How Do Natural and Washed Coffee Bean Processing Differ?

Natural processing dries the whole cherry around the seed and tends to give heavier berry sweetness and a fuller body, while washed processing removes the fruit before drying and yields cleaner, brighter acidity. In Yirgacheffe, that split shows up clearly in the cup, and it is one of the main reasons the region's coffees taste so different from one another.

Yirgacheffe sits inside the larger Sidamo area of Ethiopia, and producers there have built a reputation on floral and citrus notes. Operation Cherry Red is a project tied to the region's red cherry selection. Beans such as Cherry Red and Konga are used to compare how coffee bean processing shapes flavor, and regional lots like Banko Gotiti and Gesha Village add further reference points.

Yirgacheffe is one of Ethiopia's most recognizable coffee regions, and the flavor differences between its natural and washed processing methods have long been a hot topic among coffee enthusiasts. In Front Street Coffee's bean list, the Ethiopian region always occupies an important position; from the Banko Gotiti Cooperative to Operation Cherry Red, every bean carries a unique story of terroir. This article will systematically sort out the development of the Yirgacheffe region, deeply compare the craft characteristics and flavor performance of natural and washed processing, explain in detail the origin and operation of Operation Cherry Red, and use the two beans Cherry Red and Konga as examples to share Front Street Coffee's brewing parameters and tasting experience.

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Browsing Front Street Coffee's (FrontStreet Coffee) bean list, it is not hard to find that coffee beans from the Ethiopian region usually rank first in number.

1. Banko Gotiti Cooperative—this bean became independent from the Worka Cooperative because of its exquisite flavor; 2. Gesha Village Estate series—a relatively rare estate-grown model within Ethiopia, including Front Street Gold Label Gesha, Front Street Red Label Gesha, and Front Street Chaka Gesha; 3. Front Street Sidamo Natural Florac—a classic representative of berry flavors.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) has an in-depth understanding of the regional background of every coffee bean, even down to the differences between different varieties within the same region, and between different processing methods for the same variety. For example, coffee beans processed naturally and those processed by washing show clear differences in flavor and mouthfeel, and the same is true between different regions. Around this information, Front Street has built corresponding databases one by one, aiming to provide coffee lovers with richer and more detailed reference materials, and to bring more people into the world of coffee.

Yirgacheffe Coffee Region

The Yirgacheffe region is located in Ethiopia and was originally just a sub-region under the Sidamo region. The coffee here has a bright and delicate flavor, standing out uniquely within the greater Sidamo area. Because of its high recognizability, local farmers took pride in their beans having Yirgacheffe flavor, which ultimately led Yirgacheffe to become independent from Sidamo and become today's widely renowned Yirgacheffe region.

In its early days, the Yirgacheffe region used the most traditional natural drying method to process coffee beans. Later, the Ethiopian government introduced the washed processing method from Central and South America, and the quality of Yirgacheffe coffee rose sharply as a result. Its bright, lifted acidity and white floral flavor characteristics quickly won over a large number of loyal fans. Yirgacheffe is a high-altitude region, at about 2,000 meters above sea level. There are more than 40 cooperatives in the region, mainly family-run operations for coffee cultivation and management. Yirgacheffe also includes many well-known micro-regions, such as Kochere, Misty Valley, and Gedeb. These micro-regions all have strong cooperatives, and the Front Street Yirgacheffe coffee beans they produce each have their own flavor characteristics.

Banko Gotiti Cooperative Banko Gotiti

The Banko Gotiti Cooperative is located in the Worka region at the southeastern end of Yirgacheffe, and originally belonged to the Worka Cooperative under the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers' Cooperative Union (YCFCU). As the market's demand for traceability of green coffee increased, the concept of "single origin" was gradually unearthed by coffee hunters around the world.

