Ethiopia, as the birthplace of coffee, has a coffee bean grading system that is completely different from that of producing countries such as Kenya. This article will provide an in-depth analysis of Ethiopia's unique G1 to G9 grading standards, clarify the impact of washed and natural processing methods on grading, and explore how the Red Cherry Project improves coffee quality from the source. At the same time, Front Street Coffee's cupping and brewing practices will give you an intuitive feel for the flavor differences between Yirgacheffe washed beans and natural beans, and help you understand the charm and challenges of Ethiopian heirloom varieties.

When people mention Ethiopian coffee, the first thing they often think of is its unforgettable and unique flavor. About 15% of the population in this East African country depends on the coffee industry for their livelihood. The local coffee culture is deeply rooted, and the people's love of coffee is extremely high, with domestic consumption accounting for about half of total production.

Through research, Front Street has learned that the coffee varieties growing in Ethiopia number roughly between 10,000 and 15,000 heirloom varieties. Because the local level of technology and economic conditions are not enough to support systematic variety identification work, and because the government, out of consideration for protecting wild coffee resources, is unwilling to disclose specific information about these varieties to the outside world, Ethiopian coffee beans are collectively referred to as "Ethiopian heirloom varieties." At present, local heirloom varieties can be roughly divided into two categories: one is JARC varieties, developed and bred by the Jimma Agricultural Research Center; the other is regional landrace varieties, referring to coffee trees that grow entirely in natural wild environments.

For example, the varieties grown by a coffee cooperative on one mountain and those grown on another mountain are bound to differ, and even smallholder farmers within the same region do not all cultivate the same coffee varieties. Some speculate that Ethiopia has at least 2,000 coffee varieties, and there are even claims of more than 4,500.

Compared with SL28, the main variety of neighboring Kenya to the south, or the plump and large bean shape of Typica in Central and South America and Asia, Ethiopian coffee beans appear somewhat smaller in appearance. However, one should not judge a "bean" by its looks. The citrus aroma of Ethiopian coffee is among the best in the world. Whether it is instant coffee or freshly ground coffee, a burst of orange or lemon fragrance can be smelled during extraction. After sipping, the rich floral aroma, fruity aroma, and the intertwined sweet and sour aromas are exactly the signature characteristics of Ethiopian coffee.

Front Street has cupped many coffee beans from the Yirgacheffe production area and the Sidamo production area. One of them was the Ethiopian TOH washed-group champion bean from the Guji region of Sidamo. First, grind it for dry aroma evaluation. The dry aroma of this TOH washed-group champion bean presented a very rich floral fragrance; then pour water to the brim, confirm the wet aroma, and its wet aroma was the fresh scent of citrus, similar to the Gutingting coffee beans from the Yirgacheffe production area.

After 4 minutes, break the crust and skim off the grounds to carry out flavor evaluation. The cupping result obtained by Front Street was: the overall flavor performance of this Ethiopian TOH washed-group champion bean was jasmine, lemon, berry, pomelo, honey, and green tea. The overall flavor after brewing by Front Street was: the front section had citrus acidity and jasmine aroma, and the middle section presented a finish of pomelo tea and honey. This bean uses the washed processing method, highlighting the brightness of the acidity of coffee beans from the Uraga production area, and the overall impression leans toward the floral aroma and citrus acidity characteristics of the Yirgacheffe production area.

However, the uneven size of Ethiopian heirloom varieties has one notable drawback—it is prone to uneven roasting, especially for natural beans. Even the best-quality Grade 3 Harrar natural beans often show uneven bean color. This is the biggest defect of Ethiopian beans, but fortunately it does not affect their excellent flavor.

For coffee lovers, there is no need to care about how the beans look; tasting good is what matters most. The consistency of Ethiopian washed beans is much higher than that of natural beans; the flavor of the latter fluctuates greatly from year to year. When listing products, Front Street usually conducts a large number of cuppings to ensure that the quality of the Ethiopian coffee beans put on the shelves reaches the best state. High-quality natural beans have a depth of flavor far beyond that of washed beans; but if you buy natural beans that have been improperly processed, it will certainly be very disappointing. This is the shared sentiment of many coffee lovers.

