Bright and Juicy Yirgacheffe Specialty Coffee Varieties: Cultivation and Market Price Overview

Royal Selection: A Premium Yirgacheffe Offering

Royal Selection is one of the few high-scoring beans in Yirgacheffe that has obtained the Woka Cooperative-Skal organic coffee certification. The green bean processing method remains the traditional raised-bed sun-drying technique. The grade is naturally Grade 1.

Exceptional Growing Conditions and Processing Methods

The high-altitude growing environment and excellent genetics of local native varieties have created this Yirgacheffe Royal Selection with its bright, juicy profile. The sun-drying processing method adds rich, intense fruity notes.

Aricha Kebele: Traditional Processing Excellence

The second coffee bean comes from Aricha Kebele in the Yirgacheffe town. Local coffee farmers deliver fully ripe coffee cherries, picked from native forests, to local processing stations. The processing stations keep the pulp and skin completely intact while placing the coffee cherries on raised beds for sun-drying. It is precisely this labor-intensive raised-bed drying method that isolates the cherries from ground contact, preventing earthy impurities from developing during the sun-drying process. This creates FrontStreet Coffee's sun-dried Yirgacheffe with its exceptionally clean fruit flavors. After more than two weeks of sun-drying, the dark brown coffee beans are professionally stored to await complete flavor maturation.

Gedeo Zone: Collective Excellence

The third coffee bean comes from the Gedeo administrative zone of Yirgacheffe, where more than 600 small farmers collectively produce this Royal Selection coffee. Many of these small coffee farmers are members of the Woka Cooperative, and their coffee batches have consistently delivered stunningly outstanding performance.

Flavor Profile and Characteristics

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe green beans are filled with the sweetness of snow pear and fermented wine aroma. The cup features clear, bright, and gentle smooth fruit acidity, with very clean fermented fruit sweetness, elegant fruit wine fragrance, coffee flower aroma, and a sweet aftertaste that gradually transforms into a lasting sweetness.

The rich and intense fruit flavors of flowers, cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries, and ripe berries explode like a fruit bomb the moment the beans are ground into coffee powder, instantly activating the taster's sense of smell. Earl Grey tea notes, silk-like smooth texture, clean and balanced mouthfeel, and a lingering, lively, and varied fruit sweetness in the finish.

Quality Control at Aricha Processing Station

After the Aricha processing station waits for the coffee beans' flavors to mature, it removes the dried cherry pulp and parchment before shipping. Next, it eliminates underripe beans and over-fermented beans. Perhaps it is precisely this strict quality control that has enabled Aricha to achieve top ranking as G1.

Adulina Kochere: The First Selection

The first Yirgacheffe coffee bean comes from the Adulina Kochere region. The coffee bean variety is Heirloom, a mixed variety from the local native forest. Although the natural environment of the producing region creates Yirgacheffe's flavor, it is the local native varieties that best express these characteristics.

Processing Methods

The green bean processing method is: fully washed.

Washed Yirgacheffe: Clarity and Elegance

Compared to ordinary washed G2 Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe coffee tastes exceptionally clear and pure, possessing a charming sweetness like a beautiful girl's smile, with bright, delicate lemon acidity, elegant mouthfeel, and fresh lemon, jasmine, ginger flower, and other floral notes accompanied by hints of honey fragrance that keep one refreshed throughout the day.

Yirgacheffe Classification and Flavor Characteristics

Yirgacheffe is divided into two main categories based on green bean processing methods: Category A includes washed processing, with grading standards set by the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), divided into Grade 1 and Grade 2, where smaller Arabic numbers indicate higher grades. G1 Yirgacheffe has a distinctive style, with citrus and flower notes fused in the coffee liquid—a flavor that everyone finds irresistible. Category B includes sun-dried processed coffee beans, graded as G1, G3, G4, and G5. Similarly, the highest grade FrontStreet Coffee's sun-dried Yirgacheffe G1 has rich fruit aroma. Opening a bag of freshly roasted FrontStreet Coffee's sun-dried Yirgacheffe G1 can subvert everyone's original understanding of coffee. Only those who have tasted the highest grade sun-dried Yirgacheffe will believe that coffee is a fruit.

Most Yirgacheffe coffee trees are planted in farmers' own backyards or mixed with other crops in farmland. Each household's production is limited, making it typical pastoral coffee. Award-winning Yirgacheffe beans almost always come from the above-mentioned coffee villages and communities. The so-called "Yirgacheffe flavor" refers to rich jasmine fragrance, lemon or lime acidity, as well as peach, almond sweetness, or tea aroma. The phrase "coffee enters the mouth, a hundred flowers bloom" is most appropriate to describe this sensation, much like the comfortable feeling of flowers stimulating taste buds and nasal olfactory cells. Besides the floral aroma, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe coffee has a delicate body thickness, like silk massaging in the mouth—a wonderful tactile sensation. Currently, many coffee chemists have begun studying the microclimate and soil conditions around Yirgacheffe to summarize the cultivation equation for specialty coffee.

Brewing Guide for FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe brewing method: water temperature of 85-90°C is preferable. Yirgacheffe tends to be acidic with less bitterness, leaving a slight sweetness in the mouth after drinking. The AeroPress has low requirements for grind fineness—finer grinds and higher water temperatures require shorter brewing time, while coarser grinds and lower water temperatures need longer brewing time, but 1-2 minutes is sufficient. The powder-to-water ratio ranges from 1:12 to 1:18; everyone's preferences differ, so find your own favorite flavor rather than assuming what others say is good will suit you. If you're not accustomed to coffee's bitterness initially, you can add sugar or coffee creamer, then gradually reduce daily until adapting to black coffee—usually a week is sufficient.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe beans use medium-light roasting. Good coffee beans should never be dark-roasted to preserve more natural characteristics. However, since roasting involves physical and chemical reactions at high temperatures—reaching 200°C—how much nature can really be preserved? This is probably just an imagined concept after coffee bean roasting.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473