How does the coffee bean process shape natural Yirgacheffe?

Yirgacheffe natural-process beans are known for bright acidity and rich fruity aromas. The coffee bean process matters here: natural beans and washed beans from the same variety present completely different flavors and mouthfeels. Natural Yirgacheffe typically shows berry and citrus notes, while washed lots read cleaner and more delicate on the palate.

Worka and Banko Gotiti sit inside Yirgacheffe, and the Banko Gotiti Cooperative split from Worka over its refined flavor. Operation Cherry Red, the Konga processing station, and lots such as Natural Red Cherry illustrate how grading and processing vary within one region. Even a single green coffee bean can taste different depending on how it was dried and sorted.

Yirgacheffe is one of the most renowned coffee regions in Ethiopia, and its natural-process beans are known for bright acidity and rich fruity aromas. This article starts with the region's evolution, variety grading, and differences in processing methods, deeply analyzing the flavor and mouthfeel characteristics of natural Yirgacheffe, and introduces representative products on Front Street Coffee's bean list such as the Banko Gotiti Cooperative, Operation Cherry Red, and the Konga processing station. It also outlines the origins, requirements, and contributions of Operation Cherry Red, as well as the cupping performance and brewing parameters of Front Street's two natural Yirgacheffe coffees, providing coffee enthusiasts with a complete guide to the region and tasting.

On Front Street Coffee's bean list, coffees from the Ethiopian region usually rank among the highest in number.

1. There is Front Street. Banko Gotiti Cooperative, which split from the Worka cooperative due to its refined flavor, as well as Front Street. Kafa Forest, which uses a natural cultivation model; 2. There are also rare large-estate productions in Ethiopia—Front Street Gold Label Geisha, Front Street Red Label Geisha, and Front Street Chaka Geisha from Gesha Village; 3. And the classic berry-flavored Front Street Sidamo Natural Huakui coffee and Front Street. Natural Red Cherry.

Front Street Coffee has a thorough understanding of the regional background of every coffee bean, and even sorts out the differences between different varieties within the same region and different processing methods for the same variety one by one. For example, natural beans and washed beans present completely different flavors and mouthfeels; likewise, different regions each have their own characteristics. Around this information, Front Street builds corresponding databases to provide richer and more detailed coffee knowledge for friends who love coffee and enjoy coffee, so that more people can enter the world of coffee.

Yirgacheffe Coffee Region

The Yirgacheffe region is located in Ethiopia and was originally only a sub-region under the Sidamo region. Its coffee flavor is bright and delicate, setting it apart within the Sidamo region. Because it was highly recognizable, coffee farmers took pride in their beans having a Yirgacheffe flavor, so it became independent from Sidamo and became today's most renowned Yirgacheffe region.

At first, the Yirgacheffe region used the most traditional natural drying method to process coffee beans. Later, the Ethiopian government introduced the washed processing method from Central and South America, and the quality of Yirgacheffe coffee beans immediately improved greatly. Its bright, uplifting acidity and white floral flavor quickly won a large group of loyal fans. The Yirgacheffe coffee region is a high-altitude region, with an elevation of about 2,000 meters. The region has more than 40 cooperatives, mainly managing coffee cultivation through family-run operations. Under the Yirgacheffe region there are also many well-known micro-regions, such as Kochere, Misty Valley, Gedeb, and so on. These micro-regions all have excellent cooperatives, and the Front Street Yirgacheffe coffee beans they produce each have their own distinctive flavor characteristics.

Banko Gotiti Cooperative

The Banko Gotiti Cooperative is located in the Worka region at the southeastern end of Yirgacheffe. It was originally part of the Worka Cooperative under the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers' Cooperative Union (YCFCU). Later, as people pursued traceability in green coffee beans, "single origin" was unearthed one by one by coffee hunters around the world.

In 2012, Banko Gotiti, with about 300 farmers, became independently established as the "Banko Gotiti Cooperative." Banko Gotiti village was the first village area to become independent, and many small farmers were also members of the original Worka Cooperative, so their coffee production skills are beyond doubt. The Banko Gotiti Cooperative is called the last pure land of Yirgacheffe, so the processing methods it uses are also very traditional (washed and natural processing).

Coffee Bean Processing Methods The Front Street Yirgacheffe Banko Gotiti Cooperative coffee beans use the washed processing method. A depulper is first used to remove the skin and pulp of the coffee cherries, then they are left to rest in a fermentation tank for 18-36 hours until the mucilage layer breaks down (the length of time depends on local temperature and humidity conditions). Next, the parchment beans are scrubbed for 30-60 minutes through washing channels.

At this point, through the channel design combined with water flow, low-density and poor-quality beans can be removed. The high-quality parchment beans are then placed on African raised beds to dry for about 14 days. After drying is completed, they are first stored in the processing plant's warehouse. Before export, the parchment beans are sent to a Dry Mill to be hulled, and go through a series of complicated screening processes such as foreign matter removal, silver skin polishing, gravity sorting, and color sorting, before finally being bagged for export.

Front Street. Washed Banko Gotiti Coffee Beans

Country: Ethiopia

Region: Yirgacheffe Gedeo Zone

Altitude: 1900-2300m

Variety: Heirloom

Processing Method: Washed Grade: G1 Flavor: Berry, cream, honey, citrus, juicy

Friends familiar with Ethiopian coffee will surely also be familiar with Operation Cherry Red. Front Street Coffee will now share with everyone how Operation Cherry Red actually works.

Introduction to Operation Cherry Red

The core content of Operation Cherry Red is to use fully red coffee cherries for processing to improve coffee quality. Looking at it today, processing with fully red cherries is nothing new (isn't using fully red cherries a matter of course?). But in 2007, it was a landmark innovative event.

