Small Beans with Rich Aroma: Introduction to Ethiopian Specialty Coffee Varieties, Cultivation, and Market Prices

FrontStreet Coffee · Yirgacheffe Coffee Bean Related Information

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe is a small town situated at an altitude of 700-2100 meters, synonymous with fine Ethiopian coffee. This area has been wetland since ancient times. The ancient word "Yirga" means "settle down," while "Cheffe" means "wetland." The coffee production methods and flavors here are so outstanding that Ethiopian coffee farmers compete to have their coffee bear the Yirgacheffe flavor as a point of pride, making it one of Africa's most prestigious coffee-growing regions.

Ethiopia's Coffee Quality Control System

In Ethiopia, the coffee grading and quality control system is divided into three levels: producers, regional, and national. All coffee must undergo inspection by local inspection agencies before leaving its origin, then undergo re-inspection at coffee inspection and grading centers in Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa to determine its quality grade. Coffee grading before auction and sales is important for all groups involved in production, procurement, export, and consumption. Before export, coffee must also be sent to a national quality control agency for inspection to confirm that its origin, color, and other characteristics meet export standards, ensuring the reputation of Ethiopian coffee.

Traditional Ethiopian Coffee Preparation

In homes, typically young teenage girls are responsible for preparing coffee for everyone. She first takes a handful of light green raw coffee beans, places them in a small iron pot over a charcoal stove, scoops clean water, and washes them thoroughly with both hands. Then she uses a small wooden spatula to roast the coffee beans. Soon, the coffee beans begin to turn dark black and emit an enticing aroma. When the girl determines the timing is right, she picks up the iron pot handle and shakes the lightly smoking coffee beans inside, bringing them before everyone to smell. After everyone nods in approval, she pours the roasted beans into a small mortar, picks up a large iron rod nearly one meter long and as thick as a child's arm with both hands, and pounds them. Soon, that handful of beans is pounded into powder.

The girl uses a small wooden spoon to scrape out the powder bit by bit and pour it into a pottery pot with a narrow neck, bulging belly, and large handles, adds clean water, and places it on a small stove to boil. The water quickly boils, and after boiling for a moment, the fragrance is already overwhelming. The girl arranges several porcelain cups the size of wine glasses on a small wooden box, then lifts the large handles of the coffee pot to fill each cup one by one, sets down the pot, and serves each cup to the seated people with both hands. This process typically lasts 30 minutes.

Ethiopian Coffee Packaging and Pride

Interestingly, Ethiopians also place horse photos on coffee packaging to indicate the coffee's purity. It is said that in an era when horses were the primary means of transportation, Ethiopia had the world's best Arabian-bred purebred horses, and Ethiopians took pride in this. Now they apply this pride to Ethiopian coffee, with the philosophy that "fine coffee should be as pure as purebred horses." Due to adhering to this principle, the taste of coffee here remains so mellow and authentic today.

Ethiopian Coffee Diversity and Regional Characteristics

Ethiopia grows coffee in different climate zones, thus possessing over 140 farmer varieties and producing fresh coffee year-round. Ethiopian coffee quality varies according to different altitudes and regional ecological environments. Harar coffee from the southeastern highlands is typical Mocha coffee, fragrant and rich in flavor; coffee produced in southwestern Wollega has intense fruit flavors; Limu coffee carries wine-like aromas and spice notes; Sidamo coffee has a mellow taste, rich aroma, and acidic fruit flavors; while Yirgacheffe coffee features floral notes. Tasting Yirgacheffe reveals stronger chocolate and acidic flavors, soaring like lemon, containing intoxicating floral aromas.

Ethiopia's Coffee Export Industry

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 reached 127,000 tons. Due to 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 income accounted for more than half of Ethiopia's foreign exchange earnings, but now only accounts for about 35%. However, according to International Coffee Organization reports, coffee prices began to recover in 2002, rising 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 September 2001 prices. This is excellent news for Ethiopia.

