What makes Guji Uraga a notable name among famous coffees?

Uraga is a sub-region of Ethiopia's Guji zone, and its beans have earned attention among famous coffees for high-altitude fruit flavors. A washed lot from the Sela Gajaba station took the 2020 Taste of Harvest (TOH) Washed Group champion title with a score of 89.8. The TOH competition, run by the African Fine Coffees Association, covers 12 producing countries and uses a cupping format similar to Cup of Excellence.

Guji was once part of Sidamo before becoming its own zone, and its terroir resembles Yirgacheffe. Uraga sits at elevations up to 2300m on fertile black soil, and the town lies geographically closer to Yirgacheffe's highlands than to much of Guji. The washed process at Sela Gajaba, about 12 km from town, is mostly done indoors. Roasters build profiles that bring out jasmine, pomelo, and green tea notes.

Many friends enjoy Front Street TOH coffee beans, but quite a few are unclear about what TOH stands for. This article starts with the TOH competition and provides a detailed introduction to the 2020 TOH Washed Group champion—a bean from Uraga in Ethiopia's Guji region, covering its regional background, the washed process at the Sela Gajaba processing station, Front Street roasters' profile design, and a brewing recipe that highlights jasmine, pomelo, and green tea flavors. Whether you want to understand what TOH actually is or master the key brewing points for this champion bean, you'll find the answers below.

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Front Street's TOH coffee beans have won affection from many customers, yet a fair number of friends are still unclear about what TOH actually refers to. So Front Street is dedicating this piece to the origins of this bean.

What is TOH?

TOH stands for "East Africa Taste of Harvest Competition," organized by the African Fine Coffees Association (AFCA). Participating countries span 12 African coffee-producing nations, and the format is a green coffee cupping competition, similar in positioning to the Cup of Excellence (COE) green coffee cupping competition led by Brazil. This year, Uraga took the 2020 TOH Washed Group champion title with a score of 89.8.

Champion Bean Uraga

This bean comes from Uraga, a sub-region under Ethiopia's renowned Guji zone. Guji was originally part of the Sidamo region, but was later established as its own zone because it possesses a unique terroir flavor similar to Yirgacheffe. The region has produced many famous coffees—for example, the widely enjoyed Hambela series comes from Hambela, a sub-region of Guji.

Uraga is a sub-region within the Guji zone, with elevations reaching up to 2300m. Although the town of Uraga is administratively assigned to Guji, geographically it is closer to the high mountain areas of Yirgacheffe at 2200m. The soil in this area is fertile black soil (Vertisol), and the high-altitude conditions give Uraga its rich fruit flavors.

Processing Station and Processing Method

This champion bean was washed at the Sela Gajaba washing station. The station is about 12 kilometers from Uraga town and is one of the finest processing stations in Uraga. Processing at the station is mostly conducted indoors, minimizing the possibility of contamination.

Freshly harvested coffee cherries first undergo two rounds of sorting to select fully red, defect-free fruit, followed by pulping and mucilage removal. The green beans with residual pulp and mucilage are placed in water to ferment for about 18 to 36 hours; after fermentation is complete, the parchment-covered beans are moved to flowing water channels for washing to remove pulp and mucilage; after washing, they are sun-dried or machine-dried to bring moisture content down to around 12%. Finally, the parchment is removed from the green beans.

Coffee processed this way retains Ethiopia's traditional floral, citrus, and tea notes while significantly improving cleanliness.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Roast Analysis

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)'s roasters determined that for a washed champion bean, the roasting approach should center on preserving a clean mouthfeel, with emphasis on presenting white floral and fruit flavors. Through fine-tuning the drying phase length and first crack timing, they finalized the following roast profile.

Front Street's roaster used a Yangjia 800N (300g batch size): charge at 180°C, heat 130, damper set to 3; turning point at 1'36", at 140°C open damper to 4 while keeping heat unchanged; at 151°C the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy smell completely disappears, entering the drying phase, heat reduced to 110.

At 8'37", the bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and dark streaks, and the toast-like smell clearly shifts to coffee aroma, which can be considered the prelude to first crack. At this point you need to carefully distinguish the sound of first crack. First crack begins at 9'39". Damper is not opened to 5. After first crack, develop for 1'00" and drop at 193.2°C.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Brewing Parameters

Through cupping, Front Street determined this bean's flavors to be jasmine, lemon, berry, pomelo, honey, and green tea.

This time, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)'s barista decided to highlight this coffee's jasmine aroma, with pomelo, honey, and green tea as the main notes. The following brewing parameters were used:

Also using 15 grams of coffee grounds as an example, through brewing tests Front Street found that this coffee tends to develop a tea-like astringency when steeped too long, so the final grind was chosen slightly coarser than normal pour-over grind, with a 70% pass rate on a No. 20 standard sieve.

A 1:16 coffee-to-water ratio was used; a wider ratio better highlights floral and fruity notes. Water temperature was 91°C, a temperature very suitable for brewing Ethiopian coffee beans, easily bringing out citrus and other fruity characteristics.

Brewing Method

This time Front Street's three-stage pour-over was also used. First, preheat the coffee pot and dripper, add 15g of coffee grounds, and gently level them. Pour 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom; a longer bloom time is not recommended, as it easily produces astringency.

For the second stage, pour 120 grams of water in concentric circles from the center outward, finishing the pour in about 1 minute. When the coffee bed is almost visible, pour the final stage, adding 90 grams of water in the same pouring manner. Once all the water has drained into the server, remove the dripper to end extraction. Total brew time is 2 minutes 05 seconds.

Brewed Flavor Description: The wet aroma has faint jasmine and citrus notes. In the front end you can taste citrus-like juice, while the middle and back end reveal a honey-pomelo tea sensation, with an oolong tea-like sweet aftertaste in the finish.

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