What does bright acidity mean in Sidamo Huakui coffee?

Sidamo Huakui is a sun-dried G1 Ethiopian bean from Guji Hambela, known for citrus and berry notes and a juicy sweet-and-sour cup. The bright acidity meaning here is a lively, fruit-forward sharpness rather than a sour fault, and it is what makes the bean a common entry point into sour coffee for new drinkers.

The numbers after Huakui, such as 5.0, 7.0 and 8.0, mark version evolution of the same lot rather than roast levels. The bean's high extraction tolerance means different drippers produce different styles: a V60 highlights clarity and acidity, while a cake filter rounds the body and softens the fruit.

In recent years, sour coffee has gradually gained popularity. Today, Front Street Coffee wants to talk with everyone about the famous Huakui from the Sidamo region of Ethiopia. It comes from Guji Hambela and is a sun-dried G1 specialty bean. With its bright citrus and berry notes, juicy sweet-and-sour taste, affordable price, and extremely high extraction tolerance, it has quickly become the entry-level first choice for many coffee lovers. But what exactly do the numbers often following Huakui, such as 5.0, 7.0, and 8.0, represent? What flavor differences arise when brewing the same bean with different drippers? This article will first introduce Huakui's origins and version evolution, then compare the style differences between the V60 and the cake dripper through practical brewing.

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In recent years, sour coffee has gradually become popular. Front Street Coffee believes many people have heard of the Huakui bean. Just its name makes people feel it is extraordinary, and its bright citrus and berry notes, plus a juicy, pleasant sweet-and-sour taste, are even more impressive.

A good cup of coffee cannot do without the balance of acidity, sweetness, and bitterness as well as a smooth mouthfeel, and the dripper's design is precisely meant to better showcase these qualities. However, coffee brewed with different styles of drippers also has different styles.

In this article, we will first get to know the hit coffee Huakui, then brew with different styles of drippers to see exactly what differences there are.

Why is Huakui coffee so famous?

In coffee shops, "Huakui" refers to a sun-dried coffee bean from the Hambela region of Sidamo, Ethiopia, with the full English name "Ethiopia Guji Hambella Buku Abel." Broadly speaking, it is a champion bean from Ethiopia; narrowly speaking, it is a specialty sun-dried lot processed and produced by the Buku Abel processing station in the Hambela region.

The resounding stage name "Huakui" was actually given to this bean by domestic green bean traders in the Chinese context after it won the TOH sun-dried group championship that year, meaning "leader of a hundred flowers." Later, with the support of promotion and advertising by various merchants, it also gained the title of "worthy of comparison with Geisha." Great fame, good quality, rich and juicy fruit flavors, an affordable price, high extraction compatibility (easy to brew), and a pleasant name—all these advantages combined not only made Huakui stand out among many Ethiopian coffees, but also made it the first choice for many friends when trying single-origin coffee for the first time.

If you search for the keyword "Huakui coffee" on a shopping platform, you will find that it often carries a number after it, such as Huakui 5.0, Huakui 7.0, etc. Many friends then become curious about what this number actually means.

As Front Street Coffee just mentioned, before this bean was called "Huakui," it had only one English name, "Hambella," translated into Chinese as "Hanbeila." To put it plainly, what we call "Huakui coffee" is a traditional sun-dried G1-grade coffee bean from the Hambela region, and the "Buku Abel" processing station is its more detailed traceability information, located in Dimtu town.

After "Huakui" became famous overnight, in order to meet the surge in market demand, DW Company added up to 5 independent green coffee drying and processing stations in Hambella Wamena Wereda, all located within the core production area of Dimtu town. In addition to the original Buku Abel, four small villages—Buku Saysay, Haro Soresa, Tirtiro Goye, and Seke Bokosa—also joined the production of sun-dried coffee beans. It is said that at this time, the "Huakui" produced annually under DW Company had already reached tens of millions of tons.

Since the 2018 production season, Huakui (sun-dried G1 coffee beans) from the same growing origin and the same processing station has already undergone some changes in taste. Through cupping at the time, Front Street found that although the 2018 and 2019 Huakui also had flavors similar to the 2017 Huakui, they were inferior to the "first-generation Huakui" in aspects such as body and finish.

Therefore, in order to continue selling this sun-dried coffee from Hambela while making a certain distinction from the original version, domestic green bean trading companies calculated based on the years after 2017 and assigned an X.0 suffix to each subsequent year's lot. For example, the 2018 lot was called "Huakui 2.0," the 2019 production was called "Huakui 3.0 and 3.1"... last year's release was "Huakui 7.0," and so on. Then this year's latest version is naturally "Huakui 8.0." In this way, we can also easily judge from this suffix which year's lot the Huakui we bought actually belongs to.

For pour-over coffee, what dripper should be chosen?

The existence of the dripper can be said to be the symbol of pour-over coffee. A practical dripper can make the brewing effect of each bag of coffee beans more stable. Generally speaking, differences in dripper prices are reflected in design patents, materials, and appearance. If pursuing high cost-effectiveness, Front Street recommends the resin version of the V60 dripper and the cake dripper. When Front Street Coffee uses the V60 dripper for brewing, it chooses the resin 01 dripper. The resin material blocks heat loss, and the 01 size is suitable for brewing a single serving of powder.

Because the V60 drains quickly, Front Street uses a finer grind to increase the contact area between coffee and water, allowing the coffee to extract more fully and the flavor to be fuller. But the finer the coffee is ground, the easier the coffee grounds pile up at the bottom of the filter paper, increasing the resistance to water flow, slowing the flow rate, lengthening the extraction time, and making the coffee prone to over-extraction and unpleasant flavors such as woody and miscellaneous notes. Therefore, we also need to pay attention to the pouring technique to avoid clogging in the later stage.

If you want to bring out the coffee's flavor while also keeping it safe and stable, Front Street suggests that after blooming ends, continuously increase the circling range from the center outward. As the water level rises, use the water stream to rinse the entire coffee bed, trying to allow the coffee grounds to extract evenly. Here, Front Street takes its own roasted Huakui 8.0 coffee beans as an example. The dose is 15 grams, the coffee-to-water ratio is 1:15, the total water poured is 225 grams, and after filtration there is about 200 grams of coffee liquid, using a three-stage extraction.

Dripper: V60

Water temperature: 91°C

Dose: 15 grams

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Grind size: 80% passing through a No. 20 standard sieve

In the first stage, pour 30 g of water for a 30-second bloom. Start timing as you pour. Use a small stream throughout, pouring at the center point and then circling outward, making sure to wet the entire coffee bed.

After 30 seconds, begin pouring the second stage of 95 g of water with a slightly larger but steady stream, with the purpose of raising the entire coffee bed. The water stream needs to be poured vertically and evenly. At this point the scale shows 125 g, and pouring is finished in about 55 seconds.

When the liquid level drops to the halfway point, begin using a small stream to pour the third stage of 100 grams in a small circle, trying to control the stream so it does not circle too widely, as it is easy to disturb the coffee bed and cause under-extraction. The final total poured water is 225 grams, and the drip filtration is completed in about 2 minutes. After removing the dripper, swirl the coffee liquid in the server to mix it evenly and it is ready to taste.

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