Flavor Profile Comparison: Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Kochere G1 vs G2 Coffee Beans

For loyal fans of Yirgacheffe coffee, you must have heard of Kochere, this famous micro-region in Ethiopia. Kochere is located in the most essence area of the entire Yirgacheffe region. In the ECX regional division, Kochere is an independent production area, which shows its importance. FrontStreet Coffee discovered through cupping that Yirgacheffe Kochere is different from general batches of green coffee beans. The coffee beans produced in this origin have strong flavor characteristics, rich aroma and taste, with lively citrus acidity, sweet silky texture and fruity flavors.

Kochere Production Area

Yirgacheffe itself is a small town with about 20,000 people. The three neighboring small production areas, Wenago, Kochere, and Gelena Abaya, have almost identical coffee flavors to Yirgacheffe, so they are also classified under the Yirgacheffe region.

Kochere is located 25 kilometers southeast of Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia, a small production area with an altitude of 1650-1800 meters. It is a prosperous area that produces coffee and one of the three famous micro-regions of Yirgacheffe. The local population is about 100,000 people, with coffee beans as the main source of income. The processing equipment in this production area is very advanced. The well-known coffee review website Coffee Review gave the washed Kochere beans a high rating of 94 points.

Kochere is one of the 77 Woredas (Ethiopian administrative regions) in SNNPR, Ethiopia. In the coffee field, Kochere belongs to part of Gediyo in Yirgacheffe and is also one of the most important production areas in Yirgacheffe. Kochere can be further divided into several micro-regions, and the coffee produced in the area is sometimes named more specifically according to the source town (such as Chelelektu or Teklu Dembel), processing plant (such as Teklu Dembel processing plant and the Alimu processing plant of this batch), or micro-region (such as Banko Gutiti), which conforms to the current trend of coffee traceability. Of course, batches with stronger traceability have more specific sources, and the annual flavor stability and reproduction rate are also higher, and the price is naturally higher.

Coffee Production Model in Kochere

The production model in Kochere mainly involves local small farmers sending their batches to cooperatives for unified processing. The local Chalalacktu village has about 100,000 people who rely on coffee for their livelihood. Related production activities have become their main source of economic income. Due to the income brought by coffee production, the local living standards are much better than many Ethiopian villages, with complete health facilities, higher education institutions, etc. Advanced processing equipment has always enabled coffee in the Kochere production area to have high-level performance in the field of washed processing, with clean sweetness and complex tones of molasses and citrus.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Kochere is different from general batches of green coffee beans and belongs to the highest specification batch G1 grade. The origin's flavor characteristics are strong, with clean and fresh lemon aroma and elegant jasmine fragrance, as well as rich aromas and tastes of cantaloupe, citrus, ginger, and spiced tea.

Washed Processing Method

Washed Process, also known as the washing process, is a traditional processing method that uses water resources to treat coffee fruits. Generally speaking, the washing steps include flotation, pulp removal, soaking and fermentation to remove pectin, washing or continued soaking, drying, and then hulling to obtain the coffee beans we need. Compared to natural processing, farmers using the washing method must be equipped with pulping machines and build washing pools, and have a continuous supply of fresh water, so it is not applicable to every place. It is most common in places like Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, and Kenya. However, washing does have several advantages. On one hand, it reduces the defect rate of green beans, thereby stabilizing quality. On the other hand, it greatly shortens the drying time, making production more efficient. Of course, it also allows the coffee to retain the "washed flavor."

Coffee beans are dried by air-drying after washing or by using a dryer to reduce the moisture content to about 12%, and finally the parchment of the green coffee beans is removed.

FrontStreet Coffee: Ethiopia · Yirgacheffe Kochere
Region: Yirgacheffe Kochere
Variety: Local native varieties
Altitude: 1650-1800 meters
Processing method: Washed processing
Grade: G1

If you carefully observe coffee beans from the Ethiopia region, you will find that Ethiopian coffee beans vary in size. Many people, when buying Yirgacheffe coffee beans, find that the coffee beans are very inconsistent in size, and may think that the quality of this batch of Yirgacheffe coffee beans is relatively poor, or that these beans are the leftovers. Of course, this is not the case. The quality of the coffee beans you buy at FrontStreet Coffee is very good, and there are no relatively poor batches. Regarding the inconsistent size of Yirgacheffe coffee beans, we have to start from the source.

Its source is Ethiopia's coffee grading system. Ethiopian beans vary greatly in size because there are many wild coffee trees in Ethiopia. The government does not have the financial capacity to grade them. Additionally, the Ethiopian government has not published relevant data out of protection for these wild coffee tree species, which is very understandable. Therefore, local coffee farmers are still mixed cultivation, and harvesting is also mixed picking, so coffee beans appear in different sizes.

For example, Kenya, also in Africa, has a different coffee bean grading system than Ethiopia. Kenyan coffee beans are graded by bean size. Among them, AA and AB are the highest-grade beans in Kenya and are also the most common coffee grades on the market. Next are grades C, T, TT, MH, and ML, which are very rare in China. There is also a grade PB, which represents peaberries. Kenya's E grade represents elephant beans, which are larger and extremely rare, so FrontStreet Coffee will not elaborate on them.

