Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Washed

Washed processed Yirgacheffe is the taste of sunshine, botanical gardens, and happiness. This is from the YCFCU co-op, which has been around since 1972. Grades don't always mean something on Ethiopian coffee (a lot of great Ethiopian coffees are labeled lower grade than they really are to avoid export taxes), but this is labeled Grade 2 coffee which is the next to highest grade. It is grown around 6000 feet above sea level, so even though it's a lesser expensive alternative to the other Ethiopians we have, it's still a really nice coffee. The taste is heavy on floral (jasmine), peach, and chocolate flavors — it is fairly sweet, juicy, bright, floral. The body not as thin as most washed Ethiopian coffees, and has a slight bit of creaminess to it. It is easy to drink, makes wonderful iced coffee and incredible cold-brew. Best when roasted light, I follow the same profile as a natural Ethiopia, although being a washed process coffee, this Yirg takes just a little more heat to keep up with that roasting curve and can handle a couple extra degrees of temperature at the finish. I barely take it past the first cracks, a City Roast. Just after the first cracks come to a complete stop and you've slowed the roast way down, I turn the heat down to where the bean temp is just stalling out right around 400 degrees, and I'm done.

My favorite way to brew this hot is in a french press, because it accentuates the body and gives it a creamy mouthfeel and pulls out so much flavor. It is much less inspiring as a drip brewed coffee and suffers from more noticeably thinness in the body ("Who poured lemon tea in my coffee?"). But I do also recommend trying this bean as iced coffee and cold brew coffee on these hot summer days.

US Arrival July 2023