How Does the Coffee Bean Process Shape Yirgacheffe Flavor?

Yirgacheffe washed beans from the Gotiti Cooperative show bright acidity and white floral notes. Gotiti split off from the Worka Cooperative because its cup profile stood apart, and the washed coffee bean process, in which fruit is removed before drying, keeps those flavors clean and consistent. Hand-brewing them rewards careful water temperature and ratio control.

For pour-over, use water around 90 to 92 degrees Celsius with a coffee-to-water ratio near 1:15, and pour in stages to control extraction. Frontstreet coffee also lists natural lots such as Yirgacheffe Red Cherry and Konga, which carry berry notes instead. Operation Cherry Red is a program tied to the Gotiti area, and its cupping standards help buyers judge whether a lot meets expectations.

Yirgacheffe is one of Ethiopia's most recognizable coffee regions, known for its washed beans with bright acidity and white floral notes. Starting from Front Street Coffee's bean list, this article sorts through the regional evolution of Yirgacheffe, the independent journey of the Gotiti Cooperative and its washed processing flow, and further introduces the origins and cupping standards of the Operation Cherry Red. It also includes brewing parameters and flavor descriptions for two natural beans from Front Street—Yirgacheffe Red Cherry and Konga—offering pour-over enthusiasts reference water temperatures, coffee-to-water ratios, and extraction techniques.

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow: Front Street Coffee (Frontsteet Coffee)

On Front Street Coffee's (FrontStreet Coffee) coffee bean list, Ethiopian region coffee beans are often the most numerous.

1. There is the Gotiti Cooperative, which split off from the Worka Cooperative because of its exquisite flavor; 2. There is also Ethiopia's rare estate cultivation model—Gesha Village Estate's Front Street Gold Label Gesha, Front Street Red Label Gesha, and Front Street Chaka Gesha; 3. And the classic berry-flavored Front Street Sidamo Natural Huakui Coffee.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) understands each coffee bean's region, and even different coffee bean varieties within the same region, different processing methods for the same coffee bean, and so on. For example: natural coffee beans and washed coffee beans have different flavor profiles. Likewise, different coffee bean regions all differ from one another. Front Street builds corresponding databases for all this information one by one, providing more and more detailed coffee information for those who love coffee and enjoy coffee, so that more people can understand the coffee world.

Yirgacheffe Coffee Region

The Yirgacheffe region is located in Ethiopia and was originally a sub-region under the Sidamo region, with coffee flavors that are bright and delicate, forming a distinctive coffee flavor within the Sidamo region. Due to its high recognizability, coffee farmers competed to take pride in their own coffee beans having a Yirgacheffe flavor, so it became independent from Sidamo and became today's most renowned Yirgacheffe region.

At first, the Yirgacheffe region used the most traditional natural drying method to process coffee beans. Later, after the Ethiopian government introduced the washed processing method from Central and South America, the quality of Yirgacheffe coffee beans improved instantly, and its bright, uplifting acidity along with white floral flavor characteristics immediately won over a large group of loyal fans. The Yirgacheffe coffee region can be considered a high-altitude coffee region, with an altitude of around 2,000 meters. The Yirgacheffe coffee region has more than 40 cooperatives, mainly managing coffee cultivation through family-run models. Under the Yirgacheffe coffee region there are also many well-known micro-regions, such as Kochere, Misty Valley, Gedeb, and so on. These micro-regions all have excellent cooperatives, and the Front Street Yirgacheffe coffee beans they produce each have their own distinctive flavor characteristics.

Gotiti Cooperative Banko Gotiti

The Gotiti Cooperative is located in the Worka region at the southeastern end of Yirgacheffe. It was originally part of the Worka Cooperative under the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers' Cooperative Union (YCFCU). Later, as people pursued traceability of green coffee beans, "single region" coffees were uncovered one by one by coffee hunters around the world.

In 2012, Gotiti, with about 300 member farmers, independently established the "Gotiti Cooperative." Gotiti Village was the earliest village area to become independent. Many smallholder farmers were also former members of the Worka Cooperative, so their coffee production skills were naturally up to standard. The Gotiti Cooperative is called the last pure land of Yirgacheffe, so the green bean processing methods it uses are also very traditional (washed and natural processing methods).

Coffee Bean Processing Methods Front Street Yirgacheffe Gotiti Cooperative coffee beans use the washed processing method. A depulper is first used to remove the skin/flesh of the cherries, then they are left to rest in a fermentation tank for 18-36 hours until the pectin layer breaks down (the length of time depends on local temperature and humidity conditions), after which the parchment beans are scrubbed through washing channels for 30-60 minutes.

At this point, through the channel design combined with water flow washing, beans with low density and poor quality can be removed. The high-quality parchment beans are then placed on African raised beds to dry for about 14 days. After drying is completed, they are first stored in the processing plant's warehouse. Before export, the parchment beans are sent to a Dry Mill for hulling, and go through a series of complicated screening processes including foreign matter removal, silver skin polishing, gravity sorting, and color sorting, and only then are they bagged for export.

Front Street Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Washed 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 will surely also be familiar with Operation Cherry Red. Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) will now share with everyone exactly what Operation Cherry Red is.

