Are these Ethiopian Yirgacheffe?

admin · October 2012

hi, I recently bought what I though was a pack of freshly roasted Ethiopian Yirgacheffe from a local roaster. I'm not an expert, but I was surprised by both the range of colours of the beans - almost white through to medium brown, and the difference in the look of the actual beans [size, shape etc].

Wondered if any experts can tell me:

[li]does this look like S.O. Yirgacheffe?[/li] [li]if it is, what would explain the huge variation - low grade beans, an odd roasting style?[/li]
is something not right, or is it just my imagination?

thanks in advance!

Koffee_Kosmo · October 2012

First of all I would not class them to be roasted And it's hard to tell the place of origin from a photo KK

hazbean · October 2012

Here is a pic of some Yirg that I roasted yesterday (some Yirg Gr3 that I bought from Neil just this week). http://campl.us/brQqsjF1j5g roasted to a little before second crack. It shows some unevenness and a significant number of lighter beans. I was a bit disturbed by that at first but I chewed some up and they seem fine so I think it will be OK. In short, I'm not surprised to see some variation in colour and size, but yours certainly has quite a few on the lighter side. Maybe it is a really light roast intended for brewing? Can't conclude from your pic that it isn't Yirg. There are more "irregular" beans in there than I'm used to with Yirg, but there could be many reasons for that.

greenman · October 2012

I haven't seen such an uneven roast of Yirg during my time, there are usually a few lighter beans and size variation. It must be a very low and poorly graded yirg! attached pics are of a special prep and an OCR natural Yirg......

Brett H · October 2012

Were those beans actually roasted or just left in the sun for a bit? I love Yirg and they certainly could be but... how's the taste? Hazbeans look more like what I'm used to seeing.

greenman · October 2012

on 1349608013:

Were those beans actually roasted or just left in the sun for a bit? I love Yirg and they certainly could be but... how's the taste? Hazbeans look more like what I'm used to seeing.

sorry I didn't state that the pics are green beans, I just wanted to show a comparison of well graded beans with the ones in original post--when I have roasted these beans they are fairly even with only the odd lighter bean :-|

admin · October 2012

no probs at all, thanks Greenman; have attached a few other [closer-up] pics... what I couldn't get over was the variation in size, as well as roast colour - remember this was all from one batch, supposedly; Attilio or Jeff C, any further comments? tx A

hiphipharar · October 2012

Yirgacheffe is a hub town for a large number of coffee growers in the area so it is quite possible beans from several crops are combined.

ACog · October 2012

Yirg tends to have some blonde beans in the mix, but that has to be some of the lowest grade I've ever seen. Regardless of whether it's a blend of different farms or a true Single Origin.

Brett H · October 2012

on 1349617291:

sorry I didn't state that the pics are green beans, I just wanted to show a comparison of well graded beans with the ones in original post--when I have roasted these beans they are fairly even with only the odd lighter bean :-|

Oops, sorry mate. I wasn't referring to yours... I was referring to Admins beans. Thank you for posting yours, it's nice to have an unroasted comparison. :thumb:

mycuppa · October 2012

The first question that comes to mind is washed or unwashed ? There are 3x lots, each from different brokers offering natural (unwashed) Yirg in Oz. I've tried 2 of them, in fact I have 240kg of 1x lot sitting in my roastery. Unwashed lots tend to be GR3 and GR4 and washed typically GR1 (almost impossible to get) and GR2. The natural is all over the place in terms of screen size and "ripeness" which of course gives it that quaker style appearance both green and when roasted. My thoughts about the pics above.........I can't be polite, so I'm going to call that a shocker as I can only imagine they were roasted way to fast and pulled too early. Even with such diversity in screen/grade you would still expect more even color and a closer matching with a bit of light and dark shade from a natural. If they are washed, then you should try them and my guess is it will not be very good. Washed Yirg tend to be VERY consistent in color and screen - generally more so than most Sidamo which is what the Yirg is "related" to. Of course, what I am saying applies to the general brew methods of plunger, perc, drip, stovetop or espresso. If the beans were roasted or intended for a different purpose, then so be it. What's in the cup A. ?

admin · October 2012

thanks for that; unsure as to whether washed or unwashed... to be honest, with such a wide colour & size variation, I haven't been game to try them... more than anything, was worried that that it was clearly such a low-grade of Yirgacheffe that there might have been some stones in the mix as well, which obviously wouldn't bode well for my grinder... thanks again for analysis and comments! A

FreshCoffee2 · October 2012

on 1349681290:

..... My thoughts about the pics above......... I can only imagine they were roasted way to fast and pulled too early. Even with such diversity in screen/grade you would still expect more even color and a closer matching......

+1. Nevertheless you should still cup the beans and see what you think. Going only on the photos shown (and how they come up on my pooder screen), its hard to imagine any well established professional roaster would present a product like that for sale here.

ACog · October 2012

I have to be honest. This looks like its come from the bucket a lot of roasters have sitting next to the cooling tray where they throw quakers, stones and the like in as they spot them. i.e. this is the rejects pile. While I don't advocate naming and shaming, I'd love to know who thought they could get away with selling this.

Brett H · October 2012

But... They may taste awesome! Perhaps we've been doing it all wrong... :stir

lemoo · October 2012

just be very wary when grinding them! i learnt the hard way that under roasted beans tend to be a wee bit hard and may damage your grinder i broke my porlex hand grinder trying to grind some lol

Jonty · October 2012

on 1349763958:

But... They may taste awesome! Perhaps we've been doing it all wrong... :stir

I'd suggest to ask the roaster if he cups his roasts and give him the bag you purchased as a starting point. Seriously, no tickets this way but even with my 'Nancy' behmor, I have never seen a roast like that. Even the funky MM pushing 500g through the behmor looked better than that!!!