Ethiopia's coffee grading is different from Kenya's. In the Ethiopian grading process, there is almost no strict classification based on coffee size, but there are requirements for the moisture content of coffee beans. One is that the moisture content of coffee beans must not exceed 11.5% and at least 85% must not be smaller than 14 mesh. The second requirement is that washed coffee beans have 10% appearance size scores when measuring physical characteristics, while there is no size requirement for non-washed groups. The green coffee bean grading process in Ethiopia is as follows:

1. First, classify coffee beans according to processing method: washed and non-washed processing.
2. Grade washed and non-washed coffee beans from G1 to G9 according to physical characteristics, cupping characteristics, and basic cupping quality.

Physical characteristic scores account for 40% (washed group: 20% defect count + 10% appearance size + 5% color + 5% odor; non-washed group: 30% defect count + 10% odor), and cupping quality scores account for 60% (cleanliness 15% + acidity 15% + body 15% + flavor 15%).

Among them, G1 has the highest comprehensive score for green coffee beans. G1's comprehensive score ranges from 91 to 100 points, G2's comprehensive score ranges from 81 to 90 points, and G3's comprehensive score ranges from 71 to 80 points. Therefore, this also shows that compared with Yirgacheffe G2, Yirgacheffe G1 coffee beans have better quality and flavor. Coffee classification does not stop at this step. Coffee beans from G1 to G3 grades are cupped again according to SCAA standards to more carefully evaluate their flavor attributes. G1 and G2 with scores not lower than 85 are rated as Q1 grade; G1, G2, and G3 with scores between 80 and 85 are rated as Q2 grade; those below 80 points are downgraded to G3 grade. This is Ethiopia's classification of coffee beans.

Before coffee grading, Ethiopian coffee beans will have a quality problem. Some coffee beans have higher quality, while others have lower quality. Mixing them together will lead to a decrease in the price of coffee beans. Dutch green bean merchants also discovered this problem with local coffee and cooperated with local Ethiopian cooperatives to launch a campaign to improve coffee quality and price, called the Red Cherry Project. The Red Cherry Project is actually a business plan to promote coffee quality, solving problems from the source. By increasing the purchase price of high-quality green coffee beans, it encourages coffee farmers to complete every process of coffee bean picking and processing more carefully, using fully manual picking at the picking stage and selecting coffee fruits with high maturity.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Records

To highlight the clean taste and bright acidity of this washed Kochere bean, FrontStreet Coffee's roaster decided to use a medium-light roast for this bean. Roasting machine: Yangjia 800N, bean input: 550g: When the roaster temperature reaches 200°C, add beans, set air damper to 3, heat to 160, keep air damper unchanged. Return temperature point at 1'32". When the roaster temperature reaches 151, adjust the air damper to 3.5. When the roaster temperature reaches 140°C, adjust the heat to 180, keep the air damper unchanged; at this time, the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy smell completely disappears, and it enters the dehydration stage.

At 8'35", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, and the toast smell clearly turns to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, you must listen carefully to the sound of first crack. At 8'53", first crack begins. Keep the heat at 180 unchanged, adjust the air damper to 4. After first crack, develop for 1'45", and discharge at 195°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Report

FrontStreet Coffee conducts cupping within 8-24 hours after roasting sample coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee's barista generally uses 200ml ceramic cups for cupping, marked with 150ml and 200ml scale lines. According to SCAA standards, the water TDS is about 150ppm. Too low TDS can easily cause over-extraction, while too high TDS affects taste and can easily cause under-extraction. The water temperature used for cupping is 94°C. The grind size is controlled to have a 70%-75% pass rate through a #20 standard sieve (0.85mm). Ratio: 11 grams of coffee powder plus 200ml of hot water, i.e., 1:18.18, so the extracted concentration is exactly within the 1.15%-1.35% golden cup range. Soaking time is 4 minutes.

Dry aroma: Orange blossom
Wet aroma: Sensation
Flavor: Lemon, black tea, fruity sweet and sour

FrontStreet Coffee Barista Brewing Experience

Filter: V60 #01
Water temperature: 90-91°C
Dose: 15g
Ratio: 1:15
Grind size: EK43s setting 10/fine sugar size (20# sieve screening to 80%)

Regarding grind size, FrontStreet Coffee determines it through the screening method, based on the grinding suggestions for pour-over coffee provided by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), and then combines practical operation verification. If you don't have a sifter at home, FrontStreet Coffee suggests observing the flow rate to judge. If the water flows too fast, the grind is too coarse; if the water flows too slowly, the grind is too fine.

FrontStreet Coffee brewing method: First wet the filter paper and preheat the filter cup and coffee pot. For the first pour, inject 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then inject 95g (electronic scale shows about 125g), finishing in about 1 minute. When the water level drops to 2/3 of the powder layer, inject the remaining 100g (electronic scale shows about 225g), finishing in about 1 minute 35 seconds. Complete drip filtration at 2'05", remove the filter cup, and complete extraction.

Brewing flavor: Lemon, floral, orange, cane sugar, overall clean and refreshing, with honey flavor and oolong tea aftertaste in the aftertaste.

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