Sidamo Coffee learn more about all aspects of Sidamo Coffee

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Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, there are many varieties of coffee beans, almost all the coffee varieties in the world are introduced from Ethiopia. The coffee flavor of each coffee producing area in Ethiopia is different. Sidamo and Yegashafi are both Ethiopian boutique coffee producing areas, with both water washing and sun exposure. The most famous coffee producing area in Ethiopia is the washed Yega Sheffei Coffee. The most famous coffee in Sidamo is Sunshine Coffee. On the front street, two types of coffee beans in the Sidamo area are tanned.

Sidamo Coffee beans are grayish, thick in some places and small in others, with soft and strong acidity, mellow and sweet and spicy. It is one of the courtyard coffees in the highlands of southern Ethiopia. Unlike ordinary African coffee, Sidamo has clear acidity, smooth taste and delicate floral smell.

Ethiopia's climate is polarized, half humid rainforest, half dry desert Gobi, coffee cultivation is mainly distributed in the high-altitude rainforest. The local main rainfall season is from June to August for three months, the annual precipitation in the main growing areas of coffee is 1000-2000 mm, and the average annual temperature is 15-30. There are many high mountains in Ethiopia, which are tropical cloud forests, and coffee is mainly grown on the plateau. High-altitude areas have lower temperatures, fewer insect pests, less need for pesticides, and coffee cherries mature more slowly, so coffee trees can take longer to absorb nutrients.

Sidamo coffee producing area

The Sidamo region is located in the south of Ethiopia, extending to the districts of Arsi and Bale in the east and Gamogofa in the west. Sidamo coffee is cultivated at the altitude of 1400m-2000m. The industry here is dominated by agriculture, and the main growing area of coffee is around the Great Rift Valley (Great Rift Valley) of East Africa. Sidamo has developed rapidly in recent years and is an important distribution center for coffee export. The coffee flavor of Sidamo is very diverse, and the different soil types, microclimate and countless native coffee species make the coffee produced in each town have obvious differences and characteristics.

Among them, the most famous coffee growing areas in Sidamo are GUji and West Arsi. Most of the coffee beans in the Sidamo area are treated by the sun treatment. Qianjie believes that the sun treatment makes the coffee beans in the Sidamo area have a strong fruity aroma and smooth taste.

Guji producing area

The Guji producing area, which once belonged to the Sidamo producing area, has been independent into a new producing area by the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) in 2010. The Guji producing area, located in the southeast of Yejasuffi, is an area with complex topographical changes such as towering mountains, valleys and plains. The geology of this area belongs to the nutrient-rich black soil (Vertisol), the depth of the soil is nearly two meters, and the average elevation is more than 1800 meters. The significant temperature difference between day and night created by geographical characteristics makes the local area have various local conditions for producing high-quality coffee. What makes Guji famous, Qianjie has to mention Huakui beans.

Sakuran beans are from Hambella, located in Guji, Ethiopia's largest coffee producing region, and are administered by the state of Oromia. The west of Humbera faces the mountains of Yega Fichier. The two producing areas are separated by a highland with an elevation of 3200 meters and a width of about 30 kilometers, and are bordered by Shakiso, Uraja and Kolasha in Guji in the east and south, respectively. It is the highest coffee producing area in Ethiopia.

At present, there are nearly 20 processing plants of various sizes in Humbela production area. In 2017, Ethiopia's DW Raw Bean Company sent their coffee beans to the TOH (the Taste Of Harvest) Raw Bean Competition hosted by the African Coffee Association, and a sun batch from the "Buku Abel" processing plant won the TOH Ethiopia championship with its strong strawberry and cream aroma. At that time, this batch of raw beans was introduced to China by Hongshun, a raw bean trader in Beijing. in the same year, Li Jianfei used this bean to win the runner-up in China in the 17-year World Cooking Competition. This Ethiopian bean stands out among the many rosy summer beans, so it is named "Sakuran". Rosa Geisha means geisha in Japanese, and Hua Kui means the head of a geisha to show the excellence of this bean. )

Therefore, if we want to understand Sakui Coffee in a narrow sense, it can only be called Sakui Coffee when the 17-year champion of the TOH tanning group enters China. Of course, it would be a pity if such a wonderful name were a flash in the pan, so Hongshun continued to introduce coffee beans from the "Buku Abel" processing plant in Humbera, also known as Sakui 2.0, Sakuran 3.0 and Sakui 3.1, to distinguish the previous Sakui Coffee and represent different batches or seasons. At this time, Huakui coffee still maintains certain characteristics, that is, for Hongshun procurement and introduction, the producing area is still locked in Humbera "Buku Abel" processing plant.

Subsequently, DW added processing plants in Dimtu, the core production area of Hambella, namely "Buku Abel", "Buku Saysay", "Haro Soresa" and "Tirtiro Goye", with an annual output of about 1100 tons of coffee. In terms of planting areas and processing plants, of all these estates and processing plants, only those from the "Buku Abel" processing plant cover the small producing area of sun-cured coffee beans. In other words, only the sun-cured coffee beans produced and processed by Buku Abel can be called "Sakuran".

The place where Huakui is planted is at a high altitude of more than 2000 meters, and the coffee tree is surrounded by tropical plants such as sugar cane and bananas to provide proper shade. Coffee is also a kind of crop, which naturally has a direct relationship with the climate and environment, so the flavor will be a little different from year to year. The naming of Sakui X.0 is based on the year. It launched Sakui 2.0 in 2018, Sakuran 3.0 and 3.1 in 2019, Sakui 4.0 in 2020, Sakui 5.0 in 2021 and Sakui 6.0 in 2022. And now Sakui 7.0 also beckons to us, although we do not know what the flavor of Sakui 7.0 will be, but Qianjie believes that the main tone of Sakui coffee will not change.

