Ethiopia Guji Goro Bedessa
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Varietal: Heirloom Blend
Region: Goro, Bedessa, Guji District
Altitude: 2100m
About the Cup
A beautiful example of a wet processed Ethiopian Guji coffee, with refined sweetness, and a lingering floral characteristic that makes it perfect for pour over brewing. Crystalline sweetness that hints at simple syrup made with sugar in the raw with fruited flavors that are more accents than focus. Meyer lemon acidity and sweetness connects the cups brightness as the coffee cools, and is mouth cleansing, but never grabby. Floral was the most used word on the cupping table; jasmine pearl tea, dried rose, pink fruit gum, as well as a hint of rue in the finish.
About the Washed Processing Method
Sorting out imperfect coffee cherry starts on delivery, and extends all the way to the drying tables. Farmers must hand-sort the cherry for defects before delivering it to the washing station. The cherry is then floated in tanks of water to catch any underripe coffee before the processing begins. This particular lot was wet-processed, often simply called "washed". In this process, the cherry is first removed from the seed using a depulping machine. Then, the sticky mucilage layer that surrounds the bean is removed by fermenting it for 24-36 hours in water, after which it is "washed" away with clean water. Finally, the coffee is dried on raised beds for upwards of 2 weeks, depending on the weather.
About Guji Region
The coffee comes from smallholder coffee farmers in the Goro Bedessa Woreda of Hambela Wamena, a high altitude region that tops out at 2100 meters above sea level. These lots are made up of coffee from several hundred different farmers, most with only a couple hundred coffee trees or less. The people in this region are known as Guji Oromo, and coffee farming has been a core part of the culture in the highland areas for many years. It's a distinct coffee from YirgaCheffe, and Sidamo. Geographically, culturally, and in terms of cup flavors, these southern coffees have a different flavor profile while maintaining the same general characteristics; citrus and floral accents. The station is run by Ismael Hassen from Kayon Mountain coffee, a name you might be familiar with from coffees of previous years.