What Does Yirgacheffe Kochere Coffee Taste Like?

Kochere is a micro-region inside Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe area, about 25 kilometers southeast of Yirgacheffe town at 1,650 to 1,800 meters. Its washed beans are known for clean sweetness and citrus acidity. In the ECX system Kochere is listed as its own producing region, and Coffee Review once scored its washed beans 94 points.

Kochere is one of 77 Woredas under SNNPR and one of three well-known Yirgacheffe micro-regions alongside Wenago and Gelena Abaya. Coffee is the main local income, and processing equipment there is advanced. Lots are often labeled by source town, such as Chelelektu. Front Street adds V60 pour-over parameters for brewing the G1-grade beans.

Kochere is a highly regarded micro-region in the Yirgacheffe producing area, famous for the clean sweetness and complex citrus notes of its washed beans. This article will start from the regional background, production model, and washed processing method, combine Front Street Coffee's roasting and cupping experience, analyze the flavor characteristics of Kochere coffee in detail, and share V60 pour-over brewing parameters and techniques, taking you through a comprehensive understanding of the charm of this G1-grade bean.

Friends who like Yirgacheffe coffee have mostly heard of Kochere, a well-known Ethiopian micro-region. Kochere is located in the most core part of the broader Yirgacheffe area. In the ECX producing region system, Kochere is listed separately as a producing region, which shows how special its status is. After cupping comparisons, Front Street found that the green beans from Yirgacheffe Kochere are clearly superior to ordinary lots. The coffee produced there has extremely high flavor recognition, rich layers of aroma and mouthfeel, and presents lively citrus acidity, a silky sweet touch, and fruit-like notes.

Kochere Producing Region Kochere

Yirgacheffe itself is a small town with a population of about 20,000. The three neighboring small producing regions, Wenago, Kochere, and Gelena Abaya, are also included in the broader Yirgacheffe regional classification because the coffee they produce has a flavor almost identical to that of Yirgacheffe.

Kochere is located about 25 kilometers southeast of Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia, with an altitude range of 1,650 to 1,800 meters. It is relatively prosperous because of the coffee industry and is one of the three well-known micro-regions of Yirgacheffe. Its population is about 100,000, coffee beans are the main source of local income, and the processing equipment in this producing area is also quite advanced. The well-known coffee review website Coffee Review once gave Kochere washed beans a high score of 94 points.

Kochere is one of the 77 Woredas (administrative districts) under SNNPR in Ethiopia. In the coffee field, Kochere belongs to the Gediyo part of Yirgacheffe and is also one of the most important producing areas of Yirgacheffe. Kochere can be further divided internally into several micro-regions. Coffee produced in the area is sometimes labeled more precisely by source town name (such as Chelelektu or Teklu Dembel), processing station (such as Teklu Dembel Processing Station and the Alemu Processing Station used for this lot), or micro-area (such as Banko Gutiti), which follows the current trend of coffee traceability. The stronger the traceability of a lot, the more specific its source, and the higher its annual flavor stability and reproducibility, and naturally the higher its price.

Coffee Production Model in the Kochere Area

The production model in Kochere is mainly based on local smallholders sending their output lots to cooperatives for unified processing. About 100,000 people in the local village of Chalalacktu depend on coffee for their livelihood, and related production activities form their main source of income. Thanks to the income brought by coffee production, the local standard of living is much better than in many Ethiopian villages, with complete health facilities and higher schools and other supporting infrastructure. Advanced processing equipment has allowed coffee from the Kochere producing area to consistently maintain a high standard in washed processing, with complex notes interwoven with molasses and citrus, clean and sweet.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Kochere is the highest-specification G1-grade lot. Unlike ordinary lots of green coffee, it has a distinctive origin flavor, with clean and fresh lemon aroma, delicate and elegant jasmine floral notes, and rich aromas and mouthfeel of muskmelon, citrus, ginger, spiced tea, and more.