In 2012, Banko Gotiti, with about 300 farmer members, formally became independent and established the "Banko Gotiti Cooperative." Banko Gotiti village was the earliest village area to become independent, and many smallholder farmers were originally members of the Worka Cooperative, so their coffee cultivation techniques were quite mature. The Banko Gotiti Cooperative is known as the last pure land of Yirgacheffe, and the processing methods it uses are also quite traditional (that is, washed and natural processing).

Coffee Bean Processing Methods The Front Street Yirgacheffe Banko Gotiti Cooperative coffee beans use the washed processing method. The specific process is: first use a depulper to remove the skin and pulp of the cherries, then leave the beans to rest in fermentation tanks for 18 to 36 hours, and after the mucilage layer has decomposed (the specific duration depends on local temperature and humidity conditions), send the parchment beans into washing channels to be scrubbed for 30 to 60 minutes.

Through the channel design and the scouring action of the water flow, lower-density, poorer-quality beans are eliminated, while high-quality parchment beans are placed on African raised beds to dry for about 14 days. After drying is complete, the parchment beans are first stored in the processing plant warehouse, and before export they are transported to a Dry Mill for hulling, and then undergo a series of complicated sorting steps such as foreign matter removal, silver skin removal and polishing, gravity sorting, and color sorting, before finally being bagged for export.

Front Street Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Washed Banko Gotiti Coffee Beans

Region: Yirgacheffe Gedeo Zone

Altitude: 1900-2300m

Variety: Heirloom

Processing Method: Washed Grade: G1 Flavor: Berry, cream, honey, citrus, juicy

Friends familiar with Ethiopian coffee are probably also familiar with Operation Cherry Red. Next, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) will talk with everyone about what exactly Operation Cherry Red is.

Introduction to Operation Cherry Red

The core of Operation Cherry Red lies in processing only fully red coffee cherries, thereby improving coffee quality. From today's perspective, processing only fully red cherries seems a matter of course and hardly anything new. But if we go back to 2007, it was undoubtedly a landmark innovative move.

In 2007, Trabocca, the largest green bean trader in the Netherlands, in pursuit of high-quality Ethiopian coffee, proposed "Operation Cherry Red," aiming to improve the production quality of small-scale farms. Before that, whether local processing stations or green bean traders, all tended to keep the purchase price of coffee cherries as low as possible in order to obtain higher profits. For coffee farmers, income depended on the quantity of coffee cherries sold, so they did not care about quality. Traders pressing prices and farmers chasing volume led coffee bean quality into a vicious cycle. Trabocca insightfully identified this problem and was determined to break this dead cycle, and thus the win-win "Operation Cherry Red" was born.

Program requirements: When harvesting coffee cherries, not only must fully red fruit be selected, but the entire harvest must also be done by hand. However, this is only the most basic requirement; the actual content of the program goes far beyond this. To encourage coffee farmers, Trabocca, the largest coffee bean trader in the Netherlands, invited all Ethiopian farms before the harvest season to produce small lots of about 1,500 to 3,000 kg (25 to 50 bags) of beans for them, with women specially selecting 100% ripe red cherries. This has a significant impact on the flavor of the final brewed coffee, so hardworking Ethiopian women with good eyesight became an important driving force behind Operation Cherry Red.

Operation Cherry Red is also a reinforcing measure, prompting farms to invest more effort in the sorting and selection of beans, and the prices of these coffees are also relatively higher. Operation Cherry Red covers washed beans, natural beans, semi-washed, semi-natural, and experimental coffees, among others. The main producing regions include Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, Bonga Forest, Lekempti, Kambata, Ilubabor, Harar, and Limu; in 2011, Golocha (near Harar) was also added. These regions each have their own flavor characteristics and can fully display the diverse charm of Ethiopian coffee.

First, the cupping score requirements are strict. In cupping rooms in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Trabocca conducts another screening after receiving coffee shipped from the origin, judging whether the coffee beans meet the standard through two cuppings in the two places. Beans that meet the standard are organized by Trabocca and auctioned to coffee bean buyers around the world. Usually, coffee beans auctioned through this platform can fetch more than 4 times the general international spot price for coffee, and at the highest even up to 20 times.

