What are the Flavor Differences Between Yirgacheffe Kochere Natural Process G1 and G2?

What are the Flavor Differences Between Yirgacheffe Kochere Natural G1 and G2?

Altitude: 1700m

Processing Method: Natural Process

International Score: 88.6 points

Roast Level: Medium-Light

Packaging: One-way valve kraft paper (with zipper) packaging

Recommended Brewing Methods: Pour-over, Clever Dripper, American drip, siphon, French press, AeroPress, Moka pot, and other brewing equipment

Kochere lies in southwestern Ethiopia, about 25 miles north of the famous Yirgacheffe town. Production is built mainly on local smallholders delivering their lots to cooperatives for unified processing. The local Chalalacktu village has about 100,000 people who depend on coffee for their livelihood. Coffee-related production activities have become their main source of income. Thanks to the revenue coffee brings, the local standard of living is noticeably better than in many Ethiopian villages.

Africa is the birthplace of coffee. Coffee trees were most likely first discovered in the Kaffa province of Ethiopia. Later, as batches of enslaved people were sold from Africa to Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula, coffee was carried along the way to many places. It is certain that Yemen began growing coffee in the 15th century or earlier. Although Arabia had the world's most prosperous port city of Mocha at the time, it prohibited any export of seeds. That barrier was eventually broken by the Dutch, who in 1616 finally smuggled living coffee trees and seeds to the Netherlands and began cultivating them in greenhouses.

What's the difference between G1 and G3?

Now that we know G1, G2, and so on are Ethiopian coffee grades, what are the differences in flavor? FrontStreet Coffee selected Natural G1 and G3 for comparison.

From the beans, we can see that G1 has a much better overall appearance than G3, looking more uniform with relatively fewer defective beans.

After a cupping comparison, we found that both Natural G1 and G3 perform well in sweetness and acidity, but G1 has clearer and brighter flavor characteristics.

In fact, without tasting them side by side, the difference between the two would not be very significant. G1 and G3 are distinguished mainly by defect rate, which is more obvious from the appearance of the beans. Moreover, G1 beans are less likely to show defect flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Kochere sits squarely within the Yirgacheffe family, and if this natural G1 lot appeals to you, FrontStreet Coffee's sun-dried Red Cherry is a close relative worth trying. It is also from Yirgacheffe and uses natural processing, but with a twist: only fully ripe, sound cherries are picked, sorted once at the mill, then spread on raised beds to dry, with turning every two to three hours in the first few days to prevent uneven heating and over-fermentation. After three to five weeks the dried fruit is mechanically stripped and the beans are stored; because the fruit dries on the bean, you get the typical Yirgacheffe character plus tropical fruit from the natural process—citrus acidity, berry-juice body, honeyed sweetness, and a creamy smoothness. If you prefer a cleaner, washed expression of the same town, FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe daily bean delivers white jasmine blossom, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a tea-like finish. A simple brew for these beans is a V60 at 90–91°C, 15 g of coffee at 1:15, ground to fine-sugar size; bloom with 30 g of water for 30 seconds, then pour to about 125 g within the first minute, and finish to about 225 g with the drawdown at roughly 2 to 2 minutes 10 seconds.