About Operation Cherry Red Introduction

The core content of Operation Cherry Red is to use fully red coffee cherries for processing to improve coffee quality. Looking at it today, processing with fully red cherries is nothing new (isn't using fully red cherries a given?). But in 2007, this was a landmark innovative event.

In 2007, Trabocca, the largest green bean trader in the Netherlands, in pursuit of high-quality Ethiopian beans, proposed "Operation Cherry Red," a project to improve the production quality of small-scale farms. Previously, whether local processing stations or green bean traders, all would suppress the purchase price of coffee cherries as much as possible to achieve higher profits. For coffee farmers, the quantity of coffee cherries sold determined their income, so they did not care about quality. The squeezing by green bean traders and the farmers' pursuit of quantity created a vicious cycle in coffee bean quality. Therefore, Trabocca saw this and had to break this dead cycle, and thus the win-win "Operation Cherry Red" came into being.

Project requirements: When picking coffee cherries, not only must fully red fruit be harvested, but it must also be picked entirely by hand. However, this is only the most basic requirement; the project is far from this simple. The main purpose is to encourage coffee farmers. Trabocca, the largest coffee bean trader in the Netherlands, before the harvest season invites all Ethiopian farms to produce small batches of about 1,500-3,000 kg (25-50 bags) of beans for them. Women can only select fully 100% ripe red cherries, which makes a huge difference to the flavor of the brewed coffee, so careful, sharp-eyed, and willing hardworking Ethiopian women are important drivers of Operation Cherry Red.

Operation Cherry Red is also a reinforcement approach, making farms put more thought into the process of screening and sorting beans. These coffees are also relatively higher in price. Operation Cherry Red includes washed beans, natural beans, semi-washed, semi-natural, experimental coffee, and so on. The main producing regions include Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, Bonga Forest, Lekempti, Kembata, Illubabor, Harar, Limu, and in 2011 it added the Golocha production area (near Harar), etc. These all have unique flavors and can fully display the flavor of Ethiopian coffee.

First, the cupping score requirement is high. In the cupping rooms in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands, after Trabocca receives coffee shipped from the producing area, it screens it again, judging whether the coffee beans meet the standard through two cupping sessions in Ethiopia and the Netherlands. Coffee beans that meet the standard are organized by Trabocca for auction to coffee bean buyers around the world. Generally, the transaction prices of coffee beans auctioned through this platform can reach more than 4 times the international general coffee spot price, and the highest can even reach 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 Ethiopian local beans, Trabocca proposed that the beans participating in the project must all be small batches, with output roughly between 1,500 kg and 3,000 kg.

Finally, Trabocca's investment in and attention to this project are great, and it is highly valued. Trabocca donated new drying racks, shade nets, generators, and so on locally. At the same time, it also provided financial loan support, new hardware equipment, and production processing knowledge and technology to help farmers improve their production level. In addition, through real-time monitoring, safe transportation, and other methods, it ensures that the beans of "Operation Cherry Red" receive the best care at every stage.

Specifically, Operation Cherry Red encourages coffee farmers to more carefully complete every process of coffee bean 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 better taste, and can be better recognized by the end market, thereby balancing the relatively higher coffee purchase price. Although the advantages of Operation Cherry Red coffee beans are not considered great now, the project also made a huge contribution to the development of specialty coffee.

How does Yirgacheffe Red Cherry coffee bean perform in flavor?

Front Street Yirgacheffe Red Cherry coffee beans use fully red cherry natural processing from Aricha Farm. At Aricha Farm, each small coffee farmer's average cultivated area is about 0.6 hectares, and it is composed of hundreds of coffee farmers. Its cultivation altitude is nearly 2,000 meters, with large temperature differences and fertile soil, providing an excellent growing environment. Hand-picking fully red cherries can maximize the quality floor of the coffee.

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. After roasting, the Red Cherry coffee beans have a uniform color and an obvious berry aroma. Below, take two beans from the Front Street bean list as examples—Front Street Yirgacheffe Red Cherry and Front Street Yirgacheffe Konga. These two Front Street Ethiopian coffee beans are both natural processed, from the same Yirgacheffe region but different processing stations.

Front Street Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Coffee Beans and Front Street Yirgacheffe Konga Coffee Beans

Brewing Parameters

Dripper: V60#01 Water Temperature: 90-91℃ 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 Station: Aricha Altitude: 2300m Variety: Local Heirloom Processing Method: Natural 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

Harvest Year: 2020

Grade: G1

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Brewing Technique Sharing

Three-stage extraction. Use 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom, pour in a slow circular stream to 125 grams, then pause for a stage; when the water level is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225 grams and stop; when the water level is about to expose the coffee bed again, remove the dripper. (Start timing at the beginning of the bloom.) Extraction time is 2'00".

Front Street Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Coffee Beans: Lemon, citrus, berry, sweet orange, overall high sweetness, with caramel and cream in the aftertaste, and a finish with black tea aroma.

Front Street Yirgacheffe Konga Coffee Beans: At high temperature it is berry, cream, honey, citrus, with a juicy mouthfeel and bright acidity; as the temperature drops slightly, it becomes berry, cream, smooth, and citrus.

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