HuakuiCoffee Bean Intro:

Qianjie Coffee: Sidamo · Huakui 8.0 Coffee Beans

Country: Ethiopia

Coffee Region: Sidamo · Hambella Buku Abel Processing Station

Coffee Variety: Ethiopian Heirloom

Growing Altitude: 2250-2350M

Processing Method: Natural

Grade: G1

Flavors: Floral, jackfruit, dried fruit, apricot, juicy

Huakui, as one of the essential daily beans for countless fruity-acid coffee lovers, has now quietly entered its 8th year since its debut. The latest harvest batch follows the long-standing naming convention and is released as 'Huakui 8.0'. Trying the new Huakui has become a top priority for die-hard fans. So, how does this year's 'Huakui 8.0' taste? Does it have the 'Huakui flavor'? For details, follow Qianjie into today’s little retrospective story~

What is 'Huakui Coffee'? Why is it called 'Huakui'?

Before 'Huakui Coffee' became 'Huakui', it was actually a competition-grade award-winning bean from Ethiopia. In February 2017, Ethiopia DW Coffee Company participated in the TOH (Ethiopia National Taste of Harvest competition) hosted by the African Fine Coffee Association. They submitted a Natural coffee bean from the Buku Abel Processing Station in the Hambella region of the Sidamo producing area (at that time, Guji Hambella was still part of Sidamo). With its intense berry aroma and creamy texture, it won the championship in the Natural category that year.

In the same year, this championship batch caught the eye of a Beijing-based green bean trader. Precisely because of its champion status, it was named 'Huakui' and launched in the domestic market, symbolizing 'the queen of all flowers, outshining all others'. Soon after, this 'Huakui' was also used by a coffee brewing competition competitor (China division) as their competition beans. It defeated opponents using Gesha and won the runner-up that year, marking Huakui’s first 'fame' in China.

As the popularity of the competition stage soared, this traditional Natural bean from the Buku Abel Processing Station also successfully 'debuted'. Coupled with its affordable price and pleasant flavors, it quickly became a high-quality Ethiopian coffee widely recognized within the industry.

In our impression, the naming of coffee beans usually follows some traceable logic and remains unchanged once established—for example, Gesha is a variety, Blue Mountain is a producing region, and Gu Ding Ding is a processing station, etc. But Huakui is particularly unique. It’s like Apple’s iPhone, requiring a new 'version name' every year to be released. Why is that?

In fact, before this bean was called 'Huakui', it only had an English name—'Hambella', translated as 'Hambella'. Simply put, what we call 'Huakui Coffee' is a traditional Natural G1 coffee bean from the Hambella producing area. The 'Buku Abel' processing station is more detailed traceability information, located in Dimtu town.

After 'Huakui' became famous, to meet the surging market demand, DW company added up to 5 independent green bean drying processing stations in Hambella Wamena Wereda, all located within the core producing area of Dimtu town. In addition to the original Buku Abel, four other small villages—Buku Saysay, Haro Soresa, Tirtiro Goye, and Seke Bokosa—also joined the production of Natural coffee beans. It is reported that at this time, the annual production of 'Huakui' under DW company had reached a very considerable volume. Luckin’s promotion of Huakui happened during this period.

Since the 2018 harvest season, the taste of Huakui (Natural G1 coffee beans) from the same growing region and processing stations has undergone some changes. At that time, Qianjie found through cupping that although the 2018 and 2019 Huakui still had the 'Natural Sidamo flavor' similar to the 2017 Huakui, they were slightly inferior in terms of body and aftertaste compared to the 'first-generation Huakui'.

Therefore, to continue selling this Natural coffee from Hambella while making some distinction from the original version, domestic green bean trading companies, based on the 2017 batch, assigned an X.0 suffix to each subsequent year’s batch. For example, the 2018 batch was called 'Huakui 2.0', the 2019 batch was called 'Huakui 3.0 and 3.1'... Last year’s release was 'Huakui 7.0', and so on. This way, we can identify which year’s product our Huakui comes from and whether it is the latest batch through this suffix.

If we take the literal meaning of Huakui, we might think it is a coffee with 'overflowing floral notes'. But that’s not the case. The floral notes of Huakui are not particularly strong; instead, the fruit aromas are especially prominent—such as strawberry cream, mango, jackfruit, citrus, blueberry, etc.—possessing the unique ripe tropical fruit character of Sidamo Natural beans. This often leaves a deep impression, and it was precisely this rich berry fragrance that helped Huakui win first place in the TOH green bean competition that year.

But as everyone knows, coffee is essentially an economic crop. The yield and quality of the year are first influenced by factors such as climate rainfall, altitude soil, fertilization, and weeding. Then, differences in processing details (sunlight duration, temperature, humidity) will present different flavor profiles. Huakui is no exception. Therefore, the taste of Huakui beans produced each year will more or less differ from the previous year.

These days, the Huakui 8.0 that Qianjie got their hands on has finally arrived. While it’s fresh off the boat and something we’ve been looking forward to for a year, of course, we had to taste it properly. To showcase the delicate floral and fruity flavors of the Sidamo producing area without losing the caramelized aroma of the coffee, Qianjie’s roasters used a medium-light roast to present this bean.

The dry aroma of the new-season Huakui 8.0 shows a richer fruit profile than 7.0, with dense scents of guava, jackfruit, apricot, dried fruit, citrus, and pink floral notes. When hot water is poured in, sweet aromas of honey, berries, and chocolate emerge.

Through sipping, Qianjie first experienced a mix of sweet and sour from multiple fruits—dried mango, jackfruit, orange, passionfruit—in 8.0, with clear juiciness and a rounded mouthfeel. As the temperature drops slightly, the sweetness of peach and the bright acidity of berries begin to release. After swallowing, there’s a lingering aftertaste like drinking black tea, with a very rich layering.