Ethiopia Hambella Region Introduction: Small Bean Flower Queen Coffee Bean Flavor Profile and Grind Settings

Coffee is Ethiopia's most important export economic crop and the main source of foreign exchange income. Ethiopia's coffee exports account for approximately 3% of the world market share, making it the world's eighth-largest coffee exporting country. Coffee export volume steadily increased from 58,000 tons in 1990-1991 to 110,000 tons in 1995-1996, and has maintained this level in the following years.

In 2001-2002, export volume exceeded 110,000 tons, and in 2002-2003, it reached 127,000 tons. Due to the continuous decline in coffee prices in the international market for a decade, Ethiopia's foreign exchange income was severely affected. Before the sharp decline in coffee prices, coffee export revenue accounted for more than half of Ethiopia's foreign exchange income, whereas now it only accounts for about 35%. However, according to the International Coffee Organization's report, coffee prices began to rise in 2002, increasing from 41 cents per pound in September 2001 to 52 cents in 2002, and further rising to 59.7 cents per pound in 2003. The average price in March 2004 was 60.8 cents per pound, a 50% increase from the price in September 2001. This is excellent news for Ethiopia.

Hambella Coffee Region

Hambella is located in Ethiopia's largest coffee-producing region, Guji, and is administratively part of the Oromia Regional State. Hambella is bordered to the west by Yirgacheffe Kochere across mountains, and to the southeast, north, and south by Guji's Shakiso, Uraga, and Kercha sub-regions. It is Ethiopia's highest-altitude coffee sub-region, featuring fertile humus-rich reddish-brown soil with an altitude of around 2,300 meters. The large temperature difference between day and night allows coffee cherries to grow slowly. Fully ripe cherries are hand-picked and processed using refined natural drying methods on African raised beds, limited to 2-3 layers thickness. Based on color changes during drying, manual sorting is performed twice daily for the first 1-3 days, with 10% removed each time. Afterwards, the beans are turned every three hours, and covered during midday and night to avoid moisture from rain and dew, precisely controlling the fermentation process. The entire process lasts 21 days, creating the unique flavor of FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Queen coffee.

Coffee Processing in Hambella

Currently, there are nearly 20 processing plants of various sizes in the Hambella region. As a green coffee company "rooted" in Ethiopia's coffee-producing regions, Hongshun has established four natural processing plants in the GUJI Hambella region through cooperation since 2016. The four estate processing plants in Hambella's core region are the "Dire" Church Processing Plant, "Mansa" Reservoir Processing Plant, "Bobea" Red Flag Processing Plant, and "Goro Baessa" Mountain Spring Processing Plant. Goro Baessa is a small village surrounded by mountains at an altitude of 2,280 meters. December is its coffee harvest season, during which the mountains are covered with bright red mature coffee cherries, neatly arranged on African drying beds in the village.

FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Queen, as a well-known coffee bean from the Hambella region, has received much attention.

The Origin of Flower Queen Coffee

Let's go back to 2017, when a natural coffee from DW's "Buku Abel" processing plant won the TOH (Taste of Harvest) natural category championship. At that time, a Chinese green bean importer introduced this championship coffee to China and named it "Flower Queen." This coffee had rich strawberry and cream aromas. Additionally, in the same year, Beijing's Li Jianfei won second place in the 2017 World Brewers Cup China region competition using this Flower Queen coffee (while other competitors used Geisha). This also added considerable fame to the Flower Queen coffee beans. It should be noted that at this time, the Flower Queen coffee beans carried the title of 2017 TOH champion.

Subsequently, DW Company expanded to four processing plants in the Hambella region: Buku Abel, Buku Saysay, Haro Soresa, and Tirtiro Goye. Then in 2018, they launched Flower Queen 2.0, in 2019 launched Flower Queen 3.0 and 3.1, in 2020 launched Flower Queen 4.0, and in 2021, this year, launched Flower Queen 5.0.

Therefore, it's not difficult to see that the Flower Queen X.0 naming convention is based on the year, so when you see Flower Queen 3.0, you know it's coffee beans from the 2019 harvest season, and when you see Flower Queen 4.0, you know it's from the 2020 harvest season. Besides this yearly pattern, the 2017 Flower Queen coffee was only natural coffee processed by the Buku Abel processing plant, while DW Company gradually expanded its processing plants and increased production. Its flavor also has significant differences from the 2017 Flower Queen flavor. Strictly speaking, only natural coffee beans processed by the Buku Abel processing plant can be called Flower Queen coffee beans.

Small Bean Flower Queen

The flavor and aroma of the Small Bean Flower Queen are very similar to the 2017 Flower Queen. Initially, FrontStreet Coffee found flavors similar to the 2017 Flower Queen in the 2018 and 2019 Flower Queen varieties, but in terms of body and aftertaste, they couldn't match the 2017 Flower Queen. FrontStreet Coffee discovered that the main source of the 2017 Flower Queen's aroma was some particularly small bean varieties among the Flower Queen coffee beans, and similar small coffee beans were also found in the 2018 and 2019 Flower Queen varieties. Starting from 2020, the processing plant began to separately process the small bean Flower Queen again. Therefore, the Small Bean Flower Queen does not belong to the [X.0] series. From 2020 onwards, DW Company separately processed the small bean varieties, forming the Small Bean Flower Queen coffee beans.

Comparing FrontStreet Coffee's Small Bean Flower Queen and Flower Queen 5.0

First, let's observe the comparison photos of the green and roasted beans of Small Bean Flower Queen and Flower Queen 5.0. Both are coffee beans from the new 2021 harvest season. The FrontStreet Coffee Small Bean Flower Queen coffee beans are noticeably smaller than the FrontStreet Coffee Flower Queen 5.0. The proportion of small bean coffee beans is significantly higher than in Flower Queen 5.0.

After receiving the FrontStreet Coffee Flower Queen 5.0, FrontStreet Coffee roasted it and conducted a cupping comparison with the Small Bean Flower Queen coffee. Through cupping, FrontStreet Coffee found that the FrontStreet Coffee Small Bean Flower Queen coffee beans have deeper and richer strawberry aroma and berry sweetness, while the 2021 FrontStreet Coffee Flower Queen 5.0 coffee has more vibrant berry acidity and brighter acidity.

Small Bean Flower Queen: Creamy strawberry, citrus, passion fruit, fermented wine aroma
Flower Queen 5.0: Berries, citrus, honey, mango, floral notes

From a cupping perspective, the flavor of FrontStreet Coffee Small Bean Flower Queen is closer to the 2017 Flower Queen coffee beans, while FrontStreet Coffee Flower Queen 5.0 leans toward the Guji region's flavor profile (berry acidity, floral notes, juice-like).

Brewing Comparison

Now let's look at the pour-over brewing comparison. Both coffee beans use the following brewing recipe:

Dripper: V60 #01
Water Temperature: 90-91°C
Dose: 15g
Ratio: 1:15
Grind: Medium-fine (80% passing through Chinese standard #20 sieve)

Brewing Method: Three-stage extraction. Bloom with 30g of water for 30 seconds. Using a small water stream, pour in a circular motion to 125g for the first stage. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop. Wait for the water level to drop and just before exposing the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Timing starts from the bloom) Total extraction time is 2'00".

Flavor Comparison

FrontStreet Coffee Small Bean Flower Queen: Sweet aroma of berries, creamy strawberry, passion fruit, rich fruit sweetness, full-bodied mouthfeel.

FrontStreet Coffee Flower Queen 5.0: Floral notes, berries, citrus, sweet and sour plum, mango juice, honey, with a sweet black tea aftertaste.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat of FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

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