"From the 6th to the 8th century AD, Kadi, an Ethiopian shepherd boy, was taking care of goats in a mountain forest. Suddenly one day, he found that the sheep were inexplicably excited and jumping around. Even the old sick sheep had recovered their vitality and were walking like flying. After careful observation, he finally discovered that this "symptom" was caused by the sheep eating an unknown red fruit in the forest, so he also picked a few to try.
Not long after, he found that his fatigue subsided and he felt refreshed. He was surprised to realize that red fruit has a miraculous effect on refreshing his brain. From then on, the shepherd boy Kadi entertained himself by eating red fruits in the forest with his flock every day. The miraculous effects of red fruits spread like wildfire. As the spread became more and more intense, the consumption of red fruits changed from directly swallowing to brewing, and gradually evolved into the coffee we finally know. "The above is the widely spread theory of the origin of coffee - "The Story of the Coffee Shepherd Boy", which tells the story of a young shepherd boy who discovered coffee in a forest in Ethiopia. The Kaffa Forest is the forest mentioned in the background of the story. That’s not just what the shepherd boy said. In many coffee-related stories, the Kaffa Forest serves as the main place where coffee was discovered. Why?Because this forest is recognized as the birthplace of coffee in the world! Not only that, but friends who have read the Gesha-related articles shared by Front Street will know that this forest is also the place where Geisha coffee was discovered.So today Front Street will introduce to you the famous Kaffa Forest and what the coffee produced in this forest will taste like.The Kaffa Forest is located in the Kaffa Biosphere Reserve in southwestern Ethiopia, about 460 kilometers away from the capital Addis Ababa. It is not only the world-recognized birthplace of coffee mentioned in the front street, but also a geomantic treasure land for growing coffee.The Kaffa Biological Reserve covers an area of approximately 760,144 hectares, of which the forest area is as high as 422,260 hectares, with a coverage rate of more than 50%. So it’s very suitable for coffee growing here! The lush and lush vegetation provides an excellent shading environment for coffee. It also has mineral-rich red soil, abundant rainfall, microclimate, high altitude and other conditions that are conducive to coffee growth.Because of this, the Kaffa Forest has become the richest genetic treasure house of Arabica today. Over centuries of natural evolution, the Kaffa Forest has produced thousands of coffee tree species. A large number of ancient coffee trees have become an important part of the ecosystem here, so it is also known as the "natural coffee species museum."Precisely because coffee resources are very abundant, the coffee production model there is not the pastoral planting model common in Ethiopia.(A common coffee production model in Ethiopia is that coffee farmers plant coffee in their backyards and then harvest and sell it). Coffee farmers will go into the forest to harvest coffee during the coffee ripening season, and then hand it over to nearby cooperatives/processing plants for unified processing and sales.Front Street also mentioned before that this forest is also the birthplace of Geisha. In the Gesha origin story, a British expedition went deep into the mountains of Ethiopia in 1931 and collected the now stunning Panamanian Gesha T2722, and the forest in the story is the Kaffa Forest. Then they were in the Gesha Mountain area here（Geisha Mountain）, collected Geisha and named this batch of beans Geisha/Geisha after the name of Geisha Mountain.Thanks to this, many businesses will name the coffee beans harvested in the Kaffa Forest "Geisha" in the same naming method, and then sell them on the market as "Kaffa Forest Gesha". But in fact, these "Geisha" are not the same thing as the T2722 Geisha we are familiar with. Whether it is the appearance of the beans or the flavor, it can be said that they are completely different. At most, they can only be regarded as distant relatives.Therefore, when Front Street put the beans from Kaffa Forest on the shelves, they did not name them Geisha according to this commercial naming logic. The bean species were labeled as common native species in Ethiopia, and they named it after the origin of "Kaffa Forest".Not only because it is not Geisha, but also because it is made up of hundreds of different varieties, and because Front Street wanted to highlight the terroir of the forest. After all, this coffee comes from the place where coffee originated, so naturally, naming it with the name of the place of origin is perfect.Because Front Street wanted to highlight the local flavor of this forest, Front Street finally chose washed Kafa forest coffee. The degree of fermentation in washed processing is not that deep, which can well highlight the terroir of the coffee itself. Then combine it with light roasting to reduce the impact of roasting on the flavor, so that the floral and fruity aroma of the coffee itself can be better expressed.
Front Street Coffee: Ethiopian Kaffa Forest Coffee BeansTreatment method: washing method
Flavor: bergamot, white floral, orange, apricot
Since the roast is lighter, the extraction efficiency we use for brewing can be slightly higher. The parameters of Front Street are as follows: powder amount 15g, powder-water ratio 1:15, water temperature 92°C, grinding degree of 75%~80% sieving rate of No. 20 sieve, and extraction time of 2 minutes.When the coffee enters the mouth, Front Street first feels the bright and clean fruit acidity, with the rich aroma of sweet orange, nectarine, white flowers, and oolong tea. As the temperature drops slightly, the coffee tends to be juicy with apricots and citrus. The overall texture is light. After swallowing, there is still some sweet aroma of fruits and oolong tea in the mouth. The aftertaste is long and very comfortable.
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
