How is a light roast profile built for Hualkui coffee?

Hualkui is the commercial name for a natural G1 lot from the Hambela region of Ethiopia, named for the Geisha variety grown there. Front Street Coffee charges at 190°C, reaches yellowing in about six minutes, hits first crack near nine minutes fifty seconds, holds development for one to one and a half minutes, and drops the batch within eleven minutes.

The goal is to keep floral and fruity aromas intact. Brew the roasted beans as a V60 three-pour at 92 to 93°C with a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio. The cherry lots behind Hualkui are picked fully ripe at a sugar content of 30 or above and dried about 18 days, which shapes how the green geisha coffee beans roast.

Huakui is the commercial name for a natural G1 coffee bean from the Hambela region, distinguished each year by an X.0 suffix according to lot, and known for its tropical fruit and berry sweetness. This article sorts out Huakui's origin traceability, processing methods, and version evolution, and shares Front Street Coffee's light-roast curve adjustment approach: charge at 190°C, dehydration to yellowing in about 6 minutes, first crack at around 9 minutes 50 seconds, development time controlled at 1 to 1 minute 30 seconds, drop within 11 minutes, so as to preserve floral and fruity aromas as much as possible. It also gives V60 three-pour brewing suggestions, including 92 to 93°C water temperature, a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, and grinding reference, helping coffee lovers recreate Huakui's rich aroma and long finish at home.

Coffee beans usually follow certain naming conventions, and once established they are rarely changed, such as Geisha referring to the variety, Blue Mountain representing the region, and Gutingding being the name of the processing plant. But Huakui is an exception. It is more like Apple's iPhone, which must carry a new "version number" every year before it can be released. What is the reason behind this?

In fact, before it was called "Huakui," this bean had only the English name "Hambella," and was essentially a natural G1 coffee bean from the Hambela region, while "Buku Abel" was its more specific traceability information.

During the harvest season from December to January of the following year, the Buku Abel processing plant arranges for farmers to pick only fully red coffee cherries, which must have a sugar content of 30 or above. The selected fruit is spread on African raised beds to dry. The local day-night temperature difference is extremely large, so coffee farmers provide shade at noon to avoid excessive fermentation caused by overly high temperatures; at night they cover the fruit with plastic sheets to prevent sudden rain. The fruit is turned constantly throughout to allow even drying while avoiding sun damage or unpleasant fermented flavors. After about 18 days of natural drying, the green coffee moisture content drops to 13%, and it can then be hulled.

In 2017, "Huakui" became famous overnight, and market demand surged. To respond to this change, DW Company added 5 independent specialty coffee drying stations in Hambella Wamena Wereda, all located within the core production area of Dimtu town. In addition to the earliest Buku Abel, 4 other small villages—Buku Saysay, Haro Soresa, Tirtiro Goye, and Seke Bokosa—also joined the production of natural coffee beans. It is said that at the time DW Company's annual output of "Huakui" had already reached tens of millions of tons.

To continue increasing the production of "Huakui," DW Company not only added processing stations but also expanded the collection range for coffee cherries. Some fruit grown in neighboring villages may also be sent to these processing stations for processing and then exported as "Hambella G1." In other words, as long as it is Hambela natural G1 coffee beans processed from these five villages, it can all be called "Huakui."

What does Huakui taste like?

Judging by the name alone, many people assume it is a coffee "overflowing with floral aroma." That is not the case. Huakui's floral note is not especially intense; instead, its fruit aroma is more prominent, such as creamy strawberry, mango, jackfruit, citrus, blueberry, and so on. It carries the ripe tropical fruit flavor characteristic of Sidama natural beans, which is deeply impressive, and it was precisely this rich berry fragrance that helped "Huakui" win the championship in that year's TOH green bean competition.

But coffee is ultimately an economic crop. That year's yield and quality are first affected by factors such as climate and rainfall, altitude and soil, and fertilization and weeding, and then differences in processing details (sunlight duration, temperature, humidity) lead to different flavor directions. Huakui is no exception. Therefore, each year's Huakui will differ somewhat in taste compared with the previous year.

Starting from the 2018 harvest season, Huakui (natural G1 coffee beans) from the same origin and the same processing station already showed changes in flavor. Through cupping at the time, Front Street found that although the 2018 and 2019 Huakui still had flavors similar to the 2017 Huakui, they were inferior to the "first-generation Huakui" in mouthfeel aspects such as body and finish.

Thus, in order to continue selling this natural coffee from Hambela while distinguishing it from the original version, domestic green bean trading companies used 2017 as the starting point and added an X.0 suffix to each subsequent year's lot. For example, the 2018 lot was called "Huakui 2.0," the 2019 production was called "Huakui 3.0 and 3.1"... Last year's release was "Huakui 7.0," and so on. In this way, we can identify which year's lot the Huakui we bought belongs to through the suffix.

Flavor: floral, jackfruit, dried fruit, apricot, juicy

Front Street Coffee Roasting Suggestions

Front Street roasters first refer to the flavor description provided by the green bean supplier, then check the beans' moisture content. The freshly received green beans carry a faint fermented wine aroma, completely different from the grassy smell of ordinary green beans. In addition, Huakui green beans vary in size, with many being more pointed at the ends (Ethiopia Heirloom). The moisture content is decent, around 11%, but they are not SHB beans with very high hardness. Because the beans are dense and hard, the front stage needs a prolonged dehydration time, and before first crack the temperature rise should enter first crack while preserving floral and other small-molecule aromatic substances as much as possible and reducing their loss.

Roaster: Yangjia 800N semi-direct fire

After roasting and adjustment, the curve Front Street Coffee is relatively satisfied with is: charge at 190°C, complete dehydration to yellowing at nearly 6 minutes (yellow point at about 150-153°C), and begin first crack at around 9 minutes 50 seconds (Huakui's first crack is later than that of ordinary beans, and the cracking sound is very weak). The development time after first crack is recommended not to exceed 1 minute 30 seconds, and not to be less than 1 minute (the damper can be opened wider and the heat lowered to regulate speed). Using a sampling spoon to smell the aroma, at about 193°C a strawberry jam note can be detected, and it can then be dropped. Keeping the total time within 11 minutes is especially good.

Front Street Coffee Barista Brewing Suggestions

To taste Huakui's rich aroma, Front Street Coffee recommends brewing with freshly roasted coffee beans, as this preserves more aromatic substances. The coffee beans sold by Front Street are all freshly roasted within 5 days, and with logistics time, they are exactly in their optimal tasting period when customers receive them, ready to be brewed and enjoyed directly.

To extract the aroma of high-altitude coffee beans, Front Street chooses a higher water temperature so that aromatic substances are released more fully, but care must also be taken to avoid over-extraction. The suggested brewing parameters are as follows:

Dripper: V60

Water temperature: 92–93°C

Grind size: fine granulated sugar (80% passing a No. 20 standard sieve)

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Dose: 15 grams

Three-pour method: first wet the coffee bed with twice the coffee's weight in water and let it bloom for 30 seconds to form a dome, then pour in a thin stream in circles from the inside outward until 125 grams, pause, and when the coffee bed drops to half the height of the dripper, continue pouring the third pour in the same thin stream until 225 grams, then let all the coffee liquid finish filtering before removing the dripper. The total time is about 2 minutes.

After grinding natural Huakui 8.0, a rich tropical fruit aroma and honey-like sweetness can be smelled. On the palate there is abundant berry sweetness, complex aromas such as passion fruit, and a black tea-like mouthfeel, with a long finish that is endlessly memorable.

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