How do two Ethiopian coffee producing regions compare?

Ethiopia's Taste of Harvest (TOH) names a natural-group and a washed-group champion each year. Aricha, the 2019 natural winner, comes from a village in the Gedeo Zone near Yirgacheffe, while Uraga, the 2020 washed winner, comes from Guji. Both reached China through Front Street Coffee, and their flavor profiles differ clearly.

The comparison runs across regional background, coffee beans process, variety, roasting curves, cupping, and brewing. Aricha's natural handling and Uraga's washed handling produce contrasting acidity, sweetness, and body. Knowing each coffee producing region's style helps buyers match beans to preferred brewing methods and taste.

The Ethiopian TOH (Taste of Harvest) is known as Africa's "Cup of Excellence," and each year's winning beans represent the highest standard of their producing region. The 2019 natural group champion Aricha and the 2020 washed group champion Uraga were both introduced to China by Front Street Coffee. They come from the well-known Yirgacheffe and Guji regions respectively, one processed naturally and the other washed, with completely different flavor profiles. This article will comprehensively compare these two champion beans—from regional background, processing methods, and variety characteristics to roasting curves, cupping, and brewing—to help coffee lovers understand their respective style positioning and suitable audiences.

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The 2020 TOH washed group champion—coffee beans from the Uraga region—arrived in China in early December. Front Street Coffee purchased this bean immediately upon arrival. This inevitably brings to mind last year's 2019 TOH natural group champion Aricha, also introduced by Front Street. In this article, Front Street will place these two champion beans side by side and, through comparison, observe their respective flavor directions.

TOH Cupping Competition

The TOH green bean competition is the most important green bean event in African coffee-growing countries each year, with the full name "East Africa Taste of Harvest competition" (TOH). This event is similar to the Cup of Excellence (COE) in Central and South America. Since its establishment, the TOH green bean competition has become an arena for discovering the best coffee from 12 African producing countries including Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Congo.

Coffee Producing Regions

First, let's follow Front Street Coffee to learn about the producing region of the 2019 natural group champion Aricha coffee beans: Aricha is a village called Aricha kebele located in the Gedeo Zone of southern Ethiopia. It is under the same administrative area as Yirgacheffe and Kochere. Aricha is about 8 kilometers from the center of Yirgacheffe town. Kebele is the smallest administrative unit in Ethiopia, with a scale of about 500 households (equivalent to 3,500–4,000 people), similar in size to a community. Aricha village produces about 18.2 metric tons of specialty coffee each year, divided into 10 commercial grades for sale to the global coffee market. Most of the coffee in this area comes from wild varieties in local native forests and from natural cultivation by local indigenous people. Therefore, the coffee tree species in this area are extremely diverse, and a single batch of beans often contains as many as 2–30 varieties. Also, because they are harvested from native forests above 1,850 meters in altitude, they cannot be named after an estate, so they can only be named after the harvesting area, Aricha.

Next, let's learn about the producing region of the 2020 washed group champion Uraga coffee beans: The Uraga producing region is one of the sub-regions of the famous Guji region, with an altitude of up to 2,300m. Since the Guji region became independent from the Sidamo region, it has undoubtedly been one of the most watched coffee producing regions in recent years. Before Guji became famous, coffee beans processed at Uraga's processing plant were mostly sold under the name Yirgacheffe. After the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) designated Guji as an independent producing region, the western highland area of Uraga either directly uses village or cooperative names as production units and marks them on jute bags. The Uraga region has also won the TOH washed group championship multiple times in recent years.

Coffee Bean Processing Methods The 2019 champion Aricha coffee beans use the natural processing method. This batch of coffee beans was sun-dried at the Adorsi processing plant. After the Aricha coffee farmers collect the coffee beans, they are uniformly sent to the Adorsi processing plant. The processing plant selects ripe red coffee cherries and places them on raised drying beds in the sun, where they turn from red to dark brown over two weeks. After the storage period, the green coffee beans are removed, and all dried fruit skin, pulp, and parchment layer are removed at the same time. Front Street believes the advantage of this natural process is that it can completely isolate off-flavors caused by contact with soil. On the other hand, it can also improve the drying efficiency of coffee cherries, more completely present the coffee's original fruit flavors, showcase berry flavors, and enhance the sweetness of the coffee beans.

