What Does the Coffee Grading System Mean for Kochere?

Ethiopia's coffee grading system separates washed lots into grades such as G1 and G2, and the grade reflects defect counts and cup quality rather than the region alone. Kochere, about 25 kilometers southeast of Yirgacheffe at 1,650 to 1,800 meters, produces beans known for lively citrus acidity, silky sweetness and floral and fruity notes. G1 lots usually show cleaner, more defined flavor than G2.

Kochere sits within the broader Yirgacheffe area and is listed as its own region in the ECX system. Its processing equipment is relatively advanced, and the green coffee bean lots differ clearly from ordinary ones in cupping comparisons. Coffee Review once scored Kochere washed beans 94 points. Beyond grade, roasting curve, cupping report and pour-over brewing all influence how much of that regional character reaches the cup.

Yirgacheffe Kochere is one of Ethiopia's most renowned micro-regions, and the coffee beans it produces are celebrated for their lively citrus acidity, silky sweetness, and rich floral and fruity notes. This article provides an in-depth analysis of the terroir characteristics of the Kochere region, its washed processing method, and Ethiopia's unique coffee grading system—especially the specific differences between G1 and G2 grades in terms of flavor and quality. At the same time, Front Street Coffee will share the roasting curve, cupping report, and pour-over brewing insights for this bean, helping coffee enthusiasts fully understand the charm of Kochere coffee.

For coffee fans who love Yirgacheffe, the well-known Ethiopian micro-region of Kochere is surely no stranger. Within the broader Yirgacheffe area, Kochere can be considered the cream of the crop; in the ECX production region system, it is listed as a separate region, which shows its important status. Through cupping comparisons, Front Street has found that the green coffee beans produced in Kochere are clearly different from ordinary lots. This origin gives the coffee beans a highly distinctive flavor, with rich aromatic layers and a full mouthfeel, presenting lively citrus acidity, silky smooth sweetness, and fruity notes.

Kochere Production Region

Yirgacheffe itself is a small town with a population of about 20,000. The three neighboring small production areas of Wenago, Kochere, and Gelena Abaya are also included in the broader Yirgacheffe production region classification because the flavor of the coffee they produce is almost identical to that of Yirgacheffe.

Kochere is located about 25 kilometers southeast of Yirgacheffe in Ethiopia, at an altitude ranging from 1,650 to 1,800 meters. It is a prosperous area that thrives because of the coffee industry and is one of Yirgacheffe's three well-known micro-regions. It has about 100,000 residents, and coffee beans are their main source of income. The processing equipment in this area is quite advanced. The well-known coffee review website Coffee Review once gave Kochere washed beans a high score of 94 points.

Kochere is one of the 77 Woredas (administrative districts) in Ethiopia's SNNPR. In the coffee field, Kochere belongs to the Gediyo part of Yirgacheffe and is also one of the most important production areas in Yirgacheffe. Kochere can further be divided into several micro-regions. Coffee produced in the area is sometimes named after the source town (such as Chelelektu or Teklu Dembel), the washing station (such as Teklu Dembel Washing Station and, for this lot, Alim Washing Station), or the micro-area (such as Banko Gutiti), in order to trace the source of the lot more precisely, which aligns with today's coffee industry's pursuit of traceability. The stronger the traceability of a lot, the clearer its source, and the higher the stability and reproducibility of its flavor each year, and naturally the more expensive it is.

Coffee Production Model in the Kochere Area

Coffee production in Kochere mainly consists of local smallholders delivering their harvested lots to cooperatives for unified processing. About 100,000 people in the local village of Chalalacktu depend on coffee for their livelihood, and related production activities are their main source of income. Thanks to the income brought by coffee production, the local standard of living is considerably better than in many Ethiopian villages, with well-equipped health facilities and higher schools. Advanced processing equipment has allowed the Kochere production area to maintain a high standard in the field of washed coffee processing, presenting a clean sweetness with complex notes of molasses and citrus.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Kochere is a top-specification G1-grade lot. Unlike ordinary green coffee beans, it has a strong origin flavor characterized by clean, fresh lemon aroma and delicate, elegant jasmine fragrance, as well as rich aromas and flavors such as melon, citrus, ginger, and spiced tea.

