What defines coffee from the Yirgacheffe Gedeb Gotiti cooperative?

Yirgacheffe is a high-altitude Ethiopian region at roughly 2,000 meters, home to more than forty cooperatives run mainly by families. These cooperatives are non-profit and voluntary, formed so members can secure resources for production and supply. Each coffee carries its own story, even when regional flavor runs similar.

This article follows the Front Street Yirgacheffe Geddida Cooperative, tracing its split from the Worka Cooperative, its heirloom varieties, and its traditional washed processing. It also records Front Street's roast curve, cupping results, and V60 brewing parameters, giving a full reference for exploring the flavor of coffee bean processing.

Coffee cooperatives play an important role in Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe region; they are non-profit voluntary organizations that help members obtain production resources more conveniently. As a high-altitude region, Yirgacheffe nurtures many well-known micro-regions and cooperatives, and the coffee behind each cooperative has its own unique story. This article focuses on Front Street Yirgacheffe Geddida Cooperative, outlining its history of independence from the Worka Cooperative, the characteristics of its heirloom varieties, and its traditional washed processing flow, while also documenting in detail Front Street's roasting curve, cupping performance, and V60 brewing parameters, providing coffee lovers with a complete reference for flavor exploration.

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In Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe region, cooperatives are scattered throughout the area. These cooperatives are non-profit organizations whose members join voluntarily, with the aim of making it easier for members to obtain the resources they need in coffee production or supply. Although the coffee produced by different Yirgacheffe cooperatives may not differ much in flavor, the coffee of each cooperative carries its own different story. This time, Front Street will introduce Front Street Yirgacheffe's Geddida Cooperative.

Yirgacheffe

Yirgacheffee

Yirgacheffe has always been one of Ethiopia's important coffee-producing regions. It was once under the jurisdiction of the Sidama coffee region, but later, because Yirgacheffe coffee beans displayed a unique flavor, it became an independent coffee-producing region. It can be said that Yirgacheffe is not only the name of a coffee-producing region, but has also evolved into a byword for describing a specific coffee flavor.

The Yirgacheffe coffee-producing region is a high-altitude area, with an elevation of about 2,000 meters. More than forty cooperatives are distributed within this region, and coffee cultivation is mainly based on family-run operations. Under the Yirgacheffe region, there are also many familiar micro-regions, such as Kochere, Misty Valley, and Gedeb. These micro-regions all have outstanding cooperatives, and the Yirgacheffe coffee beans they produce each have unique flavor characteristics.

Geddida Cooperative

Banko Gotiti

Geddida Cooperative is located in the Worka region at the southeastern end of Yirgacheffe. At first, it was only part of the Worka Cooperative under the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers' Cooperative Union (YCFCU). Later, as the market's demand for traceability of green coffee beans continued to rise, the concept of "single origin" was gradually uncovered by coffee hunters around the world.

In 2012, Geddida, with about 300 farmer members, formally separated from the original organization and became an independent "Geddida Cooperative." Geddida Village was the earliest village area to become independent. Many local smallholder farmers had originally been members of the Worka Cooperative, so their coffee cultivation and production techniques were naturally very solid. Geddida Cooperative is praised as the last pure land of Yirgacheffe, and its green bean processing methods also follow a very traditional path (washed and natural processing methods).

Coffee Bean Variety

Heirloom

The coffee variety of Yirgacheffe is the local heirloom variety, belonging to the small-bean type, with a relatively round appearance and a very small bean size, mostly between 14 and 15 screen sizes. However, Front Street Coffee noted that in this year's COE competition held in Ethiopia, Ethiopia also began to distinguish coffee varieties, and the one ranked 13th was the Kurme variety from the Yirgacheffe region. KURUME is actually a common non-coffee plant in southern Ethiopia. This plant has relatively high yield and small fruit, and shares the same characteristics as a certain local type of coffee, so local coffee farmers call coffee with such characteristics KURUME. The coffee bean variety of Front Street Coffee's Geddida Cooperative is the local heirloom variety.

