How Does the Red Cherry Project Raise Ethiopian Coffee Quality?
The Red Cherry Project is a coffee quality initiative promoted by Trabocca in Ethiopia. It encourages farms to invest more in screening and bean selection, and coffees that clear a cupping score of 88 points or above earn recognition and substantial bonus payments. Front Street Coffee's Sidamo Red Cherry beans from the Kebado cooperative show berries, tropical fruits, fermented wine aromas, stone fruits, tea notes, and milk chocolate.
Red Cherry actions cover washed, natural, semi-washed, semi-natural, and experimental coffees across areas including Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, Bonga Forest, Lekempti, Kumbata, Illubabor, Harar, Limu, and Golocha. Trabocca runs a second selection and joint cupping tests from offices in Ethiopia and the Netherlands, then returns project profits to cooperating farms as a non-profit effort.
The Red Cherry Project is a coffee quality improvement initiative promoted by Trabocca in Ethiopia, encouraging farms to carefully select coffee beans through high-standard cupping screening and a bonus reward mechanism. This article focuses on Front Street Coffee's Sidamo Red Cherry Project coffee beans, starting from the terroir conditions of the Kebado cooperative in the producing area, outlining the operation of the Red Cherry Project, its main production areas, differences in processing methods, and providing a detailed description of this bean's flavor performance—interwoven with berries, tropical fruits, fermented wine aromas, stone fruits, tea-like notes, and milk chocolate, with a medium body and a complex, lasting aftertaste. Whether lightly or darkly roasted, it displays outstanding characteristics, making it a suitable reference for coffee enthusiasts who enjoy exploring Ethiopian flavors.
Flavor Description, Production Area, Variety, and Taste Introduction of Front Street Coffee's Sidamo Coffee Beans from the Red Cherry Project
The Red Cherry Project can also be understood as a strengthening measure aimed at getting farms to invest more effort in the screening and bean selection stages, so these coffees usually sell at higher prices. Red Cherry actions cover various types such as washed, natural, semi-washed, semi-natural, and experimental coffees, with main production areas including Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, Bonga Forest, Lekempti, Kumbata, Illubabor, Harar, Limu, and the newly added Golocha in 2011 (located near Harar), among others. These production areas each have their own characteristics and can fully showcase the diverse flavors of Ethiopian coffee. After receiving the coffee, Trabocca conducts a second selection, and the offices in both Ethiopia and the Netherlands jointly carry out cup quality tests; farms that meet the standards can receive substantial bonuses. A cupping score must reach 88 points or above to be recognized as a good coffee under the Red Cherry Project. As the promoter of this project, Trabocca has invested all the profits obtained in recent years into cooperating farms. Trabocca emphasizes that this is a non-profit project, so the company consists of only 4 people, including the boss and secretary, to execute the Red Cherry Project, while other administrative-related affairs rely on support from the parent company to reduce administrative expenses, with all profits returned to cooperating farms.
Kebado is a small coffee cooperative in a small town within the Dara production area of Sidamo Province. The average planting area of each local smallholder coffee farmer is about 0.6 hectares, and it is jointly composed of hundreds of coffee farmers. The cooperative's planting altitude is close to 2,000 meters, with large temperature differences and fertile soil, providing superior conditions for coffee growth. The green beans themselves exude a rich raisin and fermented wine aroma. From the appearance of the beans, which are nearly yellowish-brown, they are actually not large in size and belong to the slender type, but when held in the hand, they convey a solid sense of weight. After roasting, we found that the bright berry aroma, or the rich chocolate-like aftertaste, gives this Front Street Sidamo coffee bean outstanding performance whether it is lightly or darkly roasted.
Flavor: berries, tropical fruits, fermented wine aroma, stone fruits, tea-like notes, milk chocolate. Medium body; the cocoa aroma in the aftertaste carries a hint of spice and tea fragrance, complex and lasting; when cooled, it tastes cleaner, and the balance becomes even more prominent.
In washed coffees, wild flavors are less likely to appear, and they have a pure, refreshing character, suitable for City to Full City roast levels; in some inherently excellent Ethiopian washed coffee beans, one can sometimes detect obvious uplifting lemon, citrus essential oil, jasmine fragrance, honey notes, etc., with more pronounced acidity and a thin body. Various mocha beans processed by the natural method all carry wild flavors in their basic flavor profile, differing only in degree, and are more suitable for expression at Full City to Vienna roast levels. In inherently excellent natural mocha beans, the aftertaste will have a noticeable dark chocolate flavor, and some even have a pleasing blueberry-like fermented fruity aroma and a red wine-like texture.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
