How Do You Brew Yirgacheffe Without Bitterness?

Bitterness in Yirgacheffe usually comes from water that is too hot, a grind that is too fine, or an extraction that runs too long. Using 90-91°C water, a medium-light roast such as Gotiti Cooperative beans, and a three-stage pour keeps the cup juicy. Aim for a total brew time of 1 minute 50 seconds to 2 minutes 5 seconds to hold onto the citrus acidity and floral aroma.

For iced pour-over, the ratio of coffee to water to ice decides whether the drink tastes strong or watery. Grind slightly coarser than for hot brewing, stir gently during the pour, and let the ice chill the concentrate without diluting it too far. Yirgacheffe's high-altitude growing conditions and traditional processing give the yellow peach and sweet orange notes that survive chilling well.

Yirgacheffe, with its bright citrus acidity and fresh floral aroma, has become a favorite for many coffee lovers. But many people often encounter problems when brewing at home, such as excessive bitterness or iced pour-over being too strong or too weak. This article, from the perspective of Front Street Coffee, first outlines the production area background, variety characteristics, and differences between washed and natural processing of Yirgacheffe, then uses the medium-light roasted Gotiti Cooperative beans as an example to provide a specific plan with 90-91°C water temperature and three-stage extraction. It then focuses on sharing the coffee-to-water-to-ice ratio, grind size, and stirring technique for iced pour-over, helping you consistently extract a juicy flavor like yellow peach and sweet orange within 1 minute 50 seconds to 2 minutes 5 seconds, preserving the acidity and aroma while avoiding bitterness, so that summer iced coffee is refreshing and not bland.

To learn more about specialty coffee, you can follow the WeChat public account: Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee).

Yirgacheffe was originally just a small town under the Sidamo Province in Ethiopia. The coffee beans produced there have a clear flavor and bright acidity, and are therefore favored by many coffee lovers. Today it is also one of the most notable production areas in the global coffee industry.

In the past, people often thought coffee only had a heavy, bitter taste, but the emergence of Yirgacheffe refreshed many people's understanding of coffee flavor. Bright citrus acidity, fresh floral aroma, a honey-like sweet finish, and a tea-like aftertaste after swallowing have won over many domestic consumers who grew up in tea-drinking culture.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) believes that the reason Yirgacheffe tastes so good is mainly due to three points: the high-altitude growing environment, naturally mixed coffee varieties, and pure and traditional processing methods.

As Front Street mentioned above, Yirgacheffe originally belonged to a small town under Sidamo Province in Ethiopia. But when Ethiopia redivided its administrative regions in 1995, Sidamo no longer existed as an administrative region, and Yirgacheffe was also placed under the Gedeo Zone.

Later, coffee traders discovered that beans produced around Yirgacheffe had a very special white floral aroma and lemon, citrus notes, and were very popular with consumers. So many people would specifically select coffee beans from the Yirgacheffe production area before export in order to sell them at a better price.

By 2009, the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange implemented a certification in several specific production areas (Wenago, Yigacheffe, Kochere, Gelena~Abaya), dividing them into two categories: those with classic Yirgacheffe flavor (Yigacheffe A) and those without classic Yirgacheffe flavor (Yigacheffe B). That is to say, the Yirgacheffe you drink in a cafe today may not actually come from the place "Yirgacheffe," yet it is still labeled with the name Yirgacheffe, just as Yonghe soy milk does not necessarily come from Yonghe.

What we can drink today as Yirgacheffe mostly refers to the production area or region. Within the Yirgacheffe area there are also many cooperatives that centrally process coffee beans, such as Kochere, Worka, Gotiti, Chelelektu, Misty Valley, Konga, etc., all of which are relatively well-known and commonly heard names.

When green bean traders deal in these beans, they usually label them with Yirgacheffe plus the cooperative name to indicate that the beans come from a certain village and cooperative in Yirgacheffe. Most Ethiopian coffee is related to place names, but not all types are classified by place name. For example, the Sidamo Huakui 8.0 on Front Street's bean list is a nice name given by domestic green bean traders to highlight a selling point.

Ethiopia is the origin of all coffee varieties, so even today there are still a large number of wild or native coffee varieties there that have not yet been discovered and certified. Because the number of varieties is huge and complex, most Ethiopian farmers do not subdivide varieties when planting coffee trees, but rather plant and harvest them mixed together, and collectively call these varieties Heiroom (heirloom).

Coffee fruits of different varieties differ in size, so Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) has observed that coffee beans from Ethiopia often appear in different sizes. This is normal and is also a major characteristic of Ethiopian coffee beans.

In Ethiopia, due to climate and condition limitations, people often use the most traditional processing methods when extracting coffee beans: washed and natural.

