What Makes Sidra Coffee So Special? A Beginner-Friendly Guide

 When choosing coffee beans, many people focus on factors like flavor and origin—but “variety” is another angle some coffee lovers consider. Since our Front Street Coffee shops, both online and offline, specialize in selling beans, we often meet customers who pick their beans based on variety alone. The two requests we hear most often are: “I want Gesha,” or, “I want something special that isn’t Gesha.”

And Sidra happens to be one of the varieties we recommend for the second group.

Since its breakout performance on the world coffee competition stage in 2022, Sidra has become an absolute star—everywhere and impossible to ignore. The reason is simple: this variety truly is special in many ways.

So today, we’re going to dive into what makes Sidra so unique, and how you can brew this distinct coffee properly if you’ve purchased our Front Street Sidra.

What Exactly Is Sidra?

Sidra (also spelled “Sydra” or “Bourbon Sidra”) is a phonetic transliteration of Sidra, a Spanish word meaning “apple juice” or “apple cider.”
According to the information we found, Sidra is an experimental variety originating from Ecuador. Years ago, Nestlé established a coffee-breeding center in Pichincha, in northern Ecuador. The center’s mission was to create hybrid varieties with across-the-board excellent performance.

When the project was eventually discontinued, some of the experimental hybrids escaped into local farms—Sidra among them.

At the time, the breeding center mainly worked with indigenous Ethiopian varieties, as well as local Typica and Bourbon lines. Sidra’s physical characteristics resemble both Typica and Bourbon, so for a long time Ecuadorian farmers believed Sidra was a Typica × Bourbon hybrid.

However, in The Fourth Wave of Specialty Coffee, coffee scholar Han Huai-Zong referenced genetic studies conducted by World Coffee Research (WCR) and other organizations. Their results show that Sidra is genetically closer to Ethiopian landraces—especially the long-bean Sidra.

Sidra comes in two forms:

  • Round Sidra (rounder bean shape)

  • Long Sidra (longer, oval shape)

Genetic tests found that Round Sidra leans toward a Typica × Gesha combination, while Long Sidra contains neither Typica nor Bourbon genetics. Instead, it appears to be closer to Gesha or Ethiopian heirloom varieties mixed with other genetics.

This explains why Sidra’s flavor quality is so outstanding. In green coffee competitions, top-tier Sidra entries share a common trait: vibrant fruitiness and floral aromatics. Our Front Street Sidra has these qualities as well.

The Sidra we offer is the same variety used by the 2022 world champion. It comes from Finca La Divisa in Colombia and is processed using anaerobic natural fermentation. It produces a cup with striking complexity and uniquely layered flavors. If you enjoy coffees with bright acidity and natural sweetness, there’s a very high chance you’ll fall in love with this Sidra after just one sip.

Why Many People Don’t Brew Sidra Well at Home

Because this coffee undergoes a relatively deep fermentation process, many customers tell us that the cup they brew at home doesn’t taste as good as the one they had in our shop.
That’s why we decided to write this guide—to explain Sidra’s background and share the brewing method that works best for this particular bean.

Here is the recommended recipe for our Sidra from La Divisa:

Brewing Parameters

  • Coffee dose: 15 g

  • Ratio: 1:15

  • Water temperature: 92°C

  • Grind size: 75–80% passing through a 20-mesh sieve

    • EK43: around 9.5

    • Texture: fine, similar to granulated sugar

  • Dripper: V60

Brewing Method

Just like in our past brewing guides, you don’t need to obsess over dividing the pour into a fixed number of stages. As long as your total extraction time falls within the ideal range, three, four, or even five pours can work.

We typically use a three-stage method.

1. Bloom

Use double the coffee weight—30 ml—and bloom for 30 seconds.

2. Second Pour (120 ml)

Use a medium flow and pour in large circles.
Note: Anaerobic naturals drain faster, so keep the flow moderate to avoid under-extraction.

3. Final Pour (75 ml)

Pour with a medium flow in small circles at the center of the bed.
Once the water is in, simply wait for the drawdown to finish.

Total Brew Time: 2:00

Flavor Notes

A properly brewed Sidra offers a wonderfully vibrant acidity and sweetness, along with rich complexity. Expect notes of:

  • Grape

  • Passion fruit

  • Apricot

  • Floral aromatics

  • Chocolate

  • A hint of red wine

If you turn this into an iced pour-over, the bitterness drops even further, and the cup begins to taste almost like grape juice—refreshing and incredibly enjoyable.

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