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As a fan of floral and fruity coffees, Front Street has several Ethiopian coffee beans on its menu, the most representative of which are the washed Gotiti Cooperative, the natural Red Cherry, the Sidamo Hambela, and the washed Yirgacheffe staple bean that serves as the face of Ethiopian coffee. Among the guests who come to Front Street for coffee, if they want to taste bright, uplifting fruity acidity, Front Street Coffee will give priority to recommending Front Street. Washed Yirgacheffe from the bean shelf, such as Front Street. Gotiti Cooperative; if they want a full, round fruity sweetness, Front Street believes naturally processed coffee beans are more suitable, such as the natural Red Cherry.

Ethiopian Origins

As the universally recognized birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia boasts an unparalleled abundance of varieties and high quality. It is not only an important local cash crop and export commodity, but also a long-standing part of their culture. So coffee can be said to be what Ethiopians are most proud of.

Ethiopia's terrain is at a very high altitude, and the vast highlands create an excellent climate and a pronounced temperature difference between day and night. In the morning it is shrouded in mist, with gusts of wind blowing through the mountains; in the afternoon there is ample sunshine; at night the temperature drops to just over ten degrees, but there is no frost, making it an excellent environment for growing coffee. Ethiopia has many producing regions, and under different soils and microclimates, combined with differences in post-processing methods, the flavor of the coffee also differs. In domestic coffee shops, the ones heard most often are probably the major flavor representatives Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, and Guji, whose distinctive aromas are passed by word of mouth throughout the coffee community.

Because of Ethiopia's superior natural conditions, coffee trees can be seen everywhere, and every household also plants them together with other crops in their front yards and back gardens. Coffee yields are not large, so the coffee cherries are usually picked and sent directly to the processing station in town for processing, and finally sold under the name of the processing plant (cooperative), such as the Gotiti Cooperative, a well-known local production team. This kind of garden coffee is the most common local planting model, and it also brings basic income subsidies to more Ethiopians.

The Washing Technique of Gotiti Cooperative

Gotiti Cooperative (Banko Gotiti) takes its name from a small village in the Gedeo region and is known for growing coffee of the highest quality in Ethiopia. Gotiti was originally part of the Worka cooperative under the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union YCFCU (26 cooperatives, 45,000 members), and later became independent in 2012 thanks to its mature washing technique, becoming a household-name team.

Traditionally, after harvesting the coffee cherries, farmers would put them directly on patios, or spread them flat on the ground, and dry them directly under the sun. Once the coffee cherries' moisture content was only about 12%, they could be sent for hulling and packing. Coffee beans processed this way are prone to earthy flavors, over-fermentation, and rotten fruit flavors. To improve the defective flavors brought by this sun-drying method, Ethiopia introduced washed processing technology from Central and South America. Cooperative members would sort, wash, ferment, and remove the pulp and pectin from the purchased coffee cherries, then place them on raised beds to dry. Every step must be handled properly to ensure the quality of the final coffee produced.

The washed processing method transformed Yirgacheffe coffee from its previous inconsistency, and after roasting, the flavor presented a fresh citrus tone and elegant white floral notes, with an overall bright and delicate flavor. Thus Yirgacheffe became independent from the Sidamo producing region and became the well-known region it is today in the coffee community.

What flavor characteristics does natural Yirgacheffe have?

Ethiopia has high altitude, little rainfall, and long sunshine hours, so it is very suitable for sun-drying green coffee beans. The so-called "natural method" is to dry ripe coffee cherries directly after harvesting. During the drying process, the sugars and aromas in the pulp are well preserved and penetrate into the green coffee beans. At the same time, the longer the natural processing time, the fuller the fermentation. Because the natural method lets the coffee fruit dry naturally, the coffee beans ripen naturally inside the fruit without interference from the external environment, so naturally processed coffee beans amplify their own flavors, with obvious tropical fruit flavors, full fermentation, and sweetness. Front Street's Sunflower Warm Sun espresso blend includes 30% naturally processed Yirgacheffe Red Cherry coffee beans, with a berry-like sweet-and-sour charm.

The name Red Cherry coffee comes from the 2007 "Red Cherry Project," which was led and promoted by Trabocca BV, then the largest Dutch coffee bean merchant, with the aim of encouraging Ethiopian coffee farmers to produce higher-quality coffee beans. It mainly targeted some high-altitude producing regions such as Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe to improve processing techniques such as washed, semi-washed, and natural, and professional cuppers joined in. During the harvest season, different coffee harvest volumes were set for different microclimate areas, and only 100% ripe red coffee cherries could be harvested. Coffee cherries at the right degree of ripeness plus more meticulous processing techniques brought a qualitative leap in coffee flavor, and correspondingly the farmers received richer rewards, creating a win-win situation that made both producers and consumers happier.

The Flavor and Mouthfeel of Yirgacheffe

The greatest characteristic of Ethiopian coffee lies in its fruity acidity and floral aroma, praised by many coffee people as a "fruit bomb." Since such explosive fragrance needs to be highlighted, the roast level naturally cannot be too dark, so a medium-light roast is used to showcase the fruity notes of Front Street. Yirgacheffe coffee.

Cupping flavor:

The dry aroma of Front Street washed Gotiti Cooperative coffee gives off fresh passion fruit, citrus, and berry acidity. The wet aroma is citrus and berry. On the palate, there is citrus acidity, berry sweetness, almond, and a tea-like sensation, with a finish carrying honey sweetness. The body is low, the acidity is bright, and it is clean and refreshing.

The dry aroma of Front Street natural Red Cherry Yirgacheffe coffee shows full berry sweet-and-sour notes. When slurped at different temperatures, there are soft berry sweet-and-sour notes, ripe fruit fermentation, obvious honey sweetness, and a black tea finish, with a smooth mouthfeel.

In addition, the Yirgacheffe staple bean launched by Front Street uses washed processing and a medium-light roast, carrying the classic Yirgacheffe flavor profile, and is suitable for pour-over, cold brew, French press, and many other brewing methods. Front Street's staple bean series allows friends who are just getting into coffee to taste the basic flavors of the producing region at an affordable price, and the small-package design also avoids waste from being unable to finish drinking it. If you want to taste the classic aroma of Yirgacheffe, Front Street believes pour-over black coffee is most suitable.

Sharing Yirgacheffe's Pour-Over Parameters

Dripper: V60
Water temperature: 92-93°C
Dose: 15g
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Grind size: fine granulated sugar size (sift the grounds through a No. 20 sieve to 78%)

Three-stage pouring: Use twice the coffee grounds' weight in water to wet the coffee bed, forming a dome and blooming for 30s, then pour in a small stream in circles from the inside out until 125g and pause. When the coffee bed drops to half the height of the dripper, continue pouring the third stage with the same thin stream until 225g, until all the coffee liquid has filtered through, then remove the dripper. The time is about 2 minutes.

After Front Street. Washed Yirgacheffe staple bean coffee is ground into powder, you can smell the fresh fragrance of honey and jasmine. After Front Street pours in hot water, it begins to give off hints of berry flavor. The pour-over black coffee enters the mouth with bright lemon, citrus, and green tea, and as the temperature changes there are lingering notes of berry, cream, and sugarcane, with obvious sweetness returning, and a clean, sweet mouthfeel.

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