The reason Yirgacheffe can have such a distinct style, in addition to its innate terroir, is largely due to the washed processing technology introduced by the Ethiopian government from Central and South America in 1972. Farms using the washed method must build washing channels and be able to introduce a continuous supply of running water, resulting in higher production costs. During processing, the fermented beans are placed in the channel and moved back and forth, using the friction between the beans and the force of flowing water to wash the coffee beans until they are smooth and clean. Each step removes impurities and defective beans, so the green beans are more uniform in quality, and the final trading price is also higher than that of naturally dried coffee.

Washed coffee beans are first sorted after harvest to remove bad fruit, then the skin and pulp are removed, and they are placed in a clean water tank to ferment and decompose the pectin, then washed with clean water and sun-dried. Through cupping by Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee), it has been found that coffee beans processed by the washed method have a very clean and bright acidity and flavor, and can also very clearly let people perceive the quality of the coffee beans.

Natural coffee beans are first sorted after harvest to remove bad fruit, then directly sun-dried until they reach a suitable moisture content before being bagged and packed. Through cupping by Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee), it has been found that coffee beans processed by the natural method have a very full sweet-and-sour sensation, along with a soft fermented aroma.

In the Yirgacheffe area, because water resources are very abundant, local coffee beans are mostly washed. The most representative one is none other than the "medium-light roast - Yirgacheffe Gotiti Cooperative coffee beans" sold by Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee).

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) - Yirgacheffe Gotiti Cooperative Coffee Beans

Region: Yirgacheffe Gedeo Zone production area

Producer: Gotiti Cooperative

Altitude: 1900-2300m

Variety: local native species (Heirloom)

Processing method: washed processing

Yirgacheffe coffee beans are grown in high-altitude areas and have a relatively hard texture. Medium-light roasting will not bring much change to the bean structure itself. Therefore, for high-altitude floral and fruity coffee beans like Yirgacheffe, Front Street uses a water temperature of 90-91°C and a grind size like fine granulated sugar (80% passing through the Chinese No. 20 standard sieve).

Three-stage extraction: For the first stage, use 30g of water to bloom for 30 seconds; for the second stage, pour 95g of hot water; when the coffee bed drops by half, begin pouring the third stage of 100g until all the coffee has dripped through. Note to start pouring from the center point, use a small stream throughout, and circle gently to avoid uneven extraction.

Gotiti pour-over coffee flavor performance: after grinding, there is an elegant jasmine and citrus-like acidity. After extraction, the entry gives a clear bright lemon acidity, prominent sugarcane sweetness, and as the temperature drops it shows a green tea mouthfeel with a lasting finish.

Sharing the parameters for iced pour-over coffee

Regarding what parameters to use for iced pour-over, Front Street once mentioned a formula in an article: iced pour-over = coffee grounds (fine grind) + 10 times hot water + 5 times ice. Here, combining a medium-light roasted coffee bean of the fruity acidity type, along with 91-93°C water temperature, a small stream circular pour, and a three-stage technique, so that the extraction time falls between 1 minute 50 seconds and 2 minutes, you can easily brew a pot of iced coffee with good flavor.

The juicy sensation that appears in coffee is usually the rich fruity aroma smelled combined with the sweet-and-sour juiciness felt in the mouth when drinking, reminding people of the experience of eating a certain fruit. In today's iced pour-over topic, this means obtaining both the acidic and aromatic substances of the early stage and pursuing the sweetness of the middle and later stages, so as to satisfy a sweet-and-sour juicy mouthfeel. Such a requirement cannot be met by water flow agitation alone, so Front Street added one more action: stirring.

Coffee beans: Ethiopia · washed Gotiti Cooperative

Dose: 15 grams

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:11 (160g hot water)

Ice: 75 grams

Grind size: EK43s setting 9.5 (C40 is about 22 clicks)

Dripper: Hario V60

Three stages: 30g, 90g (+ stirring), 45g

Before pouring, first put the ice into the server, then add all the coffee grounds. The first stage bloom remains unchanged, keeping a small stream and pouring 30g in circles from the center outward.

After 30 seconds, begin pouring 90g of hot water in circles with a larger stream while raising the water level. When the timing scale shows 120g, stop pouring, use a small spoon to draw 5 circles along the dripper wall in one direction, then wait for the coffee liquid to slowly flow down.

When the water in the dripper is about to reach the bottom, use the same small-stream, small-circle technique as in the first stage to pour the remaining 45g of hot water until all the coffee liquid has dripped through. Then you can remove the dripper and end extraction. The time will roughly fall within the range of 1 minute 55 seconds to 2 minutes 5 seconds.

The washed Gotiti brewed this way first gives a mouth-watering sweet-and-sour taste like yellow peach, sweet orange, and pomelo on entry, with an overall tendency toward yellow stone fruit notes. Because of the added stirring action, in addition to rich fruity acidity, the coffee also has a clear, moist sweetness, and under the cooling of the ice, it is like drinking a cup of refreshing fruit tea.

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