Yirgacheffe Coffee: A World-Renowned Variety

Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe coffee (also translated as Yega Xuefei) is one of the most uniquely flavored coffee beans in the world today: it has strong, prominent floral aromas, lemon fragrance, rich yet pleasant acidity, and a smooth mouthfeel.

Ethiopian Coffee Varieties and Characteristics

Some estimate that Ethiopian coffee has at least 2,000 varieties, with some even claiming over 4,500 types. Compared to the main varieties of its southern neighbor Kenya, Bourbon 'SL28', or the robust body of Typica from Central and South America and Asia, Ethiopian beans appear somewhat undernourished. However, "beans" cannot be judged by appearance - Ethiopian coffee's citrus aroma is considered world-class. Whether instant or freshly ground coffee, one can smell the prominent orange or lemon fragrance during extraction. The prominent floral, fruit, and sweet-sour aromas upon entry are Ethiopian characteristics, but the body or consistency is somewhat lacking. The biggest drawback is the tendency for uneven roasting, especially for natural processed beans. Even the best Grade 3 Harar natural processed beans often show uneven bean color, which is the biggest defect of Ethiopian beans, but fortunately doesn't affect their good flavor. For coffee enthusiasts, bean appearance doesn't matter as much as taste. Ethiopian washed beans have much more stability than natural processed beans; the latter's flavor varies greatly year to year, so be sure to cup several times before making large purchases. If you buy good natural processed beans, their flavor depth far exceeds washed beans; but if you buy improperly processed natural beans, it will surely be disappointing - this is the heartfelt sentiment of many coffee enthusiasts.

Ethiopian Coffee Bean Classification

Ethiopian beans are easily recognizable - the beans are mostly small and form slender, pointed long beans, so-called 'longberry', and are often mixed with small oval-shaped short beans, so-called 'shortberry', appearing uneven in size and irregular in appearance. Grade 4 or Grade 5 commercial bulk beans mostly mix hundreds of different varieties from various producing regions, so the phenomenon of uneven bean appearance is most obvious, and they are not easy to roast evenly. Ethiopian coffee beans are divided into five grades. Grade 1 and Grade 2 are washed beans. For washed beans, Grade 1 represents 0-3 defective beans per 300 grams of raw beans; Grade 2 represents 4-12 defective beans per 300 grams. Grade 1 washed beans are extremely rare and generally difficult to purchase. Currently, Ethiopia's exported washed beans are all Grade 2. Natural processed bean quality follows three grades: Grade 3, Grade 4, or Grade 5. Although Grade 4 has significantly fewer defective beans than Grade 5, coffee farmers claim that for export tax savings, they often declare higher-quality Grade 4 beans as Grade 5 to save costs. This might just be a marketing tactic, as Grade 5 quality is indeed not as good as Grade 4.

Ethiopia possesses unique, distinct flavors different from others, providing customers worldwide with extensive taste choices.

The Birthplace of Arabica Coffee

In the southwestern highlands of Ethiopia, the forest coffee ecosystems of Kaffa, Sheka, Gera, Limu, and Yayu are considered the homeland of Arabica coffee. These forest ecosystems also possess various medicinal plants, wildlife, and endangered species.

The western highlands of Ethiopia have nurtured some new coffee varieties that can resist coffee berry disease or leaf rust. Ethiopia possesses world-renowned coffee types. Some of the main coffee types are famous worldwide for their unique aromas and flavors, including the following:

Limu Coffee

This coffee grows in regions ranging from 1400 to 2000 meters altitude. This coffee is wet-processed, with rich and intense aromatic fragrance; full-bodied fruit with moderate acidity; superior quality with captivating wine-like spicy flavors. According to estimates, within a planting area of 49,000 hectares, this coffee has an average annual production of 29,000 tons (equivalent to 480,000 60kg bags of coffee).

