Where Do Huakui Coffee Beans Come From?

Huakui is an Ethiopian specialty coffee grown at around 2,000 meters from heirloom varieties. Its coffee beans origin traces to Hambela in the Guji region, within the Oromiyaa administrative state. The name Huakui applies only to naturally processed coffee from Buku Abel Estate, one of four processing plants in the Dimtu core production area, which is why that site is also called Huakui Estate.

Dimtu sits inside Hambela and handles roughly 1,100 tons of coffee a year through Buku Abel, Buku Saysay, Haro Soresa, and Tirtiro Goye. Buku Abel covers about 80 hectares on a mountainside above 2,000 meters and is owned by DW, the export company behind Huakui. Hambela borders Kochere to the west, Shakiso to the east, Uraga to the south, and Kercha to the north, with about 20 processing plants.

Huakui is a highly recognizable representative of Ethiopian specialty coffee. With the rich floral and fruity notes brought by its natural process, it performs well in hot brewing methods such as pour-over, French press, siphon, and moka pot, and is also suitable for cold brew and ice drip, making it especially refreshing in summer. This article will systematically trace the origin of Huakui—from the Guji region to the Hambella sub-region, and then to Buku Abel Estate, where Huakui is truly produced—and review its award-winning history. It also presents the origin background of Front Street Sidamo Huakui and a flavor review of the washed version, helping coffee lovers gain a comprehensive understanding of this bean's full story.

Front Street Huakui is extremely well known among Ethiopian specialty coffees. Its natural process gives it abundant, full-bodied floral and fruity aromas, so it is suitable not only for hot extraction methods such as pour-over, French press, siphon, and moka pot, but also for making black coffee via cold brew and ice drip. It is refreshing on the palate and especially suitable for drinking in summer.

Front Street Sidamo Huakui is grown at an altitude of 2,000 meters from Ethiopian heirloom varieties.

Guji is the largest coffee-producing region in Ethiopia, and Front Street Huakui comes from Hambella under Guji.

Hambella belongs to Oromiyaa, the administrative state at the southernmost tip of Ethiopia. To its west, across the mountains, lies Kochere in the Yirgacheffe producing region, at a distance of 3,200 meters in elevation; to the east is Shakiso, to the south is Uraga, and to the north is Kercha. Within Hambella there are currently about 20 processing plants, scattered among villages and estates in different sub-regions and varying in scale. DW Coffee Export, to which Huakui belongs, has established a core production area called Dimtu in Hambella, with an annual coffee output of about 1,100 tons. Within Dimtu there are four estate processing plants: Buku Abel, Buku Saysay, Haro Soresa, and Tirtiro Goye. Among them, only the naturally processed coffee produced and processed by Buku Abel Estate is named "Huakui," which is why Buku Abel Estate is also called "Huakui Estate."

Huakui Estate is located halfway up a mountain, with a growing altitude of over 2,000 meters and an area of about 80 hectares. It is owned by the local DW company. The forest around the Huakui growing area is full of sugarcane and Ethiopian banana, and the estate's coffee therefore carries similar flavor characteristics. Under the combined influence of high altitude and microclimate, Huakui Estate has cultivated the uniquely flavored Front Street Huakui coffee beans.

Buku Abel is a small mountain village surrounded by mountains. At first, there was neither an estate nor a processing plant here. It all began with the lush, verdant heirloom coffee trees on the hill behind the village.

In February 2017, a naturally processed coffee from Buku Abel Estate in Hambella won first place in the Ethiopia National Taste of Harvest Competition. Four months later, at the China finals of the World Brewers Cup, Li Jianfei used this Ethiopian natural coffee to take second place. This result attracted widespread attention because it broke Geisha's dominance in brewing competitions and became the only coffee at the time capable of rivaling Geisha.

Huakui Award Record

2016-17 "Ethiopia National Taste of Harvest Competition" Champion

2017 "Africa Taste of Harvest Competition" Runner-up

2018 "Africa Taste of Harvest Competition" Champion

This time [Jun Sester Coffee Roasters] has introduced two Ethiopian Guji champion beans, one natural and one washed, with unique floral aromas accompanied by layered fruit flavors. Friends who love floral and fruity notes must not miss them!!

Ethiopia Guji Hambella Buku Abel Processing Plant Washed Huakui

Flavor review: wild ginger flower, lime, grape, white peach, candied cherry

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