Sidamo is located in southern Ethiopia and is an important specialty coffee region, known for its diverse flavors and rich fruity notes. This article first outlines how Sidamo's geographical environment, growing conditions, and processing methods affect flavor, then focuses on the region's most representative coffee bean, Huakui, reviewing its development from winning the 2017 TOH championship to Huakui 7.0. The article also introduces the characteristics of the Ethiopian heirloom varieties used in Huakui 7.0, as well as Front Street Coffee's control over green bean selection, roasting, and cupping, and finally provides a flavor description of this new-crop coffee for coffee enthusiasts' reference.
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The Sidamo producing region is located in southern Ethiopia, extending eastward to the Arsi and Bale administrative zones and westward bordering the Gamogofa administrative zone, with coffee cultivation at elevations generally ranging from 1,400 to 2,000 meters. The local economy is mainly agricultural, and coffee farms are primarily distributed around the Great Rift Valley. In recent years, Sidamo has developed quite strongly and has become an important distribution center for coffee exports. The reason local coffee flavors are so rich and varied is that soil types, microclimates, and the huge number of native coffee varieties all differ, which makes coffees from different towns often show clear distinctions and individuality in flavor.
Within Sidamo, Guji and West Arsi are the two best-known coffee-growing areas. After observation, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) noted that green beans in the Sidamo region are mostly processed by the natural method, so local coffee beans usually have rich fruity aromas and a smooth mouthfeel; if the wet method is used instead, the finished product appears fresher, with bright acidity like citrus and a berry-like sweet-tartness.
When it comes to Sidamo's most widely known coffee bean, none is more famous than "Huakui." In 2017, a coffee bean of Ethiopian heirloom varieties produced at the Buku Able processing station in Hambela, Sidamo, won the TOH Ethiopia championship. The same batch of coffee beans was introduced to the Chinese market that year and outperformed Geisha varieties in the same competition during coffee brewing events, thereby attracting the attention of domestic coffee enthusiasts.
In order to let domestic consumers remember this bean more intuitively and clearly, the green bean merchant named it "Huakui," because it performed brilliantly in two different types of coffee competitions and also took the championship.
After winning the championship in 2017, DW expanded the scale of processing stations in Dimtu, the core producing area of Hambella, including "Buku Abel," "Buku Saysay," "Haro Soresa," and "Tirtiro Goye," with an annual coffee output of about 1,100 tons. From the perspective of growing regions and processing stations, among all the above estates and processing sites, only the area under the jurisdiction of the "Buku Abel" processing station covered the small production area that originally produced the natural coffee bean "Huakui." Afterward, Huakui 2.0 was launched in 2018, and Huakui 3.0 and 3.1 were released in 2019. By 2023, Huakui coffee beans had iterated to version 7.0, and the first batch of Huakui 7.0 coffee beans arrived at port in May.
Huakui coffee beans use Ethiopian heirloom varieties, and this name does not refer to one specific variety. As the birthplace of coffee varieties, Ethiopia has an extremely large number of coffee varieties, like a natural gene bank of Arabica; on the one hand, the wide variety makes identification and classification difficult, and on the other hand, the Ethiopian government is unwilling to disclose variety information for protection reasons, so they are collectively called Ethiopian heirloom varieties. It is precisely because of the mixed varieties, mixed planting, and mixed harvesting that Huakui 7.0 coffee beans show an appearance of varying sizes.
After arriving at port, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) also received Huakui 7.0 coffee beans as soon as possible. Judging from the appearance of the green beans, the defect rate of Huakui 7.0 from the 2023 crop year is lower than that of Huakui 6.0. However, in order to let every consumer drink clean Huakui coffee, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) carefully selects the green beans before roasting and then selects the roasted beans again after roasting is completed.
The characteristics of Ethiopian Sidamo natural coffee beans are rich fruity aromas, a smooth mouthfeel, and full acidity. Therefore, when roasting Huakui coffee beans, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) chooses a medium-light level to retain more of the acidity in the beans. After roasting is completed, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) determined the flavor of Huakui 7.0 coffee beans through cupping: slight fruity fermentation aroma, berries, citrus, and a tea-like sensation.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
