the more prominent floral aroma and lively acidity of the entire bean, we use light roasting, roasting until the end of the first crack to make the acidity more pronounced. However, roasting to the end of the first crack might make the entire bean lack caramelization aroma, with sweetness and aftertaste appearing somewhat inferior. Therefore, to achieve overall balance in Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet Coffee ultimately chose medium-light roasting for presentation. To taste the classic deliciousness of Yirgacheffe, you can now order from FrontStreet Coffee's Tmall flagship store.

Yirgacheffe: From the Homeland of Coffee

Yirgacheffe is located in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. This region has very high altitude, comfortable and cool temperatures, and appropriate rainfall without being overly humid - making it perfect for coffee trees, which are sensitive plants. Here, coffee farmers plant coffee trees in the misty rural mountains, mostly using garden-style farming mixed with other harvestable crops. You can see many planted under banana trees.

The high-altitude environment creates significant day-night temperature differences. Coffee trees planted here grow slowly, and the fruit takes longer to mature, consequently storing more aromatic substances. Therefore, the harvest season is also relatively late. Generally, from October to January of the following year, we can see busy farmers harvesting coffee cherries in the mountains and their home gardens, gradually producing Yirgacheffe batches for the next year.

Washed Processing Elevates Yirgacheffe's Flavor

What made Yirgacheffe world-famous is that washed processing restores the coffee beans' natural aroma. Traditionally, Yirgacheffe used sun-drying processing methods, with relatively backward technology and inadequate quality control, resulting in high defect rates in coffee. The produced coffee beans often carried earthy and rotten fruit flavors. Such coffee batches could only be sold at low prices, unable to bring corresponding income to local coffee growers. To improve coffee quality, the Ethiopian government introduced more advanced washed processing technology and related equipment from Central and South America in 1972.

The biggest difference from traditional natural processing is that washed processing has multiple steps to remove defective beans. After picking the coffee cherries, they are placed in water, using water's buoyancy to remove floating beans that don't meet density standards. Then, a pulper removes the cherry's skin/pulp, after which they are left in fermentation tanks for 18-36 hours until the mucilage layer decomposes (duration depends on local temperature and humidity conditions). Next, the parchment beans pass through washing channels for 30-60 minutes of brushing. Through specially designed channels combined with water flow, low-density, poor-quality beans can be removed. Then, high-quality parchment beans are drained of moisture and placed on African-style drying racks for about 14 days until reaching the target moisture content, after which they can be packaged and stored.

Washed processing presents Yirgacheffe coffee with fresh citrus notes and elegant white floral aromas. The overall flavor is bright and delicate, shining brightly in cupping. Therefore, Yirgacheffe became independent from the Sidamo region, becoming today's renowned Yirgacheffe coffee region in the coffee world.

Of course, Yirgacheffe also has high-quality natural processed batches, such as the Natural Red Cherry on FrontStreet Coffee's menu. Dried with pulp and skin under sunlight, it requires regular manual turning to ensure coffee cherries don't over-ferment and produce negative flavors. Natural processing gives Yirgacheffe coffee beans fermented fruit aromas and sweet sensations.

Light Roasting Preserves More Bright Acidity

Unlike the era when "coffee is so bitter," light-roasted Yirgacheffe can be said to have opened "the new era of fruity coffee." The main reason coffee tastes strongly bitter is that roasters roast coffee beans deeply, with flavor oriented toward nuts and dark chocolate. With the emergence of specialty coffee concepts, to preserve more acidity, roasters only roast Yirgacheffe coffee to an appropriate light degree, allowing Yirgacheffe to express pleasant fruit sweetness and acidity along with white floral aromas.

Liking sweetness and fearing bitterness happens to align with public taste preferences, which is also one of the reasons why Yirgacheffe is so popular worldwide. For such popular Yirgacheffe coffee, FrontStreet Coffee naturally includes it in the introductory daily bean series. FrontStreet Coffee's daily beans allow friends new to the coffee world to taste the basic regional flavors at extremely low prices, with small packaging design also avoiding waste from unfinished coffee.

How to Brew Yirgacheffe for Great Taste

Regardless of which flavor type of coffee beans you're brewing, FrontStreet Coffee recommends choosing freshly roasted coffee beans to experience the complete flavor profile. Coffee beans enter their optimal tasting period 4-7 days after roasting, after which aroma will accelerate its loss. Coffee beans sold by FrontStreet Coffee are freshly roasted within 5 days, so everyone can start brewing and drinking immediately upon receiving the beans.

Coffee from high altitudes has a harder texture. Light-roasted Yirgacheffe coffee beans haven't been significantly altered, so FrontStreet Coffee's baristas use higher water temperatures to extract more aromatic substances from the coffee. To avoid over-extraction while still achieving full flavor in Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet Coffee uses a medium-fine grind size. Additionally, FrontStreet Coffee's baristas hope to highlight Yirgacheffe's richer layered aromas, using a V60 dripper for brewing. The dripper's spiral rib design allows coffee grounds to degas better, maximizing the volatilization and dissolution of acidic aromatic substances.

Brewing Parameters:

Filter: V60
Water Temperature: 91-92°C
Dose: 15g
Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: Medium-fine (78% through #20 sieve)

Using a three-stage extraction technique, bloom with 30g of water for 30 seconds. Using a small stream, pour in circles to 125g, then segment. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop pouring. Remove the filter cup when all coffee liquid has finished dripping (timing starts from bloom). Total extraction time is 2'00".

After grinding, FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe daily bean coffee reveals delicate floral and fruit aromas. Upon entry, it presents bright, uplifting acidity of lemon and berries, with prominent sugarcane sweetness. As temperature decreases, it expresses green tea-like mouthfeel with a persistent aftertaste.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473