Therefore, a quality problem arose with Ethiopian coffee beans: some coffee beans are of higher quality and some are of lower quality, and mixing them together leads to an overall decline in the price of the coffee beans. A Dutch green bean merchant also discovered this problem with local heirloom coffee, so it cooperated with local Ethiopian cooperatives and launched a frontline campaign aimed at improving coffee quality and prices, called the "Red Cherry Project."

The Red Cherry Project is essentially a commercial plan to promote coffee quality improvement, solving the problem from the source. By raising the purchase price of high-quality green coffee beans, it encourages coffee farmers to more carefully complete every step, including coffee cherry picking and processing. During the picking stage, it uses fully manual picking and selects coffee cherries with a high degree of ripeness. The quality of coffee beans screened out through the Red Cherry Project is somewhat higher, and Front Street's natural Red Cherry is precisely through this project, so the brewed coffee flavor is even better than it would have been on its original basis.

The grading of Ethiopian coffee beans is also very different from that of other countries. In Ethiopia's grading process, there is almost no strict classification by coffee bean size. Instead, there are clear requirements for the moisture content of coffee beans: first, the moisture content of coffee beans must not exceed 11.5%, and at least 85% must not be smaller than screen size 14; the second requirement is that washed coffee beans have an appearance size score of 10% during physical characteristic measurement, while the non-washed group has no size requirement. Ethiopia's green coffee bean grading process is as follows:

1. First, classify according to the processing method of the coffee beans: washed processing and non-washed processing.

2. Divide washed and non-washed coffee beans into 9 grades from G1 to G9 according to physical characteristics, cupping characteristics, and basic cupping quality. Specifically as follows: physical characteristic score accounts for 40% (washed group: number of defects 20% + appearance size 10% + color 5% + odor 5%; non-washed group: number of defects 30% + odor 10%), and cupping quality score accounts for 60% (cleanliness 15% + acidity 15% + body 15% + flavor 15%).

Among them, G1 is the grade with the highest comprehensive score for green coffee beans. The comprehensive score for G1 is 91 to 100 points, for G2 is 81 to 90 points, and for G3 is 71 to 80 points. This also shows that compared with Yirgacheffe G2, Yirgacheffe G1 has better green coffee bean quality and flavor. The coffee grading is not over yet at this step. For coffee beans in the three grades G1 to G3, they must be cupped again according to SCAA standards to evaluate their flavor attributes in more detail: among them, G1 and G2 with no less than 85 points are rated as Q1; G1, G2, and G3 between 80 and 85 points are rated as Q2; those below 80 points are downgraded to G3. This is Ethiopia's classification system for coffee beans.

Many customers who come to Front Street to buy beans are not very clear about the difference in coffee flavor between washed beans and natural beans. In fact, washed beans can better reflect the regional flavor of a coffee bean, while natural beans add more aroma and sweetness on the basis of washed processing. Front Street has conducted cupping and brewing on the washed bean Gutingting and the natural bean Red Cherry from the Yirgacheffe production area.

Front Street cupped this washed bean from the Yirgacheffe production area: after grinding 11.3 grams of coffee beans into powder, the dry aroma smelled revealed fresh passion fruit acidity, citrus, and berry sourness; the wet aroma was citrus and berry; on the palate there were citrus acidity, berry sweetness, almond, and tea-like notes, with a finish carrying honey sweetness. The body was low, the acidity was bright, and it was clean and refreshing. The brewing parameters used were:

Dripper: V60 #01

Water temperature: 90-91 degrees

Coffee dose: 15g

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Grind size: EK43s-10 / caster sugar size (sift the grounds to 80% with a No. 20 sieve)

Front Street generally pours 30 grams of water for the first stage of brewing and lets it bloom for 30 seconds, then pours 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. Drip filtration is completed at 2 minutes 10 seconds. Remove the dripper and extraction is complete.

The brewed Gutingting coffee has citrus and black tea flavors on the palate. As the temperature changes, it presents a finish of cream, caramel, and almond, with obvious sweetness returning and a clean, fresh, and sweet mouthfeel. When Red Cherry is brewed according to the same process, its berry flavor is more prominent, and it also carries a somewhat oolong tea finish.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat of Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925

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