Yirgacheffe is a coffee region that everyone is surely familiar with. Its bright acidity and clean, refreshing coffee flavor have made it the first specialty pour-over bean for many people. In recent years, Yirgacheffe has sparked a natural-process retro trend.

In many people's memories, Yirgacheffe has always been a region dominated by the washed process. Front Street Coffee believes that Yirgacheffe loves the washed process so much because it highlights Yirgacheffe's floral aroma and lemon-like acidity, giving everyone a fresh, light feeling. In fact, Yirgacheffe originally mostly used the natural process. In 1972, when the Ethiopian government introduced the washed process from Central and South America to improve coffee quality, Yirgacheffe coffee became even fresher and more refined, winning more people's affection.

As mentioned earlier, Yirgacheffe sparked a natural-process retro trend. What caused this wave? Front Street Coffee looked through the materials, which mentioned that a coffee trader named Abdullah Bagersh, who had drunk natural-process coffee since childhood, saw that Yirgacheffe's washed process was about to bury the traditional natural process of the ancestors. So in 2006 he launched "Idido Natural Specialty Coffee Beans." Once released, this coffee bean was a sensation and won many awards. Natural Yirgacheffe has the fermented fruity aroma of natural processing, obvious sweetness, and at the same time does not lack Yirgacheffe's floral and citrus notes.

In 2007, this natural trend became even more intense. Besides Idido, coffee beans from Yirgacheffe Biloya and Aricha coffee beans near Yirgacheffe were the top stars at the time. These three coffees, with exquisite natural processing, lacked the off-flavors of conventional natural beans. In addition to the melon-and-fruit sweetness and the tart aroma of berries and mango brought by the natural process, they also had the orange aroma and faint floral notes of washed Yirgacheffe. It can be said that these three beans shook the global specialty coffee world at the time and told people, "Who says Yirgacheffe beans can only be washed? Natural processing is wasting something precious."

Front Street Coffee believes that both processing methods have their own advantages. Washed Yirgacheffe gives people a fresh, clean feeling with bright acidity, while the natural process gives people a juicy feel and a relatively more obvious sweetness than washed processing. So whether washed Yirgacheffe or natural Yirgacheffe tastes better depends on the drinker's preference~

Yirgacheffe

Yirgacheffee

Yirgacheffe is located on the eastern edge of the East African Rift Valley, with complex terrain and an altitude of 1,800-2,000 m. It is one of the coffee regions with the highest average altitude in Ethiopia. To its west lies Lake Abaya, which has been a wetland since ancient times and is rich in water resources, providing excellent resources for Yirgacheffe's washed processing stations.

Yirgacheffe is affiliated with the Sidamo region, but because of its unique flavor it was separated and became a category of its own, also becoming the most renowned coffee region in Africa.

Washed Process

Washed

The washed method can remove impurities (stones or trash, etc.) and defective beans through each step, so the appearance of green beans is uniform. It is generally considered high quality, and the trading price is also higher than that of coffee beans refined by the natural drying method. However, the more detailed the division of labor, the more procedures there are for operations and hygiene management, and the higher the risk. Therefore, washed processing does not necessarily equal high quality. Front Street Coffee believes that Front Street Coffee believes that washed coffee has more obvious acidity, better cleanliness, medium mouthfeel, and the most consistent green bean quality.

Put the selected coffee cherries into a depulper to initially remove the skin and pulp; place the green coffee beans with residual pulp and mucilage into water and let them ferment for about 24 hours; after fermentation, wash the green coffee beans with parchment in a flowing water channel to remove the pulp and mucilage; after washing, dry the coffee beans in the sun or with a dryer to reduce the moisture content to about 12%. Finally, remove the parchment from the green coffee beans.

Natural Process

Natural

Natural processing is one of the oldest and most traditional processing methods. After the coffee fruit is picked, it is immediately dried in the sun. It is more common in areas with ample sunlight or scarce water resources. For example, nearly 70% of the coffee fruit in all Ethiopian regions is processed naturally. Front Street Coffee believes that compared with washed coffee, natural coffee has lower acidity, higher sweetness, clearer mouthfeel, but slightly lower cleanliness. In terms of flavor, it produces more berry-like tones and is also more complex.

Yirgacheffe natural processing involves screening usable coffee cherries, then placing the coffee cherries with the whole pulp and skin intact on raised beds for sun drying. It is precisely this raised-bed drying method, which requires intensive manual labor, that isolates the cherries from contact with the ground and prevents earthy off-flavors from developing during drying, creating an exceptionally clean fruit flavor. After more than two weeks of sun drying, the dark brown coffee cherries are professionally stored, waiting for the full flavor to mature. Only before shipment are the coffee beans removed from the coffee cherries, and the sweetness can be imagined.