Coffee Bean Processing Method

Washed

Front Street Coffee's Geddida Cooperative coffee beans use the washed processing method. First, a pulping machine is used to remove the skin and pulp of the cherries, then they are left to rest in a fermentation tank for 18 to 36 hours to allow the mucilage layer to break down (the specific duration depends on local temperature and humidity conditions). Next, the parchment beans are scrubbed in washing channels for 30 to 60 minutes.

During this process, with the combination of channel design and water flow washing, low-density and poor-quality beans can be eliminated. Then the high-quality parchment beans are placed on African-style raised beds to dry for about 14 days. After drying is completed, they are first stored in the processing plant warehouse. Before export, the parchment beans are transported to a Dry Mill for hulling, and go through a series of complicated screening procedures such as foreign matter removal, silver skin removal and polishing, gravity sorting, and color sorting, and only then are they finally bagged for export.

Region: Yirgacheffe Gedeo Zone

Altitude: 1900-2300m

Variety: Heirloom

Processing Method: Washed

Front Street Coffee Roasting Recommendations

Front Street's roaster took into consideration that Front Street Geddida's main flavor profile is fruity acidity, making it more suitable for a light roast, which can highlight Front Street Geddida's clean mouthfeel, bright fruity acidity, and obvious sweet aftertaste.

Using a Yangjia 800N, with a 480g charge: add the beans when the drum temperature rises to 175°C, set the damper to 3, and the heat to 120; the turning point is at 1'32"; when the drum temperature reaches 140°C, keep the heat unchanged and open the damper to 4; at this point the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy smell completely disappears, and the dehydration stage begins. At 166°C, lower the heat to 100, at 176°C lower the heat to 80, and keep the damper unchanged. At 8'28", ugly wrinkles and dark streaks appear on the bean surface, and the toast aroma clearly turns into coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. First crack begins at 9'38"; adjust the damper to 5 (adjusting the heat requires great care, and it must not be reduced so much that there is no cracking sound). After first crack, develop for 1'30", then drop at 193.5°C.

Front Street Coffee Cupping Report

Front Street Coffee conducts cupping within 8 to 24 hours after the sample coffee beans are roasted. Front Street Coffee baristas usually use 200ml ceramic cupping bowls, marked with 150ml and 200ml刻度 lines. According to SCAA standards, the TDS of the water is controlled at about 150ppm; too low a TDS easily causes over-extraction, while too high a TDS affects the mouthfeel and easily causes under-extraction. The water temperature used for cupping is 94°C. The grind size is controlled so that the No. 20 standard sieve (0.85 mm) has a 70%-75% pass-through rate. The ratio is 11 grams of coffee powder to 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%, and the steeping time is 4 minutes.

The dry aroma of Front Street Yirgacheffe Geddida gives off fresh passion fruit, citrus, and berry acidity. The wet aroma presents citrus and berry notes. On the palate, there is citrus acidity, berry sweetness, accompanied by almond and tea notes, and the aftertaste carries a honey-like sweetness. The body is low, the acidity is bright, and it is clean and refreshing.

Front Street Coffee Brewing Notes

Dripper: V60 #01

Water temperature: 90-91°C

Dose: 15g

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Grind size: BG6m / caster sugar size (80% of powder passes through a No. 20 sieve bowl)

Front Street brewing method: In the first stage, pour 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour 95 grams (the electronic scale shows about 125 grams), finishing the pour in about 1 minute. When the water level drops to 2/3 of the coffee bed, pour the remaining 100 grams (the electronic scale shows about 225 grams), finishing the pour in about 1 minute 35 seconds. Dripping is completed at 2'10"; remove the dripper and finish extraction.

The coffee flavor of Front Street Geddida after brewing: on the palate there are citrus and black tea notes; as the temperature changes, there are cream, caramel, and almond notes, with an obvious sweet aftertaste and a clean, sweet mouthfeel.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat of Front Street Coffee: kaixinguoguo0925.

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