West Alxi producing area

Located between the famous Yirgacheffe coffee growing area and Haller Hararge, West Arsi is located in the western part of the Sidamo region at an altitude of 1900-2200m. The area is named after a branch of the Oromo people who have lived here for a long time.

West Alsi consists of three woredas, namely, Arsi (Arsi), Bale (Bale) and East Shewa (Ethiopia's third-tier administrative region). About 88.52% of the population of West Alsi is Oromo, which is very important in the history of coffee because they are the first tribes in human history to drink coffee, and half of the coffee produced in Ethiopia comes from the region.

Coffee cultivation in West Alsi is based on a smallholder model, and the average smallholder farm is not large, about 2-3 hectares, but even so, they tend to be slightly larger than the usual 1.5-2 hectares in most parts of Ethiopia. Although the current coffee planting technology is still in the stage of development, compared with other producing areas, the development of coffee planting technology in West Alxi is very fast. Coffee farmers do not need to hire temporary or full-time workers, but choose coffee with the help of their families. This allows them to better control the quality of coffee, and processing stations usually pay extra for ripe red cherries, greatly increasing the enthusiasm of coffee farmers.

Coffee varieties of Huakui

Ethiopia, as the birthplace of coffee, has a large number of coffee varieties, whether unknown or known, Ethiopia is like a treasure trove of varieties. There are still many species that have not been discovered, and of course, the Ethiopian government keeps the genetic information of the species secret, so it is collectively referred to as the local native species. So the variety of Huakui 5.0 is also native to the region.

Coffee bean treatment

There are two ways to treat Sidamo coffee beans: washing and tanning. The washing method is to screen the high-quality fruit, remove the peel and pulp, soak and ferment in the flume, and then dry until the moisture content is about 12%. The law of sun treatment is relatively simple, using sunlight to directly let the fruit have a moisture content of about 12%, and then remove the peel and pulp.

Different treatments will also lead to different flavors of coffee beans. Washing can better reflect the original citrus acid and floral flavor of Sidamo coffee beans, while the sun will increase the aroma on the basis of the original flavor.

The taste of Sidama in the sun is close to the smell of flowers, but it is about a little earthy. Water washing has a nutty fruit aroma with a slight cocoa aroma, but what the two have in common is smooth taste and viscosity, comfortable and pleasant acidity and fragrance. Light or medium roasting is suitable for individual products, while medium or deep roasting is suitable for blending coffee and good Espresso base.

Parameters for brewing Sidamo coffee on the front street:

As a light roasted Sidamo coffee, Qianjie chose: V60 filter cup, water temperature 90 ℃, water powder ratio 1:15, powder content 15g, grindability (China 20 standard sieve pass rate 80%)

The use of segmented extraction, with twice the amount of coffee powder water for steaming, that is, 30 grams of water for 30 seconds, and the reason for the need for steaming process is to make coffee powder can discharge the internal carbon dioxide gas, so that the latter stage of the extraction is better stable. When the small water is injected around the circle to 125 grams, the injection will be stopped until 225 grams, then the filter cup will be removed after the dripping of the filter cup, and the extraction time will be 2 minutes 39 grams. Next, pick up and shake the whole cup of coffee, then pour it into the cup and taste it.

[sun Arsi Coffee]: it smells of berries and honey, with jam-like sweetness all over the mouth, with nectarine flavor at the end and juicy taste. After cooling, it is more like a cup of plum and nectarine-flavored juice.

[sunny Huakui 5.0 coffee flavor]: the flower and fruit aroma is very obvious, citrus, passion fruit, strawberry, oolong tea, have a high sense of sweetness.

In the comparison of the flavor of the two beans, Arsi has a slightly better sense of sweetness and juice, especially when it is hot, the flavor of jam and honey is irresistible, while the feeling of fruit juice is more obvious and very comfortable when the temperature drops.

On the other hand, Sakuran prefers the flavor of tropical fruits, and the alternating gap between sweetness and acidity is a great surprise. Compared with the two, Sakuran's sense of fermentation will be stronger.

Suggestions for making coffee in front of the street:

For coffee brewing, no matter what kind of coffee is brewed, Qianjie has always believed that the freshness of coffee beans has a lot to do with the flavor of coffee. Therefore, the coffee beans shipped from Qianjie coffee are all roasted within 5 days. The purpose of Qianjie roasting is "freshly roasted coffee", so that every guest who places an order is the freshest coffee when he receives it. The bean cultivation period of coffee is about 4-7 days, so when the guest gets it, it is the time when the flavor is the best.

For those who need to be ground, Qianjie warmly reminds you that if the coffee beans are ground in advance, there is no need to raise the beans, because in the process of transportation, the pressure caused by carbon dioxide in the package can also make the coffee flavor round. so you can drink a cup of coffee as soon as you receive the coffee powder. But the coffee powder needs to be brewed in time, because the coffee powder oxidizes more quickly after contact with the air, that is to say, the flavor of the coffee will dissipate more quickly, and the flavor of the coffee is not so good. Therefore, Qianjie suggests buying whole beans, grinding and flushing now, so that we can better taste the flavor of coffee.

Sidamo is just one of Ethiopia's boutique coffee producing areas. Ethiopia is a treasure waiting to be discovered, and each coffee producing area has a different coffee flavor. Ethiopia has more than a dozen coffee beans in front of the street, including local native species and rose summer varieties. Of course, the rose summer of Ethiopia is different from that of Panama, but the flavor of Panamanian rose summer coffee is always better than that of Ethiopia. This stems from the climate of Panama. Whether it is Ethiopia, Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil, these countries have coffee in front of the street, and each country takes some of the most representative coffee as the front street rations beans, we can choose their favorite taste through rations beans.

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