How Does Coffee Bean Process Change Yirgacheffe Flavor?
Natural and washed processing send Yirgacheffe coffee in different flavor directions. Washed lots, such as those from the Banko Gotiti Cooperative, tend to show clean, bright acidity and delicate floral notes. Natural lots, including Operation Cherry Red selections, lean toward heavier fruit and berry character while keeping the region's recognizable brightness.
Yirgacheffe was originally a sub-region of Sidamo and separated because its cup stood out. Banko Gotiti became independent from the Worka Cooperative on the strength of its flavor. Comparing beans such as the Red Cherry and Konga lots shows how the same region expresses itself differently once the coffee bean process changes from washed to natural.
Yirgacheffe is Ethiopia's most recognizable specialty coffee region, and its bright acidity and delicate floral and fruity flavors have captivated countless coffee lovers. This article starts from the region's history, traces the process by which Yirgacheffe separated from Sidamo, and takes a deep look at the independent background of the Banko Gotiti Cooperative and its washed processing flow. It also explains in detail the origins, operating methods, and quality standards of Operation Cherry Red, and compares the differences between Front Street Yirgacheffe Red Cherry coffee beans and Front Street Yirgacheffe Konga coffee beans in brewing parameters and flavor performance, helping readers fully understand how the two processing methods, natural and washed, are specifically expressed in the Yirgacheffe region.
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On Front Street Coffee's (FrontStreet Coffee) bean list, coffee from Ethiopia has always occupied the largest proportion.
1. The Banko Gotiti Cooperative, which became independent from the Worka Cooperative because of its outstanding flavor; 2. Gesha Village, one of the few estates in Ethiopia that adopts the estate model, where Front Street Gold Label Geisha, Front Street Red Label Geisha, and Front Street Chaka Geisha all come from; 3. Front Street Huakui coffee, known for its classic berry notes.
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) has an in-depth understanding of the regional background of every bean, from the differences among varieties within the same region to the changes brought by different processing methods applied to the same bean, all systematically recorded. For example, the two methods of natural and washed give coffee completely different flavor directions; different regions each have their own characteristics. Around these contents, Front Street has built corresponding data files one by one, hoping to provide richer and more detailed information for coffee lovers and let more people enter the world of coffee.
Yirgacheffe Coffee Region
The Yirgacheffe region is located in Ethiopia and was originally only a sub-region under the Sidamo region. The coffee produced here has a bright and delicate flavor and stands out within the larger Sidamo area. Because of its extremely high recognizability, local coffee farmers took pride in their beans having a Yirgacheffe flavor, which ultimately prompted its separation from Sidamo and its development into today's most famous Yirgacheffe region.
The Yirgacheffe region initially used the most traditional natural drying method to process coffee cherries. Later, the Ethiopian government introduced the washed processing method from Central and South America, and the coffee quality of Yirgacheffe rose sharply as a result. Its bright, uplifting acidity and white floral notes quickly gathered a group of loyal followers. Yirgacheffe is a high-altitude region, with an elevation of around 2,000 meters. More than 40 cooperatives are distributed within the region, and coffee cultivation is mainly managed through family operations. Yirgacheffe is further divided into many well-known micro-regions, such as Kochere, Misty Valley, Gedeb, and others. These micro-regions each have capable cooperatives, and the Front Street Yirgacheffe coffee beans they produce also each have their own flavor characteristics.
Banko Gotiti Cooperative
The Banko Gotiti Cooperative is located in the Worka region at the southeastern end of Yirgacheffe and was originally part of the Worka Cooperative under the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (YCFCU). As the industry's requirements 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, Banko Gotiti, with about 300 farmer members, formally became independent and established the "Banko Gotiti Cooperative." Banko Gotiti village is one of the earliest village areas to be delineated, and many smallholder farmers were originally members of the Worka Cooperative, so their coffee cultivation techniques are quite solid. The Banko Gotiti Cooperative is praised as the last pure land of Yirgacheffe, and the processing methods it uses also follow the traditional route (washed and natural processing methods).
Coffee Bean Processing Methods Front Street Yirgacheffe Banko Gotiti Cooperative coffee beans use the washed processing method. First, a depulper is used to remove the skin and pulp of the cherries, then they are placed in a fermentation tank to rest for 18 to 36 hours so that the mucilage layer naturally decomposes (the specific duration depends on local temperature and humidity conditions), after which the parchment beans are scrubbed for 30 to 60 minutes through washing channels.
With the help of channel design and the scouring effect of water flow, beans with lower density and poorer quality are removed, while 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, and before export the parchment beans are sent to a Dry Mill for hulling and undergo a series of complicated screening processes such as foreign matter removal, silver skin polishing, gravity sorting, and color sorting, and only then are they finally 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 certainly no strangers to Operation Cherry Red. Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) will now talk about what exactly Operation Cherry Red is.
