About This Coffee
This Fully washed coffee is sourced from smallholders in Layo Terega village in Uraga, Guji. Guji was once a part of Yirgacheffe but, due to its unique microclimate and cup profile, it’s been distinguished as its own micro-region. This coffee embodies the delightful floral notes so beloved in coffees from Guji. It’s complemented by black tea, honey sweetness and notes of stone fruit.
Cultivation
In addition to coffee, most smallholders cultivate enset (false banana), legumes and shade trees. Crops like enset and legumes provide food for their families while shade trees help cultivate dense, sweet cherry. Legumes and some shade trees can also help fix nitrogen.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Coffee is selectively handpicked by smallholders and delivered to the local washing station. Since farms are small, most labor is done by the family. At intake, cherry is carefully inspected and only ripe, red cherry is processed for this lot. Cherry is pulped on the station’s disc pulper and fermented. Following fermentation, parchment is washed in clean water and laid on raised beds to dry. Parchment is raked frequently to ensure even drying. It takes approximately 7 to 10 days for parchment to dry. Once dry, parchment is bagged and stored in a warehouse at the washing station for about 1 month before being transported to the dry mill.
Coffee in Ethiopia
While Ethiopia is famous as coffee’s birthplace, today it remains a specialty coffee industry darling for its incredible variety of flavors. While full traceability has been difficult in recent history, new regulations have made direct purchasing possible. We’re partnering directly with farmers to help them produce top quality specialty lots that are now completely traceable, adding value for farmers and roasters, alike.
The exceptional quality of Ethiopian coffee is due to a combination of factors. The genetic diversity of coffee varieties means that we find a diversity of flavor, even between (or within) farms with similar growing conditions and processing. In addition to varieties, processing methods also contribute to end quality. The final key ingredients for excellent coffee in Ethiopia are the producing traditions that have created the genetic diversity, processing infrastructure and great coffee we enjoy today.
Most producers in Ethiopia are smallholders, and the majority continue to cultivate coffee using traditional methods. As a result, most coffee is grown with no chemical fertilizer or pesticide use. Coffee is almost entirely cultivated, harvested and dried using manual systems.