Hua Kui Coffee Beans

The romance of the Chinese people is reflected in many aspects, and the coffee world is no exception, with one of the most typical examples being the naming of coffee beans. Generally, coffee bean names are rather “rigid,” often based on origin, growing regions, and so on.

Today’s featured coffee beans carry a beautiful and straightforward meaning: Hua Kui. In Chinese, it signifies the “king of all flowers,” or in other words, the best coffee beans. To put it cautiously, it refers to those that have won top honors in certain competitions. The Hua Kui from Ethiopia’s Sidamo region has conquered people’s taste buds with its unique flavor.

In 2017, DW Coffee, an Ethiopian green bean company, submitted their beans to the TOH (Taste of Harvest) green bean competition hosted by the African Coffee Association. One particular lot from DW’s Buku Abel processing plant in the Sidamo region, with its intense strawberry and cream aroma, won the TOH Ethiopia championship. This batch of green beans was then introduced to China by a Beijing-based green bean trader and, due to its champion status, was named “Hua Kui.” In the same year, Beijing-based Li Jianfei used this 2017 champion Hua Kui coffee bean to win second place in the China Brewers Cup, competing against other entries including Geisha. Once again, Hua Kui left a deep impression with its premium flavor, and from then on, domestic coffee enthusiasts remembered this “king of all flowers” bean.

Some may ask, it’s already 2022—shouldn’t the beans from five years ago be all used up by now? What is Hua Kui 5.0 then? Here's the explanation: All series of Hua Kui beans come from the Buku Abel processing plant (the only one that covers the original growing area of the Hua Kui beans), and they are all processed using the natural sun-dried method. However, the flavor profile of the beans can vary depending on factors like climate and soil conditions. Therefore, DW distinguishes the Hua Kui beans by year—launching Hua Kui 2.0 in 2018, Hua Kui 3.0 and 3.1 in 2019, Hua Kui 4.0 in 2020, and Hua Kui 5.0 in 2021.

How should Hua Kui coffee be brewed? To fully extract the rich layers of Hua Kui 5.0, Front Street Coffee recommends using a higher water temperature and a finer grind size. To avoid over-extraction caused by high temperatures, a V60 dripper with a faster flow rate is used. Depending on personal preference, you can brew it either hot or iced.

Here are the hot brewing parameters and technique: Water temperature at 90°C, coffee to water ratio of 1:15, 15g of coffee grounds, medium-fine grind (80% passing through a Chinese No. 20 standard sieve). First, wet the coffee bed evenly with 30g of water to form a “hamburger” shape and let it bloom for 30 seconds. At the 1:00 minute mark, pour water up to 125g, then pause and wait until the water level drops to two-thirds of the coffee bed before starting the third pour. At 1:40, pour water up to 225g, and let the coffee fully drip through, aiming for a total brew time of 1:59. After brewing, gently swirl the coffee to ensure even extraction before tasting.

Here are the iced brewing parameters and technique: Water temperature at 91°C, coffee to water ratio of 1:10, 15g of coffee grounds, medium-fine grind (85% passing through a Chinese No. 20 standard sieve), with 100g of ice. Similarly, use a three-pour method: the first pour is 30ml for blooming for 30 seconds, the second pour is 60ml, and the third pour is another 60ml. Then pour the brewed coffee into a cup with 100g of ice and stir to mix well.

That’s the introduction to Hua Kui: the Ethiopian Sidamo region coffee beans with a romantically poetic Chinese name.