How do auction lot and same-lot green coffee beans differ?

Auction lots and same-batch lots of coffee beans are not the same thing. Auction-lot beans are the small quantity of competition entries sold at the Cup of Excellence auction, while same-batch lots come from the same origin, variety, and processing but without the auction ranking. After missing the Ethiopian COE auction lot, one buyer purchased same-batch COE26 green coffee beans to test whether the same matcha-like aroma would appear.

The bean in question is a Yirgacheffe Worka washed coffee, and the article documents its regional background, processing method, roasting curve, cupping performance, and brewing parameters. Auction-lot volumes are limited, so finding the 26th-ranked lot in December is nearly impossible; this year's auction closed in late June. The comparison sets out whether a same-batch lot can reproduce the aroma of the ranked original.

In the specialty coffee world, auction lots and same-batch lots of coffee beans are often lumped together, but the two differ fundamentally in quality and rarity. This article starts from a real purchasing experience of Front Street Coffee, recounting the team's attempt to acquire a same-batch lot of COE26 beans after missing out on the Ethiopian COE auction lot. The article systematically outlines the competition format of the Cup of Excellence (COE), clarifies the conceptual difference between auction lots and same-batch lots, and documents in detail this Yirgacheffe Worka washed bean's regional background, processing method, roasting curve, cupping performance, and brewing parameters. Will the final cupping result deliver the hoped-for matcha aroma? Can a same-batch lot replicate the surprise of an auction lot? The answer will be revealed in the article.

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Front Street Coffee once bid for and won a coffee bean ranked 22nd in the 2020 Ethiopian Cup of Excellence (COE) competition. The bean came from the Arsi region, was sun-dried, and was of the Typica variety (COE22 portal). Compared with other Ethiopian native varieties from the Arsi region, this 22nd-ranked Typica displayed clean, gentle fruity acidity and sweetness and the fine sweetness imparted by ripe coffee berries, thus winning the favor of batch after batch of coffee lovers.

Not long ago, at a gathering of coffee lovers hosted by Front Street, we tasted the coffee bean ranked 26th in the auction lot of this year's Ethiopian COE competition. Its matcha-like aroma lingered in the mouth for a long time, surprising everyone at Front Street—after all, encountering a bean with such high distinctiveness among Ethiopian coffee beans is truly rare.

However, by the time Front Street tasted this bean, it was already mid-December, while the auction for this year's competition beans had ended as early as late June. Finding the green coffee beans of the 26th-ranked auction lot in December is almost impossible, since the quantity of auction-lot coffee beans is limited to begin with. So Front Street, with a "give it a try" mindset, bought a same-batch lot of COE26 coffee beans, hoping to see whether that surprising matcha aroma could be tasted in them.

Front Street Coffee — Ethiopian COE26 same-batch coffee beans

Region: Yirgacheffe Worka

Altitude: 1500-2100m

Variety: Ethiopian native varieties

Processing method: Washed processing

What are auction-lot coffee beans?

All coffee beans participating in the COE Cup of Excellence competition are reclassified, numbered, roasted, and then cupped. During cupping, judges can only see the coffee's number and cannot know specific information such as region or estate. The entire COE Cup of Excellence competition is divided into 3 stages: the Pre-selection stage, the National jury stage, and the International jury stage.

In the pre-selection stage, only coffee beans with a cupping score of 85 or above are eligible to enter the national jury round. A total of 1459 beans participated in this pre-selection. After the first round of cupping screening, 150 coffee beans entered the national jury stage. The second round, the national jury stage, involved two rounds of cupping: in the first round, 90 coffee beans scoring 85 or above were retained from the 150 in the preliminary round to enter the second round of cupping; in the second round, 40 coffee beans scoring 85 or above were selected from these 90 to enter the international jury stage. The international jury stage consisted of 3 rounds: the preliminary round, the second jury round, and the top ten rating. The green beans would be renumbered and then roasted, and during cupping the judges still knew nothing about the specific estate information of a given coffee bean; only when the final competition results were announced would the specific information of the coffee beans be known.

And all the ultimately winning coffee beans must be obtained through auction. Front Street's COE22 coffee beans were also won at the auction on June 25. So what exactly is the COE26 same-batch lot that Front Street acquired?

What are same-batch coffee beans?