Washed Processing Method

Washed

The washed method, known in English as Washed Process, also called the washing process, is a traditional processing method that uses water to process coffee cherries. Generally, the washed steps include flotation, removal of pulp, soaking and fermentation followed by removal of pectin, then washing or continued soaking, drying, and finally hulling to obtain the desired coffee beans. Compared with the natural method, coffee farmers using the washed method must be equipped with a depulper and build washing tanks, and they also need a continuous supply of running water, so it is not suitable for all origins. It is generally most common in places such as Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, and Kenya. But the washed method does have several advantages: on the one hand, it reduces the defect rate of green beans, thereby stabilizing quality; on the other hand, it greatly shortens drying time, making production more efficient; and of course, it also allows the coffee to retain the "washed taste."

After washing, the coffee beans are dried in the sun, or a dryer is used to dry the coffee beans so that the moisture content is reduced to about 12%, and finally the parchment layer of the green coffee beans is removed.

FrontStreet Coffee: Ethiopia · Yirgacheffe Kochere

Region: Yirgacheffe Kochere

Variety: Local heirloom varieties

Growing Altitude: 1,650 m–1,800 m

Processing Method: Washed process

Grade: G1

If you observe coffee beans from Ethiopia carefully, you will find that Ethiopian coffee beans vary in size. In particular, many people notice when buying Yirgacheffe coffee beans that the beans vary greatly in size, and may think that this batch of Yirgacheffe coffee beans is of relatively poor quality, or that these beans are the leftovers after sorting. Of course not. The coffee beans everyone buys from Front Street are all of very good quality; there is no such thing as an inferior lot. As for why Yirgacheffe coffee beans vary in size, we have to start from the source.

Its source lies in 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 classify them, and the Ethiopian government, out of protection for these wild coffee tree species, has not published relevant information, which is quite understandable. Therefore, local coffee farmers still practice mixed cultivation, and harvesting is also mixed, which is why coffee beans end up differing in size.

For example, the coffee bean grading of Kenya, also in Africa, is different from Ethiopia's. Kenyan coffee beans are graded by bean size. Among them, AA and AB are Kenya's highest-grade beans and are also the most commonly circulated coffee grades on the market. Next are C, T, TT, MH, and ML grades, which are very rare domestically. There is also a grade called PB, which stands for peaberry. Kenya's E grade refers to elephant beans, which are larger and extremely rare, so Front Street will not elaborate on them here.

Ethiopia's coffee grading, however, is different from Kenya's. In Ethiopia's grading process, there is almost no strict classification by coffee size; instead, there are requirements for the moisture content of the coffee beans. One is that the moisture content of the coffee beans must not exceed 11.5%, and at least 85% must not be smaller than screen size 14. The second requirement is that washed coffee beans must have a 10% appearance-size score when physical characteristics are measured, while there is no size requirement for the non-washed group. Ethiopia's green coffee bean grading process is as follows:

1. First, classify according to the processing method of the coffee beans: washed processing and non-washed processing. 2. Divide washed and non-washed coffee beans into 9 grades from G1 to G9 according to physical characteristics, cup characteristics, and basic cup quality. As follows,

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

Among them, G1 has the highest comprehensive score for green coffee beans: G1 has a comprehensive score of 91 to 100, G2 has a comprehensive score of 81 to 90, and G3 has a comprehensive score of 71 to 80. Therefore, this also shows that compared with Yirgacheffe G2, Yirgacheffe G1 has better green coffee bean quality and flavor. The coffee classification does not stop at this step. The coffee beans of the three grades G1 to G3 are cupped again according to SCAA standards to evaluate their flavor attributes in more detail. Among them, G1 and G2 scoring no less than 85 are rated as Q1; G1, G2, and G3 scoring between 80 and 85 are rated as Q2; and those below 80 are downgraded to G3. This is Ethiopia's classification of coffee beans.

