The word berry does not refer to just one type of fruit, but rather refers to a category that refers to all small, juicy fruits. But unlike tropical fruits, berries have a separate category in the new coffee flavor wheel released by SCA in 2016. The berries in the flavor wheel include Strawberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, and Blackberry. In addition, Mulberry and Cranberry fall into the category of berries.
If you want to ask which coffee beans have more obvious berry flavor, Front Street will name three coffee varieties without hesitation:Front Street Kenyan cherry tomatoes (cherry tomatoes, ebony plums, raspberries, Sydney pears, blackberries, obvious juice flavor), Front Street Rwanda Red Bourbon (red berries, citrus, apples, green tea), Front Street Ethiopian Fruit Tintin Cooperative (white floral aroma, berries, citrus, orange, tea flavor). Today Front Street is here to introduce to you Front Street Ethiopian Guodingding Cooperative Coffee, which is very popular among coffee lovers.
In Ethiopia, there is a mature coffee bean production team in the Woka production area at the southeastern end of Yirgacheffe, called the "Guodingding Cooperative". This team has about 300 farmer members. It was established separately in 2012 due to the bright flavor of the Yirgacheffe produced. Many small-scale farmers were also members of the original Woka cooperative, so the technology to produce coffee was no problem. Front Street Guodingding Cooperative coffee uses traditional washing processing. Not only does it not have the strong bitterness of traditional black coffee, it presents fresh and bright citrus, citric acidity, and the fragrance of jasmine. Many coffee drinkers fall in love with it as soon as they drink it.
Where is Yirgacheffe?
The town of Yirgacheffe is one of the highest-altitude producing areas in Ethiopia. Most coffee trees are planted on highlands close to 2,000 meters, with the highest point reaching about 2,100 meters. As the altitude increases, the growing environment for coffee trees becomes more ideal, and the flavor advantage of Arabica coffee beans becomes more prominent. Lake Turkana, Lake Abaya, and Lake Chamo in the town bring abundant water vapor to the place. It is filled with fog all year round, and the four seasons are like spring. The breeze is gentle, cool and humid, giving birth to Yirgacheffe's unique floral and fruity aroma.
Unlike many specialty coffee beans, which are processed and produced on a large scale in the manor-based model, Ethiopian coffee is mostly grown by small individual farmers, usually on an area of 1 hectare, and the yield is not large, so it is sent to the town or a nearby cooperative for unified processing. Cooperative management not only improves the quality of coffee, but also provides farmers with a more stable income. When we buy coffee beans, we will see that many of them have been post-processed, graded, roasted, and finally named after cooperatives, such as Gotiti, Worka, Konga, and Adado.
Why does washed Yirgacheffe have citrus citric acid?
Traditionally, farmers would place the coffee berries directly on the terrace or flat on the ground after harvesting, and expose them to direct sunlight to dry them. The coffee berries have a moisture content of only about 12% before they can be sent for shelling and packaging. Coffee beans processed in this way are prone to earthy, over-fermented and rotten fruit flavors.
In order to improve the defective flavor caused by this exposure method, Ethiopia introduced water washing processing technology from Central and South America. During the washing process, there are multiple steps to remove defective beans, showing cleaner acidity in the flavor and enhancing the aroma of Yirgacheffe. In order to allow curious babies to taste the unique "Yirgacheffe taste", Front Street has launched a washed Yirgacheffe as the representative of Ethiopian coffee. It is medium-light roasted and has the classic Yirgacheffe flavor. It is suitable for hand brewing, cold brewing, French press and other brewing methods. Front Street’s ration bean series allows friends who are new to the coffee world to taste the basic flavor of the production area at an affordable price. The small package design can also avoid the waste of endless drinks.
Flavor characteristics of medium-light roasted fruit coffee
Front Street believes that the biggest characteristics of Ethiopian coffee are the acidity and floral aroma of fruits, which is praised by many coffee people as "fruit bomb". Since we want to highlight such an explosive aroma, the roasting degree cannot be too dark, so Front Street uses medium-light roasting to show off the fruity tone of the coffee.
Cupping flavors:
The dry aroma of Washed Fruit Cooperative Coffee exudes fresh passion fruit, citrus, and sour berry aroma. The wet aroma is citrus, berries, the acidity of citrus in the entrance, the sweetness of berries, almonds, tea, and the sweetness of honey in the aftertaste. Low body, bright acidity, clean and refreshing.
How to make washed fruit dices delicious?
Based on past brewing experience, Front Street recommends that new players who are just getting started use the three-stage water filling method. The three-stage extraction is conducive to more fully dissolving flavor substances during extraction, increasing the taste level, and at the same time avoiding over-extraction of coffee caused by soaking for too long.
If there are 15 grams of coffee powder, a powder-to-water ratio of 1:15, and a total water volume of 225 ml, the three water levels are divided into: 30 ml, 95 ml, and 100 ml. The weight on the electronic scale will show: 30 g, 125 g, and 225 g.
Front Street here uses home-roasted washed Yirgacheffe Dingding cooperative coffee beans and brews them with a Hario V60 filter cup. The spiral design of V60 can better exhaust the coffee powder and maximize the volatilization and dissolution of sour and aromatic substances. Since Yirgacheffe uses light roasting, the coffee beans are hard in texture and require high-temperature hot water of 92°C-93°C to bring out the floral and fruity flavors in the coffee.
Grinding Front Street recommends medium-fine grinding (Chinese standard No. 20 screen pass rate 78%), which is about the same thickness as fine sugar. If the grind is too coarse, the mellow and round flavor cannot be extracted, and the brewed coffee will appear thin; if the particles are too fine, it will be over-extracted under high water temperature, and the brewed coffee will be prone to bitterness.
In terms of brewing ratio, Front Street believes that 1:15 to 1:16 is acceptable. If you want a richer taste, use 1:15. If you want to feel the floral sweetness more clearly, you can use 1:16 to make the flavor more spread out.
First, place the folded filter paper into the filter cup, pour 15 grams of ground coffee powder into the filter cup, and clear the weight of the electronic scale.
Inject 30g of water into the first section and steam for 30 seconds. Start timing while injecting water. Inject small water flow at the center point throughout the process and start to circle outwards. Pay attention to the need to moisten the entire powder layer.
After 30 seconds, start to steadily inject the second section of 95g water with a larger flow of water. The purpose is to lift the entire powder layer. The water column needs to be injected vertically and evenly. At this time, the timing scale shows 125g, and the injection is completed in about 55 seconds.
When the liquid level drops to half of the level, start using a small flow of water to inject 100 grams of the third section in a small circle. Try to control the water flow not to be too large, which will easily disperse the coffee powder layer and cause insufficient extraction. The final amount of water injected is 225 grams, and the completion time of trickling filtration is about 2 minutes. After removing the filter cup, shake the coffee liquid in the sharing pot evenly and start tasting.
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