Washed Processing Method

Washed

The washed method, translated from Washed Process, also called washed processing, is a traditional processing method that uses water resources to process coffee cherries. Usually the washed steps include flotation, removing the pulp, soaking and fermenting to remove mucilage, washing or continuing to soak, drying, and then hulling, finally obtaining the desired coffee beans. Compared with natural processing, coffee farmers using the washed method must be equipped with a depulper, build washing tanks, and have a continuous supply of running water, so it is not applicable to every producing area. It is generally most common in Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Kenya, and other places. But washing indeed has several advantages: on the one hand, it reduces the defect rate of green beans, thereby stabilizing quality; on the other hand, it greatly shortens drying time, making production more efficient; and of course, it also allows the coffee to retain the "washed taste."

After washing, the coffee beans are dried in the sun or with a dryer until the moisture content is reduced to about 12%, and finally the parchment layer of the green coffee beans is removed.

FrontStreet Coffee: Ethiopia · Yirgacheffe Kochere

Region: Yirgacheffe Kochere

Variety: Local heirloom varieties

Growing altitude: 1,650 m~1,800 m

Processing method: Washed process

Grade: G1

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Record

In order to highlight the clean mouthfeel and bright acidity of this washed Kochere bean, the Front Street roaster decided to use a medium-light roast. Roaster: Yangjia 800N, batch size: 550g. The drum temperature was raised to 200°C before charging, the damper was set to 3, the heat was 160, the damper remained unchanged, the turning point was 1'32", the damper was adjusted to 3.5 when the drum temperature was 151, and the heat was adjusted to 180 when the drum temperature was 140°C, with the damper unchanged; at this point the bean surface turned yellow, the grassy smell completely disappeared, and it entered the dehydration stage;

At 8'35", ugly wrinkles and dark patches appeared on the bean surface, and the toast smell clearly turned into coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, it is necessary to listen clearly for the sound of the first crack. First crack began at 8'53", the heat was kept at 180 unchanged, the damper was adjusted to 4, and after first crack it developed for 1'45" and was dropped at 195°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Report

FrontStreet Coffee conducts cupping within 8-24 hours after the sample coffee beans are roasted. The cupping bowls generally used by FrontStreet Coffee baristas are 200ml ceramic bowls, marked with 150ml and 200ml scale lines. According to SCAA standards, the TDS of water is about 150ppm. Too low TDS easily causes over-extraction, while too high TDS affects the mouthfeel and easily causes under-extraction. The water temperature used for cupping is 94°C. The grind size is controlled so that the passing rate through a No. 20 standard sieve (0.85 mm) is 70%-75%. Ratio: 11 grams of coffee grounds plus 200 milliliters of hot water, that is, 1:18.18, so that the extracted concentration is exactly within the golden cup range of 1.15%-1.35%, and the steeping time is 4 minutes.

Dry aroma: orange blossom

Wet aroma: feeling

Flavor: lemon, black tea, fruity sweet and sour

FrontStreet Coffee Barista Brewing Notes

Dripper: V60 #01 Water temperature: 90-91°C Dose: 15g Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15 Grind size: EK43s setting 10 / fine granulated sugar size (80% passing through a No. 20 sieve)

As for the grind size, Front Street determines it through sieving. Based on the grind recommendations provided by the Specialty Coffee Association of America, SCA, for pour-over coffee, Front Street then verifies them in combination with actual operation. If there is no sieve at home, FrontStreet Coffee suggests judging by observing the flow rate: if the flow is too fast, the grind is coarse; if the flow is too slow, the grind is fine.

Front Street brewing technique: first wet the filter paper and preheat the dripper and coffee pot. For the first pour, add 30 grams of water and bloom for 30 seconds, then pour in 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 in the remaining 100 grams (the electronic scale shows about 225 grams), finishing the pour in about 1 minute 35 seconds. Dripping is completed at 2'05", remove the dripper, and extraction is complete.

Brewed flavor: lemon, floral, orange, cane sugar, overall clean and refreshing, with a sweet aftertaste of honey and an oolong tea finish.

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