Ethiopia Sidamo Huakui 4.0Coffee Bean Intro:

Ethiopia Sidamo Huakui 4.0

Country of Origin: Ethiopia

Region: Sidamo Guji Hambella Production Area

Processing Plant: Buku (BUKU)

Altitude: 2350m

Variety: Degua (Dega)

Processing Method: Natural (Sun-dried)

Region Introduction

Hambella (commonly translated as "Hambella") is located in Ethiopia's largest coffee-producing region, Guji (GUJI), and administratively belongs to the Oromia State. The western part of Hambella faces Yirgacheffe Kochore across the mountains, with a highland barrier about 30 kilometers wide and 3200 meters above sea level separating the two regions. It borders the sub-regions of Shakiso, Uraga, and Kercha in the southeast, south, and north of Guji, making it the highest-altitude coffee sub-region in Ethiopia (Harrar is the highest-altitude main production area in Ethiopia).

Currently, there are nearly 20 processing plants of various sizes in the Hambella production area. In 2017, a natural-processed coffee lot from DW Company's "Buku Abel" processing plant won the Ethiopia National Taste of Harvest Competition. Chinese green coffee importers named this lot "Huakui," and at the time, it had strong strawberry and cream aromas. Subsequently, DW Company expanded its operations in the core Hambella production area of Dimtu from one estate processing plant to four: "Buku Abel," "Buku Saysay," "Haro Soresa," and "Tirtiro Goye," with an annual coffee production of about 1100 tons. Puerh Coffee also offers coffee products produced by the Buku Processing Plant (Buku Abel).

Buku Processing Plant (Buku Abel)

Buku Abel, in the local Ethiopian language, means "new place." In this ancient country with a history of over two thousand years and a population of one hundred million, the East African Rift Valley blocks the path to Asia, but on this plateau, new virgin lands waiting to be developed are still frequently discovered. Compared to millennia-old cultures, this is a relatively newly developed land.

Buku Abel is located in the southeastern part of Ethiopia, in the extremely high-altitude primitive tribe of the Hambela area in the Guji production region. With a population of about 30,000, this small village is like most Ethiopian coffee farms, growing amidst wild pristine forests. Coffee farmers have passed down their traditions through generations here, cultivating native bananas and interspersing locally native coffee tree varieties among the banana groves.

Strictly speaking, only natural-processed coffee from the "Buku Abel" estate and processing plant is called "Huakui coffee beans." This is why the natural-processed beans from this processing plant were named Huakui 2.0, Huakui 3.0, and Huakui 3.1 in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

The new crop of Huakui produced in 2020 was named Huakui 4.0 to distinguish it from the previous Huakui. As the fourth year for the Huakui coffee bean, its production area has expanded several times over the original size, and with more scientific planting management, the flavor of Huakui 4.0 has become even better, receiving praise from many coffee enthusiasts. Therefore, Puerh Coffee also purchased this new crop of Huakui 4.0 for roasting and cupping.

Degua (Dega) Coffee Bean Variety

This year, Ethiopia held its first Cup of Excellence (CoE) competition, and the classification of the top 28 shortlisted coffee varieties was surprisingly detailed. Ranked 21st, Dega has two very different versions regarding the origin of its name. One version says the name Dega comes from a type of flint wood, and the aroma of Dega during roasting is very similar to the burning scent of this flint wood. Another version explains that "dega" in Amharic refers to "highlands and shady places," and Dega often grows at high altitudes. Unfortunately, since Dega did not rank in the top 14 of this CoE competition, no related flavor descriptions were collected. The Huakui 4.0 purchased by Puerh Coffee this time is indeed made from the Dega variety.

Green Bean Analysis

In this batch of Huakui 4.0 purchased by Puerh Coffee, you will notice that Huakui 4.0 is smaller in size compared to the other two Huakui 3.0 beans, which is due to the difference in variety. Huakui 3.0 consists of Ethiopian native variety coffee beans, while Huakui 4.0 is the Dega variety. Additionally, we can see that the sizes of the two Huakui 3.0 beans are relatively uniform because the coffee beans were sorted after harvesting, whereas Huakui 4.0 was not sorted, so the beans appear to vary in size.

Coffee Processing Method

The natural (sun-dried) drying processing method is the most traditional processing approach. The fruits are naturally sun-dried after harvesting, with the following steps:

1. After harvesting, the coffee farmers place the cherries directly on the drying bed to dry in the sun;

2. During the drying process, they need to be turned and stirred appropriately to avoid uneven drying or fermentation;

3. After several days, they are dried until ready;

4. The dried green beans are then hulled using a depulper to remove the pulp and skin, extracting the green beans.

Advantages: Coffee processed using the natural method retains its mucilage during processing, which is naturally sweet. During sun-drying, the sugars transfer into the coffee beans, resulting in a relatively sweeter taste, richer mouthfeel, and more layered flavors.

Disadvantages: There may be more defective beans, the beans may have inconsistent appearances, and they are prone to absorbing earthy and off odors from the ground.

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