In 2007, Trabocca, the largest green bean trader in the Netherlands, in pursuit of high-quality Ethiopian beans, proposed "Operation Cherry Red," a project to improve the production quality of small-scale farms. Previously, whether local processing stations or green bean traders, all would lower the purchase price of coffee cherries as much as possible to achieve higher profits. For coffee farmers, the number of coffee cherries sold determined their income, so they did not care about quality. The exploitation by green bean traders and the farmers' pursuit of quantity created a vicious cycle in coffee bean quality. Therefore, Trabocca saw this and had to break this dead cycle, so the win-win "Operation Cherry Red" came into being.

Project requirements: For harvesting coffee cherries, not only must fully red fruit be picked, but it must also be harvested entirely by hand. However, this is only the most basic requirement; the project is far from this simple. The main purpose is to encourage coffee farmers. Trabocca, the largest coffee bean trader in the Netherlands, invites all Ethiopian farms before the harvest season to produce small batches of about 1,500-3,000 kg (25-50 bags) of beans for it. Women can only select 100% fully ripe red cherries. This makes a huge difference to the flavor of the brewed coffee, so careful-eyed, diligent, and willing Ethiopian women are important drivers of Operation Cherry Red.

Operation Cherry Red is also a strengthening approach, making farms put more thought into the process of screening and sorting beans. These coffees are also relatively more expensive. Operation Cherry Red includes washed beans, natural beans, semi-washed, semi-natural, experimental coffees, and more. The main producing regions include Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, Bonga Forest, Lekempti, Kimbata, Illubabor, Harar, Limu, and in 2011 the Golocha origin was added (near Harar), among others. These all have unique flavors and can fully showcase the flavor of Ethiopian coffee.

First, the cupping score requirements are high. In cupping rooms in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Trabocca receives coffee shipped from the origins and then screens it again, judging whether the coffee beans meet the standard through two cuppings in Ethiopia and the Netherlands. Coffee beans that meet the standard are organized by Trabocca for auction to coffee bean buyers around the world. Generally, the transaction price of coffee beans auctioned through this platform can reach more than 4 times the international general coffee spot price, and the highest can even reach 20 times.

Second, the production volume requirement is small, and the quality requirement is high. In order to have enough energy to take care of these top Ethiopian local beans, Trabocca proposes that the beans participating in the project must all be small batches, with production roughly between 1,500 kg and 3,000 kg.

Finally, Trabocca's investment in and attention to this project are great, and it receives much emphasis. Trabocca donated new sun-drying racks, shade nets, generators, and more locally. At the same time, it also provided financial loan support, new hardware equipment, and production and processing knowledge and technology to help farmers improve their production level. In addition, through real-time monitoring, safe transportation, and other methods, it ensures that the beans of "Operation Cherry Red" receive the best care at every stage.

Specifically, Operation Cherry Red encourages coffee farmers to more carefully complete every process such as coffee cherry picking and processing by raising the purchase price of high-quality green coffee beans. The coffee beans produced in this way are better in quality and taste better, and can be better recognized by the end market, thereby balancing the relatively high coffee purchase price. Although Operation Cherry Red coffee beans do not seem to have a particularly large advantage now, the project also made a huge contribution to the development of specialty coffee.

How does Yirgacheffe Red Cherry coffee bean perform in flavor?

Front Street Yirgacheffe Red Cherry coffee beans use fully red cherry natural processing from Aricha Farm. At Aricha Farm, each small coffee farmer has an average planting area of about 0.6 hectares. It is composed of hundreds of coffee farmers, with a planting altitude of nearly 2,000 meters, large temperature differences, and fertile soil, providing an excellent growing environment. Hand-picking fully red cherries can maximize the lower limit of coffee quality.

The green beans are pale yellow, plump, complete in appearance, and low in defect rate, belonging to G1 grade. As a single-origin pour-over coffee, Red Cherry coffee beans are roasted by Front Street Coffee to a medium-light roast. After roasting, the Red Cherry coffee beans have a uniform color and an obvious berry aroma. Below, take two beans on Front Street's bean list as examples—Front Street Yirgacheffe Red Cherry and Front Street Yirgacheffe Konga. These two Front Street Ethiopian coffee beans are both natural processed, from the same Yirgacheffe region but different processing plants.

Front Street Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Coffee Beans and Front Street Yirgacheffe Konga Coffee Beans

Brewing Parameters

Dripper: V60#01 Water temperature: 90-91℃ Dose: 15g Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15 Grind size: medium-fine grind (80% passing through China standard No. 20 sieve)

Front Street. Natural Red Cherry Coffee Beans Country: Ethiopia Region: Yirgacheffe Processing plant: Aricha Altitude: 2300m Variety: Local heirloom Processing method: Natural processing Grade: G1

Front Street. Natural Konga Coffee Beans

Country: Ethiopia

Region: Yirgacheffe

Washing station: Worka Konga processing station

Altitude: 1850 to 2050 meters

Coffee variety: Heirloom

Processing method: Natural processing

Grade: G1

Front Street Coffee Brewing Method Sharing

Three-stage extraction. Use 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour in a small stream in circles until 125 grams for the first stage. When the water level is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until 225 grams and stop. When the water level is about to expose the coffee bed again, remove the dripper. (Start timing from the beginning of the bloom.) The extraction time is 2'00".

Front Street Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Coffee Beans: Lemon, citrus, berry, sweet orange. The overall sweetness is relatively high, with caramel and cream in the aftertaste, and a black tea aroma in the finish.

Front Street Yirgacheffe Konga Coffee Beans: When hot, it is berry, cream, honey, citrus, with a juicy mouthfeel and bright acidity. When the temperature drops slightly, it is berry, cream, smooth, and citrus.

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