Second, production volume requirements are small, and quality requirements are high. In order to have enough energy to care for these top Ethiopian beans, Trabocca requires that beans participating in the program must be small lots, with output roughly between 1,500 kg and 3,000 kg.

Finally, Trabocca invests heavily in and pays great attention to the project. Trabocca donated new sun-drying racks, shade nets, generators, and other equipment locally, while also providing financial loan support, new hardware equipment, and knowledge and technology for production and processing to help farmers improve their production level. In addition, through real-time monitoring, safe transportation, and other means, it ensures that the beans of Operation Cherry Red receive the best possible care at every stage.

Specifically, Operation Cherry Red encourages coffee farmers to more carefully complete every step of coffee cherry harvesting and processing by raising the purchase price of high-quality green coffee. The resulting coffee beans are of better quality and better taste, and can be better recognized by the end market, thereby balancing the relatively high coffee purchasing cost. Although the advantages of Operation Cherry Red coffee beans no longer seem outstanding today, the program made an indelible contribution to the process of coffee refinement.

How does Yirgacheffe Cherry Red coffee taste?

Front Street Yirgacheffe Cherry Red coffee beans use fully red cherries from Aricha Farm with natural processing. Each smallholder coffee farmer at Aricha Farm cultivates an average area of about 0.6 hectares, and the farm is composed of hundreds of coffee farmers, with a cultivation altitude close to 2,000 meters, large temperature differences, and fertile soil, providing superior natural conditions for coffee growth. Hand-picking fully red cherries can maximize the lower limit of coffee quality.

The green beans are pale yellow, plump, complete in appearance, and low in defect rate, belonging to G1 grade. As a single-origin pour-over coffee, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) uses a medium-light roast for Cherry Red coffee beans. After roasting, the Cherry Red coffee beans have a uniform color and an obvious berry aroma. Below, take two beans from the Front Street bean list—Front Street Yirgacheffe Cherry Red and Front Street Yirgacheffe Konga—as examples. Both of these Front Street Ethiopian coffee beans use natural processing and come from the same Yirgacheffe region but different processing stations.

Front Street Yirgacheffe Cherry Red Coffee Beans and Front Street Yirgacheffe Konga Coffee Beans

Brewing Parameters

Dripper: V60#01 Water temperature: 90-91°C Dose: 15g Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15 Grind size: medium-fine grind (80% passing through Chinese standard No. 20 sieve)

Front Street Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Cherry Red Coffee Beans Country: Ethiopia Region: Yirgacheffe Processing station: Aricha Altitude: 2300m Variety: Local Heirloom Processing method: Natural Grade: G1

Front Street Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Konga Coffee Beans

Region: Yirgacheffe

Washing station: Worka Konga Processing Station

Altitude: 1850 to 2050 meters

Soil: Vertisol

Coffee variety: Heirloom

Processing method: Natural

Harvest year: 2020

Grade: G1

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Brewing Method Sharing

Three-stage extraction. Use 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom, pour in a small stream in circles until 125 grams for the first stage, then when the water level is about to expose the coffee bed continue pouring until 225 grams and stop, and when the water level is about to expose the coffee bed again remove the dripper. (Start timing from the beginning of the bloom.) The extraction time is 2'00".

Front Street Yirgacheffe Cherry Red Coffee Beans: Lemon, citrus, berry, sweet orange; overall sweetness is relatively high, the finish carries caramel and cream flavors, and the aftertaste is accompanied by black tea aroma.

Front Street Yirgacheffe Konga Coffee Beans: At high temperature it presents a juicy mouthfeel of berry, cream, honey, and citrus, with bright acidity; after the temperature drops slightly, it shows berry, cream, smoothness, and citrus.

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