The 2020 champion Uraga coffee beans use the washed processing method. This batch of coffee beans was processed at the Sela Gajaba processing station. The processing station is 12 kilometers outside Uraga town. The surrounding area is shaded by green trees, and high-quality coffee grown beyond several mountain ranges creates a perfect environment. The Boye River flows through the area, irrigating the coffee farms of small and medium-sized farmers. Coffee processing must undergo strict and careful control and screening at every stage. Coffee farmers in the Uraga region send harvested coffee cherries to the processing station. After the processing station staff carefully select the coffee cherries, the screened coffee cherries are put into a depulper to initially remove the skin and pulp; the green coffee beans with residual pulp and mucilage are placed in water to ferment for about 18–36 hours; after fermentation, the green coffee beans with parchment are washed in a flowing water channel to remove the pulp and mucilage; after washing, the coffee beans are dried in the sun or with a dryer to reduce the moisture content to about 12%. Finally, the parchment of the green coffee beans is removed. Through cupping, Front Street believes that the washed processing method highlights the brightness of the acidity of coffee beans from the Uraga region, with an overall impression leaning toward the floral aroma and citrus acidity characteristic of the Yirgacheffe region. Coffee Bean Varieties These two TOH competition coffee beans use the most common Ethiopian native coffee varieties in the Ethiopia region. In Ethiopia, "heirloom" is often used to refer to the country's native varieties, many of which are still wild today. It is estimated that Ethiopia has 10,000 to 15,000 native varieties so far, most of which have not yet undergone formal genetic identification. Although many heirloom varieties were originally wild plants, some were later brought to coffee plantations across the country, where they were cultivated, harvested, and processed.

Heirloom varieties are usually divided into two major categories: JARC varieties and regional varieties. JARC varieties are developed and studied by the Jimma Agricultural Research Center (developed to obtain ideal characteristics such as higher disease resistance or increased yield). However, regional varieties are coffee trees that grow entirely in the wild. Front Street believes that because the varieties are numerous and complex, most are planted mixed together and harvested mixed together, so the two coffee beans appear to have inconsistent sizes in appearance. Front Street Coffee Roasting Record

2019 champion Aricha coffee beans: Yangjia 800N roaster (300g batch size): charge at 165°C, power 120, damper set to 3; turning point at 1'36", when the temperature reaches 148°C open the damper to 4, power unchanged; when the temperature reaches 166°C the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy smell completely disappears, entering the dehydration stage, power unchanged, damper at 5; at 7'37", ugly wrinkles and dark spots appear on the bean surface, and the toast smell clearly turns into coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. First crack begins at 8'38", damper unchanged, develop for 1'45" after first crack, discharge at 195°C.

2020 champion Uraga coffee beans: Front Street's roaster used Yangjia 800N (300g batch size): charge at 180°C, power 130, damper set to 3; turning point at 1'36", when the temperature reaches 140°C open the damper to 4, power unchanged; when the temperature reaches 151°C the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy smell completely disappears, entering the dehydration stage, power reduced to 110. At 8'37", ugly wrinkles and dark spots appear on the bean surface, and the toast smell clearly turns into coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. First crack begins at 9'39", damper not opened to 5, develop for 1'00" after first crack, discharge at 193.2°C. Front Street Coffee Cupping Report Aricha Coffee Beans During cupping, its rich mouthfeel makes it resemble a "fruit bomb." On the palate there is soft citrus aroma along with berry and peach aromas; the mouthfeel is smooth with a creamy note, wrapped in lemon and grape acidity. The aftertaste is richly layered, and the floral aroma is the ultimate expression of this bean!

Uraga, on the other hand, makes one think of a cup of honey pomelo tea! The citrus acidity on the palate is fresh and clean, followed by the clear fragrance of pomelo and green tea, and then honey-like sweetness rises up, creating a honey pomelo tea-like sensation in the mouth. Friends who like fruit juice can choose the naturally processed Aricha coffee beans, while those who like clean and fresh citrus tea can choose the washed Uraga coffee beans.

Front Street Coffee Brewing Notes

Dripper: V60 #01

Water temperature: 90°C

Dose: 15g

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Grind size: medium-fine grind (78% passing through a No. 20 sieve)

Front Street brewing method: First rinse the filter paper and preheat the dripper and coffee pot. Use 30g of water for blooming for 30 seconds. Pour in a small stream in circles until 125g, then pause. When the water level is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until 225g and stop. When the water level is about to expose the coffee bed again, remove the dripper. (Timing starts at the beginning of blooming.) Total extraction time is 2'00".

Aricha coffee bean brewing flavor: It smells of ripe fruit, with an obvious fermented aroma on the palate, green grapes, and as it cools slightly, lemon acidity, creamy smoothness, and a juicy ripe grape note in the finish. Uraga coffee bean brewing flavor: Citrus acidity and jasmine aroma in the front, pomelo tea in the middle, and a honey aftertaste, clean and fresh.

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