Before coffee grading was carried out, Ethiopian coffee beans had a quality problem: some coffee beans were of higher quality and some of lower quality, so mixing them together would cause the price of the coffee beans to fall. A Dutch green bean trader also discovered this problem in local coffee and cooperated with local Ethiopian cooperatives to launch an initiative to improve coffee quality and prices, called the Red Cherry Project. The Red Cherry Project is actually a commercial plan to promote coffee quality and solve the problem at the source. By raising the purchase price of high-quality green coffee beans, it encourages coffee farmers to more carefully complete every process such as coffee cherry picking and processing, adopting fully manual picking at the harvesting stage and selecting highly ripe coffee cherries.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Record

In order to highlight the clean taste and bright acidity of this washed Kochere bean, Front Street's roaster decided to use a medium-light roast for this bean. Roasting machine: Yangjia 800N. Charge amount: 550 g. The beans were charged at a drum temperature of 200°C, the damper was set to 3, the heat was 160, and the damper remained unchanged. The turning point was 1'32". When the drum temperature was 151, the damper was adjusted to 3.5. When the drum temperature was 140°C, the heat was adjusted to 180 and the damper remained unchanged. At this point, the bean surface turned yellow, the grassy smell completely disappeared, and the drying phase began.

At 8'35", ugly wrinkles and dark spots appeared on the bean surface, and the toast aroma clearly turned into coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, it is necessary to listen clearly for the sound of the first crack point. First crack began at 8'53". The heat was kept at 180 unchanged, the damper was adjusted to 4, and after first crack it was developed for 1'45" and dropped at 195°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Report

FrontStreet Coffee conducts cupping within 8–24 hours after the sample coffee beans are roasted. The cupping bowls generally used by FrontStreet Coffee baristas are 200 ml ceramic bowls, marked with 150 ml and 200 ml scale lines. According to SCAA standards, the TDS of the water is about 150 ppm. Too low TDS can easily cause over-extraction, while too high TDS affects the mouthfeel and can easily lead to under-extraction. The water temperature used for cupping is 94°C. The grind size is controlled so that the passage rate through a No. 20 standard sieve (0.85 mm) is 70%–75%. Ratio: 11 grams of coffee grounds plus 200 milliliters of hot water, that is, 1:18.18, so that the extracted concentration falls exactly within the golden cup range of 1.15%–1.35%. The steeping time is 4 minutes.

Dry aroma: orange blossom

Wet aroma: sensory

Flavor: lemon, black tea, fruity sweet-tartness

FrontStreet Coffee Barista Brewing Insights

Dripper: V60 #01 Water temperature: 90–91°C Dose: 15 g Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15 Grind size: EK43s setting 10 / fine granulated sugar size (80% passing through a No. 20 sieve)

As for grind size, Front Street determines it through sieving. Based on the grind recommendations provided by the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCA) for pour-over coffee, Front Street then verifies them through actual operation. If there is no sieve at home, FrontStreet Coffee suggests judging by observing the flow rate: if the flow is too fast, the grind is coarse; if the flow is too slow, the grind is fine.

Front Street brewing method: First rinse the filter paper and preheat the dripper and coffee pot. Pour 30 grams of water in the first stage for a 30-second bloom, then pour 95 grams (the electronic scale shows about 125 grams), completing the pour in about 1 minute. When the water level drops to two-thirds of the coffee bed, pour the remaining 100 grams (the electronic scale shows about 225 grams), completing the pour in about 1 minute 35 seconds. Dripping is completed at 2'05", remove the dripper, and extraction is complete.

Brewing flavor: lemon, floral, orange, sugarcane; overall clean and refreshing, with a sweet finish featuring honey flavor and an oolong tea aftertaste.

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.