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The Coffee Atlas
Ethiopia Yirgacheffe
Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, the washed origin that teaches drinkers what clean, floral coffee tastes like, with a sourced flavor profile and real citations.
Flavor profile
avg. of 2 published reviewsScale: 1-10, Coffee Review / SCA-classic-form convention. Averaged from 2 independently published, dated Coffee Review scores of washed Yirgacheffe lots. Not a category-wide statistical sample: individual lots range from the high 80s to the mid 90s.
What it tastes like
Washed Yirgacheffe is the coffee most often used to teach people what “clean” means in a cup: bright, tea-like body, and a floral top note that shows up in tasting notes more consistently than almost anywhere else in the specialty world.
The signature across both cited lots leans lavender-floral and honeyed, with cocoa and tangerine-zest complexity and a cooling hint of mint, finishing light rather than heavy. Both cited Coffee Review lots score in the low-to-mid 90s, and the washing-station process is what keeps that clarity intact: pulped, fermented, and rinsed within a day of picking rather than dried whole, so almost none of the cherry’s fruit sugar carries into the final cup.
How to brew it
Method fit for this origin · editorial guidance from roaster convention
Filtered clarity showcases the floral top notes and bright acidity that define this origin: the method roasters reach for first.
Doable, but roasters note it needs more careful dialling in than denser, lower-altitude beans to avoid sourness.
Fuller body, but full immersion tends to mute the aromatic clarity that is the whole point of this origin.
⚠ Fit tiers are editorial guidance drawn from roaster convention; no industry standard scores brew fit, so we show tiers, never invented numbers. Reflects brew guidance commonly published by specialty roasters for washed Ethiopian lots, not an SCA-defined standard.
Altitude & region
Growing elevation, meters above sea level · this entry vs comparison bands
Ethiopia Yirgacheffe's range is sourced directly from Ethio Coffee's origin altitude table (see Sources & data). Kenya AA and Brazil Cerrado are shown for scale using commonly published origin altitude bands, not a lot-specific measurement.
Caffeine content
Caffeine by dry weight · each gold dot = 0.1%
Caffeine content tracks species, not origin, altitude, or processing: roughly 1.2% for Arabica versus roughly 2.2% for Robusta, close to double (see Sources & data). This entry is 100% Arabica; no credible per-origin caffeine figure exists at a category level, so the comparison above is by species only, not a measurement of this specific lot.
Where to buy it
Transparency: some links on this site are affiliate links; if you buy through them we may earn a commission at no cost to you. Roasters are picked for genuine, current sourcing of this coffee, never for who pays us.
Long-running direct-trade relationships in southern Ethiopia; rotates named Yirgacheffe washing-station lots.
View lot→Competition-circuit roaster; regularly features single-washing-station Yirgacheffe with public cupping notes.
View lot→NYC micro-roaster known for transparent, lot-specific Ethiopian sourcing and detailed origin write-ups.
View lot→Portland roaster with a long-standing Yirgacheffe program; consistently reviewed for washed-lot clarity.
View lot→Widest single-origin selection in one place; check roast dates and washing-station naming before buying.
View lot→Sources & data
- Crozier et al.: Espresso coffees, caffeine and chlorogenic acid intake (Food & Function, 2012)Peer-reviewed (Univ. of Glasgow): states robusta coffee beans contain almost twice as much caffeine as arabica, by species (no percentage figures given in this paper)
- Development of a fast and simple method to identify pure Arabica coffee and blended coffee by Infrared Spectroscopy (J. Food Sci. Technol., 2021, PMC8292507)Peer-reviewed, open-access: "Arabica beans usually presents 1.0 to 1.5% w.w-1 of caffeine and Robusta beans presents 2.0 to 2.5% w.w-1" (quoted verbatim, source's own wording) -- source for this entry's 1.2% Arabica / 2.2% Robusta figures, both within the stated ranges
- Trabocca: Yirgacheffe origin profileRegion and processing description; Gedeo Zone topography and typical Oct-Dec harvest window
- Ethio Coffee: harvest calendar and origin altitude tableYirgacheffe altitude (1,750-2,200 m) and harvest window (Oct-Jan)
- Sagebrush Coffee: heirloom/landrace explainerVariety status
- Coffee Review: Ethiopia Washed Yirgacheffe, Aroma Roast CoffeeCupping scores (1 of 2 averaged)
- Coffee Review: Yirgacheffe Aricha Washed G1, Manchill RoasteriaCupping scores (2 of 2 averaged)
- Coffee Review: scoring methodology1-10 attribute scale definition