Next, starting from Yirgacheffe washed and natural processed green coffee beans, through a series of comparisons including roasting, cupping, and brewing, let's look at the differences between Front Street Coffee's Yirgacheffe washed Gudingding and natural Red Cherry.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Green Bean Comparison

In the green bean state, natural beans look yellow-green and have more silver skin; washed beans are blue-green and have less silver skin. This is because washed beans are soaked in water for a long time during processing, the silver skin separates from the coffee beans, and when the parchment is finally removed, the outer silver skin is peeled off along with it. Very little silver skin remains on the surface of washed green beans.

Natural beans are just the opposite. The skin and pulp remain attached to the outside of the bean, and the silver skin adheres relatively tightly to the coffee bean, so it does not easily fall off when the parchment is removed. Therefore, a lot of outer silver skin remains attached to the surface of natural green beans.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Roasted Bean Comparison

Although from the green bean appearance, washed beans have less silver skin and natural beans have more, during roasting, the silver skin at the center line of washed coffee beans is the hardest to fall off. The outer silver skin of natural beans is connected in one whole piece and more easily falls off together with the silver skin at the center line, so after roasting, the silver skin of natural roasted beans is removed very cleanly.

Washed beans are the opposite. Because there is almost no outer silver skin connection, the silver skin in the center-line crack cannot be easily peeled off and instead remains after roasting. This is why, from the roasted bean appearance, washed beans have more silver skin and natural beans have less.

Front Street Roasting Suggestions

Natural Red Cherry uses a Yangjia 800N, with a bean charge of 600 g: charge when the drum temperature reaches 200°C, set the damper to 3.5, after 1 minute adjust the heat to 160°C, keep the damper unchanged, adjust the heat once at 148°C, lower to 130°C, roast until 5'03'', at 151°C, the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration is complete, adjust the heat to 105°C, open the damper to 4; at the 8th minute, 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 clearly for the sound of the first crack. At 9'07'' first crack begins, reduce the heat to 70°C, open the damper fully (adjust the heat very carefully, not so low that there is no cracking sound), and drop at 194°C.

Washed Gudingding uses a Yangjia 800N, bean charge: 480 g: charge when the drum temperature reaches 175°C, set the damper to 3, heat at 120; turning point at 1'32", when the drum temperature is 140°C keep the heat unchanged, open the damper to 4; at this point the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy smell completely disappears, entering the dehydration stage, at 166°C lower the heat to 100, at 176°C lower the heat to 80, keep the damper unchanged. At 8'28", 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 clearly for the sound of the first crack. At  9'38" first crack begins, adjust the damper to 5 (adjust the heat very carefully, not so low that there is no cracking sound), after first crack develop for 1'30", drop at 193.5°C.

Front Street Cupping Report

The dry aroma of natural Red Cherry gives off a strong fruity scent, with a heavy dried-fruit note and aromas of strawberry, mango, and apricot jam. The wet aroma is like sweet syrup, like thick apricot pulp juice wrapped in rustic honey or chocolate. On the palate it is not intense, with medium body, like fruity black tea.

The dry aroma of washed Gudingding gives off fresh passion fruit, citrus, and berry tartness. The wet aroma is citrus and berries. On the palate there is citrus acidity, berry sweetness, almond, and tea-like notes, with a honey sweetness in the finish. Low body, bright acidity, clean and refreshing.

Front Street Brewing Suggestions

Dripper: V60 #01
Water temperature: 90-91°C
Dose: 15 g
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Grind size: BG6m / granulated sugar size (sift to 80% with a No. 20 sieve)

Front Street brewing method: pour 30 g of water in the first stage for a 30-second bloom, then pour 95 g (the digital scale shows about 125 g), finishing the pour in about 1 minute. When the water level drops to 2/3 of the coffee bed, pour the remaining 100 g (the digital scale shows about 225 g), finishing the pour in about 1 minute 35 seconds. Dripping is completed in 2-2 minutes 10 seconds. Remove the dripper and finish extraction.

Washed Gudingding brewing flavor: on the palate there are citrus and black tea, and as the temperature changes there are cream, caramel, and almond notes, with an obvious sweet aftertaste and a clean, sweet mouthfeel.

Natural Red Cherry brewing flavor: lemon, licorice, citrus, berries, sweet orange. Overall sweetness is relatively high, with caramel and cream in the aftertaste, and a black tea aroma in the finish.

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