How Does Front Street Coffee Red Honey Process Taste?

Front Street Coffee Yirgacheffe Garse is a red honey process lot from the Yirga region at over 2,100 meters. Fully ripe red cherries are sealed in a cool warehouse for a 58-hour anaerobic pre-fermentation, then shade-dried slowly with pectin retained, giving jasmine, elderflower, and ripe fruit notes in a clean, sweet cup.

The G1 lot was picked January 25 to February 1, when delayed rains pushed ripening later and built higher sweetness. Because where coffee beans come from shapes flavor, this single-origin Ethiopian bean suits pour-over, cold brew, and French press. Two recipes follow: a regular pour-over and a Japanese iced pour-over.

Yirgacheffe has always been known for its bright floral and citrus notes, but the red honey process brings a completely different taste experience to this classic region. Front Street Yirgacheffe Garse Red Honey Process uses fully ripe red cherry picking with a 58-hour anaerobic pre-fermentation, combined with shade-dried slow sun drying and a demucilage process that retains pectin, ultimately presenting a rich layering of jasmine, elderflower, and various ripe fruits. This article will break down the processing details and flavor sources of this bean in detail, and provide two complete parameter schemes—regular pour-over and Japanese iced pour-over—to help you consistently reproduce its clean, crystal-clear yet full and sweet cup performance at home.

When it comes to Ethiopian coffee, Yirgacheffe's fame is almost unmatched. However, Yirgacheffe does not have only a single style—there is Front Street washed Gardingding, which highlights jasmine floral notes and citrus fruit tea character, as well as Front Street natural Red Cherry, which leans toward ripe tropical fruit sweet-and-sour tonality. Because these beans have high flavor recognition and transparent aroma, they are very suitable to enjoy as single-origin coffee, and work well with pour-over, cold brew, or French press.

Front Street Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Coffee Garse Red Honey Process

Among the many Yirgacheffe products, the special feature of this Front Street Yirgacheffe Garse coffee bean is that it uses the red honey process. This processing method noticeably enhances the bean's layering and mellow texture, and drinking it may even make people reconsider their fixed impression of Yirgacheffe.

This bean is a G1 lot of Yirgacheffe red honey process customized by DWD for Zhongcha, from the same producing region, bean variety, and processing station as Aubert's Yirgacheffe Cherry.

This lot of Front Street Yirgacheffe honey process fully ripe red cherries comes from the Yirga region at an altitude above 2,100 meters. Affected by rainfall, the ripening period of the new crop season was delayed overall for a relatively long time, but this also allowed the coffee cherries to accumulate higher sweetness and richer flavor. The picking time for this lot of fully ripe red cherries was January 25 to February 1, during the middle-to-late stage of the season, when maturity and sweetness were both at their peak, providing a guarantee for the quality of the honey process lot.

① After the fully ripe red cherries are picked the same day, they are immediately sealed and sent to a cool warehouse for 58-hour anaerobic pre-fermentation, with the temperature maintained between 15–20°C, generating richer flavor compounds while avoiding over-fermentation.

② After entering the sun-drying stage, a shade canopy is built according to local weather, while the fruit drying bed stacking thickness and turning frequency are increased, and while strictly controlling a specific moisture content, the sun-drying time is extended to more than 15 days.

③ During the depulping stage, more pectin and pulp are retained, followed by drying treatment to lock in higher sweetness.

After light roasting, this Front Street honey process Yirgacheffe shows a pleasant fresh sweetness and full flavor: jasmine and elderflower run throughout, blended with the elegant fragrance of oolong tea, while fresh strawberry, Sunkist orange, nectarine, pineapple, mango, and other ripe fruit flavors overlap in layers, natural and vivid; the mouthfeel is as clean and transparent as washed beans, while also having a juicy smoothness and viscous body. High sweetness and a long finish.

How to brew Front Street Yirgacheffe Coffee [Front Street Ethiopia Yirga Garse Floral Red Honey Process] well?

Front Street pour-over reference: Weigh 15g [Front Street Ethiopia Yirga Garse Floral Red Honey Process] coffee grounds, medium grind, slightly coarser than table salt, using a BG grinder setting 5R (standard sieve pass rate 60%), water temperature 90°C, extracted with a V60 dripper.

Using the center of the dripper as the circle's center, pour hot water from the gooseneck kettle in a clockwise circular motion while starting the timer. Within 15 seconds, brew the coffee liquid to 30g, then stop pouring; when the time reaches 1 minute, perform the second pour. The second pour is the same as before, using the center of the dripper as the circle's center and pouring clockwise in circles, avoiding the stream hitting where the coffee grounds meet the filter paper, so as to prevent channeling.

Pour until the coffee grounds reach the outermost ring with one ring left, then brew circle by circle back toward the center, and at 2 minutes 20 seconds bring the coffee to 220g, completing the brew.

｜ Japanese Iced Pour-Over [Front Street Ethiopia Yirga Garse Floral Red Honey Process]

FrontStreet Coffee iced pour-over [Front Street Ethiopia Yirga Garse Floral Red Honey Process] reference:

Front Street Yirgacheffe Coffee [Front Street Ethiopia Yirga Garse Floral Red Honey Process], light-medium roast, BG grinder setting 5M (standard sieve pass rate 67%)

20g grounds, 150g ice, 150g hot water. Water temperature 1°C higher than the normal pour-over recommendation of 91°C, normal grind at Fuji 3.5 setting, while for iced pour-over use half a step finer—Fuji 3 setting.

Bloom water amount 40g, bloom time 30 seconds.

Pour in stages, first stage 60g water, second stage 40g water. Use a thinner but taller pouring stream, stir and impact forcefully to make the coffee grounds tumble fully, but be careful that the liquid level does not get too high and does not hit the edge filter paper.

The entire extraction time is also about 2 and a half minutes (close to the usual extraction time for 20g grounds).

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