GaryatGala · October 2012

My 2 cents bank transfer worth. Dry processed and poor grading. Swept from the roadside in Yirgy country, thrown into a pile and packed. Havent tried the yirgs, but have had the ethiopian ghimbis and harrars which have a tendency towards uneveness, especially short roast times in the baby roaster. Not so uneven in the KKTO due to the gentler, longer roast times.

admin · October 2012

Hi there - thanks again guys for your great feedback; Acog - it's a local [Adelaide :'( roaster] ... don't particularly want to 'make an example' of them [in this instance] but will send you the name via PM, for your own reference. cheers A

3rd Crack · October 2012

on 1349855473:

Hi there - thanks again guys for your great feedback; Acog - it's a local [Adelaide :'( roaster] ... don't particularly want to 'make an example' of them [in this instance] but will send you the name via PM, for your own reference. cheers A

Sorry for your experience, PM me your address and I'll send you some complimentary Gr1 Yirg - roasted and green if you want.

Brett H · October 2012

on 1349863406:

Sorry for your experience, PM me your address and I'll send you some complimentary Gr1 Yirg - roasted and green if you want.

What a fabulous and generous offer. I've seen these beans first hand in the cafe and will buy some when I'm next over your way. They look terrific.

FreshCoffee2 · October 2012

on 1349745118:

...This looks like its come from the bucket a lot of roasters have sitting next to the cooling tray where they throw quakers, stones and the like in as they spot them. i.e. this is the rejects pile....

I've never heard this one before. Unless the alien material has a completely different & contrasting colour, you've got buckley's of seeing anything different to the norm in a cooling tray. About the only thning i've ever been able to see and pick out of a cooling tray is corn that has popped and is therefore white and easily seen. And if you dont get to it quick enough it gets stirred back into the beans and disappears....so not easy to do anyway. Perhaps my eyesight's never bean any good ;D...or perhaps the grades of coffee I am used to using are extremely well graded (and expensive). In any case that is why having a destoner is so important (mandatory as far as I am concerned) for any commercial enterprise. I would guess that anyone that has a bucket of this stuff next to his cooling tray, has just put it there to empty his destoner into it.....??????

on 1349779719:

Dry processed and poor grading. Swept from the roadside in Yirgy country, thrown into a pile and packed.....

Not relevant, some of the most interesting characters can come from poor looking greens. I'm sticking with: roasted way too fast, pulled too early (although the end result after: "roasted way too fast" would still look like a dogs breakfast no matter when its pulled). ie, no proper control over the roast.... Not that I want to know and I dont think anyone should as I dont think the web is for embarrassing people, but my theory would be......a newby "roaster".....whatever....as I said I dont want to know and I dont think anyone else should either. All anyone needs to do is vote with their feet and purchase their coffee elsewhere OR....if you want to be helpful (to yourself as well as to the roaster and therefore to other clients that might benefit as a result of someone being helpful):

on 1349768149:

I'd suggest to....return to the roaster &....give him the bag you purchased......as a basis for private discussion....

(yes I have distorted the quote a little but I think it means much the same thing.....)

FreshCoffee2 · October 2012

FYI. This represents around 2 TON of throughput of admittedly, very well graded beans, "harvested" from my destoner about an hour ago (actually its still sitting in the destoner tray before I tipped it out). It is impossible to see it both in the greens as well as in the roasted product in the cooling tray. It's "needle in a haystack" stuff especially if you consider that it may represent around say 150 grams (?), in 2 tons. And of course it doesnt just take care of "stones" and other alien stuff, but any coffee beans that are outside a certain "profile". Badly graded or low quality coffee may yield a higher percentage, nevertheless my opinion is you would not be able to see it and certainly not pick it out without the aid of the destoner. My opinion only, but anyone operating commercially without a destoner has rocks in their head (not just in their coffee) :D Hope that helps, A.

FreshCoffee2 · October 2012

Readily available Yirg gr2 washed, in its bag. One photo (green hue) just taken in "natural" light and Other photo (notsogreen hue) just taken with flash Same bag of coffee, slightly different shot angle.

FreshCoffee2 · October 2012

From the same bag, roasted this afternoon. photo taken an hour ago next to the roasting plant, lights out in the building, flash foto. Despite the usual number of visual defects in this type of coffee, it will cup nicely (in fact I brought some home with me to start cupping tomorrow morning).

Brett H · October 2012

Georgeous Attilio! How do we interstaters order some?

FreshCoffee2 · October 2012

Thanks for your interest Brett. Please direct your enquiries to [email protected], as we dont have any e-commerce happening at this time on the website (soon, but not yet....incidentally looking at the new website proposals and format tomorrow arvo). We have been cupping this Yirg by ourselves at home over the weekend and also with those that dropped in including family, we've done espresso, long black and cappuccino, and it is developing nicely as expected. On the red wine now however.....the sun's over the yard arm over here

Regardz, A.

admin · October 2012

on 1349941413:

From the same bag, roasted this afternoon. Despite the usual number of visual defects in this type of coffee, it will cup nicely (in fact I brought some home with me to start cupping tomorrow morning).

To be honest, this is much more like what I would have been expecting, in the bag

on 1349863406:

Sorry for your experience, PM me your address and I'll send you some complimentary Gr1 Yirg - roasted and green if you want.

Hi mate, sorry for the belated response, as I've been interstate and not logging in as much as I'd like; would very much like to take you up on your offer, but would be very happy to pay - will PM you! cheers A

The Tempest · October 2012

I'm late to the party, but wow, i've never seen an amateur roaster put out beans like that let alone a pro. Horribly, horribly graded (or a blend of local Yirg beans not fit for export). How on earth could a roaster, in good conscience, sell those beans?

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