Coffee Intellectual Property and Value Creation

Getachew Mengistie, Director General of the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office, incisively pointed out that farmers sell raw beans for $1.45 per pound, while Starbucks sells them for $26 per pound in the United States - an eighteen-fold price difference. The reason lies in Ethiopia's failure to utilize intellectual property rights to create value for farmers. Simply marketing Ethiopian fine beans under their name allows marketing in the United States at prices three times higher than regular commercial beans. It should be understood that relying solely on US downstream channel investment in roasting, packaging, and marketing equipment cannot create such enormous added value, because most value comes from the coffee origin (if Starbucks hadn't used the "Sidamo" name, it certainly couldn't sell at such high prices). He emphasized: "Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, and its famous producing regions naturally possess enormous marketing value, but this has been overlooked by farmers, allowing excess profits to be effortlessly earned by countries that know how to use origin prestige to create value!"

Ethiopia's Trademark Initiative

Ethiopia finally awakened and decided to learn from Western developed countries' techniques for mastering brands and creating value to benefit hardworking farmers. In March 2005, it applied to the US Patent and Trademark Office for trademark rights for three renowned origins: Sidamo, Yirgacheffe, and Harar. In the future, US businesses selling fine coffee from these three regions must first obtain authorization from Ethiopia before using the origin names, allowing hardworking farmers to receive more reasonable compensation.

According to Oxfam estimates, once Ethiopia obtains these three origin trademark rights, it will increase Ethiopia's annual income by $88 million - no small supplement. However, Starbucks filed an objection with the US Trademark Office because Starbucks had already applied for Sidamo as a trademark in 2004. Although the case is still under review, the first applicant has the advantage. The Ethiopian ambassador to the United States negotiated with Starbucks and received the response: "Please speak directly with our lawyers." However, in 2006, the US Trademark Office approved Ethiopia's ownership of the "Yirgacheffe" trademark, while the Sidamo and Harar region names remain under review. Starbucks hired a large team of lawyers to strengthen their defense efforts, attempting to prevent Ethiopia from controlling trademark rights for the other two regions.

Natural Processed Coffee Characteristics

The grade of natural processed beans has never been a good reference standard for judging a bean's quality, but indeed natural processed beans are not as clean as washed beans, yet have a special sun-like flavor, very sunny and warm.

Coffee Tasting Experience

This bean was recommended by a friend who insisted I must get it. He said this batch was not to be missed. When the raw beans arrived, he also ordered for the first time to show his support. When he tasted it, he exclaimed: So single-origin Djimmah can also be so charming! I was so grateful to him - it's truly a fine bean. The raw beans appear basically neat among natural processed beans. The roasting is somewhat similar to Harar. The entry is very "African" - wild, with a bit of spiciness, slightly bitter at entry, but with a quite mellow texture. The later fruity aftertaste is delicate yet intense, with a very comfortable natural sugarcane sweetness.

Ethiopian Arabica Diversity

Exactly how many Arabica subspecies Ethiopia has, even Ethiopian official research units cannot say clearly. The coffee varieties grown by cooperatives on one mountain are definitely different from those planted on another mountain. Even small farmers in the same region don't grow exactly the same coffee varieties.

The Delicate Charm of Yirgacheffe

Like Suzhou's delicate beauties, though petite in form, they are gentle, elegant, sweet and charming, attracting countless admirers without any adornment. Under medium roast, Yirgacheffe has unique lemon, floral, and honey-like sweet aromas, with soft fruit acidity and citrus flavors, creating a fresh and bright mouthfeel.

Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe coffee, though petite in form, is gentle, elegant, sweet and charming. As the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia's thousand-year history of cultivation and processing traditions has produced high-quality washed Arabica beans. Light roast reveals unique lemon, floral, and honey-like sweet aromas, with soft fruit acidity and citrus flavors, creating a fresh and bright mouthfeel. Without milk or sugar, let the rich texture and unique soft floral notes brush across your taste buds, leaving endless aftertaste...

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