In other words, same-batch coffee beans are merely a "neighbor" of the auction-lot coffee beans, and may even fail to count as a "neighbor"... If they are a "neighbor," same-batch coffee beans have the same coffee variety as the auction-lot coffee beans, the same coffee region, were harvested in the same harvest season, and have the same green bean processing method. But note that "the same rice nourishes a hundred kinds of people." Although they are in the same region, the region is not small, and there are still differences in altitude, so altitude, microclimate, and soil variation will all affect the formation of coffee flavor. So will a same-batch lot necessarily taste different from the auction lot? Not necessarily, but the probability is not high. That is why Front Street said above that it acquired the COE26 same-batch lot with a "give it a try" mindset.

Yirgacheffe · Worka

Yirgacheffe is located in the Gedeo region of southern Ethiopia. Within its administrative scope, the better-known areas include Yirgacheffe and Kochere, with altitudes of 1700-2100m, making it one of the highest-altitude coffee-producing regions in the world. Worka is a remote area within the Yirgacheffe production region, and the coffee beans grown here are uniformly handed over to the Worka cooperative for processing and export.

Washed processing method

The washed processing method is the most common green bean processing method in the Yirgacheffe region. The screened coffee berries are put into a depulper to initially remove the skin and pulp. The green coffee beans with residual pulp and mucilage are placed in water to ferment. After fermentation, the green coffee beans with parchment are placed in a flowing water channel for washing, removing the pulp and mucilage through friction between the beans. After washing, the coffee beans are spread out to dry, reducing the moisture content to about 12%, and finally the parchment of the green coffee beans is removed.

Coffee bean variety

This coffee bean uses Ethiopian native varieties. The coffee varieties in the Ethiopian region are numerous and complex, making subdivision extremely difficult. At the same time, some varieties need to remain "anonymous" for variety research, so coffee trees are basically cultivated and harvested in mixed form, which is also why coffee beans of Ethiopian native varieties vary in size.

Front Street Coffee roasting notes

Beans from the new crop season have relatively high moisture content, so Front Street's roaster extends the drying time to allow the bean surface and bean core to heat evenly. In order to express this bean's sweetness, acidity, and floral and fruity aroma, we adopted a light roast level.

Charged at a drum temperature of 155°C, with heat at 110 and airflow vent opened to 3; the turning point was at 1'28", and when the drum temperature was 100.2°C, the heat remained unchanged; at 3 minutes the airflow vent was adjusted to 4, and at 4 minutes the heat was increased to 140. When the drum temperature was 153°C, the bean surface turned yellow, the grassy smell completely disappeared, and the drying stage began. At 8'00", ugly wrinkles and dark streaks appeared on the bean surface, and the toasted-bread smell 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. First crack began at 9'07", and after first crack it was developed for 1'00" second, then dropped at 192°C.

Front Street Coffee cupping report

Dry aroma: lemon

Wet aroma: white floral

Flavor: lemon, jasmine, berry, cream, green tea, honey

Front Street Coffee brewing notes

Through cupping, Front Street found that this coffee bean has rich floral and fruity aromas, so a V60 dripper was used. The spiral rib design of the V60 dripper not only prolongs the contact time between coffee grounds and water, but also allows the water level to descend while directing the flow along the spiral protrusions toward the center of the dripper, creating pressure on the coffee grounds through the gravity of the falling water flow, thereby forming a higher level of complexity.

Water temperature: 90°C

Dose: 15g

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Grind size: medium-fine grind (78% passing through a No. 20 sieve)

Front Street Coffee segmented extraction method: first use 30g of water to fully wet the coffee bed into a "hamburger" shape and bloom for 30s; for the second pour, at 1'00" on the timer, pour water until it reaches 125g, then stop and wait until the water level drops to 2/3 of the coffee bed before pouring the third segment; for the third pour, at 1'40" on the timer, pour water until it reaches 225g, and after the coffee liquid has completely dripped through, the total extraction time is 1'59". After extraction is complete, gently swirl, and wait until the coffee liquid is fully uniform before tasting.

Brewed flavor: on the palate, bright lemon acidity and jasmine aroma; after cooling, there is the sweet-and-sour berry note and juicy mouthfeel; the finish is honey green tea.

After this coffee bean was brewed, its flavor was close to the Yirgacheffe Gotiti Cooperative coffee beans that Front Street had put on the shelves, and it did not have the matcha aroma of the COE26 auction lot. Although it had the obvious flavor of the Yirgacheffe production region, there was nothing particularly memorable about this bean, so in the end Front Street did not put this coffee bean on the shelves.

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