Yirgacheffe is one of Ethiopia's most representative specialty coffee regions, and the natural process lot from the Kebel Aricha processing station is especially famous for its bright acidity and intense berry notes. This natural Aricha, carefully selected by Front Street Coffee, has been graded G1—the highest level—by the ECX, excelling both in green bean appearance and in-cup flavor. This article will walk you through the details of the natural processing method at the Aricha station, a complete flavor description of this bean, and the "Project Origin" (Red Cherry Project) that has been driving up Ethiopian coffee quality, exploring how natural processing gives coffee beans fuller sweetness and fermented aromas.
Front Street Africa Specialty Coffee Natural Yirgacheffe Ethiopia Aricha Aricha Station
The Kebel Aricha processing station is responsible for producing this Yirgacheffe, with roughly 650 to 700 smallholder coffee farmers in the surrounding area. These farmers deliver their harvested ripe coffee cherries to the processing station in exchange for cash income. The station first sorts the cherries, and the qualified ones are immediately spread out on raised beds to sun-dry. In the early stage of drying, workers turn them every two to three hours to avoid over-fermentation. After four to six weeks of sun-drying, depending on weather and temperature conditions, workers use machines to scrape off the outer pulp, then transport the beans to Addis for storage. Natural beans are usually stored in parchment form and only hulled right before export, in order to safeguard green bean quality.
This lot of Front Street Natural Aricha has been graded G1—the highest level—by the ECX, and is outstanding in green bean appearance, consistency, freshness, as well as dry aroma and flavor performance. If you prefer bright acidity and intense berry flavors, this bean is worth a try!
Flavor description: light fermented wine aroma, pit fruit and date, sweet citrus notes, dark berries, lychee, star fruit, peach, white peach, longan and red date aroma, honey sweetness, cocoa notes with a hint of spice, full body and a long-lasting finish
About "Project Origin" (Red Cherry Project)
Sasa Sestic, the 2015 World Barista Champion, launched a green bean sourcing project called Project Origin three years ago together with his business team at ONA Coffee. The project works directly with coffee farmers in impoverished countries and regions, improving their production conditions on the one hand and purchasing at a level 20% above fair trade prices on the other.
The project was also launched with the intention of enhancing communication and connections between roasters and coffee farmers, and guiding farmers to grow high-quality coffee beans. To date, Sasa has established partnerships with coffee growers from eight countries, including Brazil, Panama, India, Ethiopia, El Salvador, and Costa Rica.
The Red Cherry Project has driven a remarkable improvement in Ethiopian coffee quality, and the reason Front Street Natural Red Cherry has such an excellent flavor is precisely the result of this project.
The natural process coffee beans selected for Front Street Red Cherry are dried in the sun directly with the skin, pulp, and the whole cherry intact. In a high-temperature environment, the sugars in the pulp ferment, and the coffee beans thereby absorb the flavors produced by this fermentation, while some of the sugars in the pulp also transfer into the beans. It is precisely for this reason that naturally processed coffee beans often carry a faint fermented aroma and have more pronounced sweetness.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