About Operation Cherry Red Introduction
The core of Operation Cherry Red lies in harvesting only fully red coffee cherries for processing, thereby improving coffee quality. From today's perspective, processing fully red cherries is already a routine practice—isn't using fully red cherries only natural? But in 2007, this was a landmark innovation.
In 2007, Trabocca, the largest green bean trader in the Netherlands, launched "Operation Cherry Red" in order to find high-quality Ethiopian beans, with the goal of improving 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 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 down and farmers pursuing quantity caused coffee bean quality to fall into a vicious cycle. Trabocca saw this problem and was determined to break this dead cycle, and so the win-win "Operation Cherry Red" came into being.
Project requirements: When picking coffee cherries, not only must fully red cherries be selected, but the entire harvest must also be done by hand. However, this is only the most basic requirement, and the complexity of the project goes far beyond this. To encourage coffee farmers, Trabocca, the largest coffee bean trader in the Netherlands, before the harvest season arrives, invites all farms in Ethiopia to produce small batches of about 1,500 to 3,000 kilograms (25 to 50 bags) of beans for it. The women are only responsible for selecting fully 100% ripe red cherries, which has a huge impact on the flavor of the final brewed coffee, so Ethiopian women with good eyesight and diligence became an important driving force of Operation Cherry Red.
Operation Cherry Red is also a reinforcement measure that encourages farms to invest more effort in the sorting and selection stage, and the prices of these coffees are correspondingly higher. Operation Cherry Red covers washed beans, natural beans, semi-washed, semi-natural, and experimental coffees, among other types. The main producing regions include Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, Bonga Forest, Lekempti, Kambata, Ilubabor, Harar, and Limu. In 2011, the Golocha producing area (near Harar) was also added, among others. The coffees from these regions all have unique flavors and can fully display the charm of Ethiopian coffee.
First, the cupping score requirements are strict. After Trabocca receives the coffee shipped from the producing areas, it screens again in cupping rooms in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands, judging whether the coffee beans meet the standard through cupping in both locations. Coffee beans that meet the standard are organized by Trabocca and auctioned to coffee bean buyers around the world. Usually, the transaction price of coffee beans auctioned through this platform can reach more than 4 times the general international spot price of coffee, and at the highest even 20 times.
Second, the production requirement is small, and the quality requirement is high. In order to have enough energy to take care of these top local Ethiopian beans, Trabocca requires that beans participating in the project must be in small batches, with production of about 1,500 kg to 3,000 kg.
Finally, Trabocca's investment in and attention to this project are extremely high. Trabocca donated new raised drying beds, shade nets, generators, and other equipment locally, while also providing financial loan support, new hardware equipment, and production and processing knowledge and technology to help farmers improve their production level. In addition, through means such as real-time monitoring and safe transportation, it ensures that the beans of "Operation Cherry Red" receive the best care at every stage.
Specifically, Operation Cherry Red incentivizes coffee farmers to more attentively complete every step such as picking and processing by raising the purchase price of high-quality green coffee beans. The coffee beans produced in this way are of better quality and taste better, and are also more likely to gain recognition in the end market, thereby balancing the relatively high coffee purchase cost. Although the advantages of Operation Cherry Red coffee beans no longer seem outstanding today, the project made an indelible contribution to the process of coffee specialization.
How does Yirgacheffe Red Cherry coffee beans perform in flavor?
Front Street Yirgacheffe Red Cherry coffee beans use fully red cherries from Aricha Farm with natural processing. The average cultivated area of each smallholder coffee farmer at Aricha Farm is about 0.6 hectares. It is composed of hundreds of coffee farmers, with a cultivation altitude close to 2,000 meters, large temperature differences, and fertile soil, providing superior 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 the Red Cherry coffee beans. After roasting, the Red Cherry coffee beans have a uniform color and an obvious berry aroma. Below, take two beans on the Front Street bean list as examples—Front Street Yirgacheffe Operation Cherry Red and Front Street Yirgacheffe Konga. These 2 Front Street Ethiopian coffee beans both use the natural processing method and come from the same Yirgacheffe region but different processing plants.
Front Street Yirgacheffe Red Cherry 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 China standard No. 20 sieve)
Front Street Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Coffee Beans Country: Ethiopia Region: Yirgacheffe Processing Plant: Aricha Altitude: 2300m Variety: Local heirloom Processing Method: Natural processing 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 processing
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, then pour in a small stream in circles until 125 grams for the first stage; when the water level is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until 225 grams and stop pouring; 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 Red Cherry Coffee Beans: Lemon, citrus, berries, sweet orange; overall sweetness is relatively high, with caramel and cream in the sweet aftertaste, and a black tea aroma in the finish.
Front Street Yirgacheffe Konga Coffee Beans: At high temperature, it is berries, cream, honey, citrus, with a juice-like mouthfeel and bright acidity; when the temperature drops slightly, it is berries, cream, smooth, citrus.
Front Street Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Coffee Beans Roast Record
Front Street Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Coffee Beans Roast Record
For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow the WeChat public account: Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
