Finally, washed processed Ethiopia is also on the offer. Washed Ethiopians are one of our favourite coffees and we really like this one.
The Farm / Washing station:
Mustefa Abakeno is a smallholder with 18 hectares of land near Agaro in the Jimma Zone of Western Ethiopia. His farm is located at 2,040masl and is planted with coffee varieties from the Jimma research centre. Mustefa has a small disc pulper that he uses to wash-process half of his coffee; the other half is dried as a natural. Mustefa only registered as an exporter in 2018 in order to sell his coffee directly to buyers, which he was able to do after changes to the regulations that year. The small wet mill he set up (called Beshasha) is used to process his own and outgrowers coffee, which he keeps separate and dries on raised beds near his house. Mustefas outgrowers are all neighbours and each have between 4 and 10 hectares of land.
In 2021, Falcon Addis added an agronomist to their team, Harun. Harun�s primary focus during this last harvest has been to train and support Mustefa and the local farmers that bring their cherries to the washing station. Harun has been improving processes at the washing station: installing shade netting to cover drying beds during the hottest hours of the day; instigating cherry selection at the delivery point; tagging day lots in order to keep them separate and monitor moisture content throughout the drying phase, ensuring even drying before the lots are assembled. Mustefa has a small field lab and in 2020 he bought a high-spec Sinar moisture reader to ensure that all the parchment dried in the stations was reaching the same moisture level before being stored in the warehouse. Harun has been assessing and grading the dried day-lots, putting them together based on quality and cupping profile. He is currently training farmers in good agricultural practices (GAP) in order to improve the quality and productivity of their coffee gardens.
In 2020, Mustefa acquired a second washing station, Kabira, to receive cherries from local producers. Due to subtle differences in location and microclimate, Beshasha now almost exclusively processes washed lots, while Kabira, which has more space for drying beds, is more suited to processing naturals. This is why we have renamed the lots after the washing stations where they were processed.
Variety:
This lot is made up of a mix of original Ethiopian varieties called Heirloom. This name can hide many hundreds to thousands of varieties of coffee plants. In Ethiopia, and in most other African countries, it is common for dozens to hundreds of small farmers and families to contribute to a single coffee lot. For generations they have owned coffee trees whose origin is unknown.
The varieties 74110 and 74112 are then selections of the same species from Heirloom.
Processing:
Due to a lack of water in the area and limited space to ferment the coffee, Mustefa ferments the pulped coffee for a short period (8 hours) before he moves it to his drying beds (for 13-16 days).
Our baristas notes:
Espresso:
A clean, sweet espresso with a very pleasant, balanced acidity. We found it best at a ratio of 1 : 2.06 at times between 25 and 28 seconds. So at all, nothing should surprise you about this coffee from Ethiopia. The body is dominated by a fruity sweetness similar to an apricot and peach, interspersed with a pleasant citrus acidity similar to yuzu or bergamot. On the finish, the taste of jasmine green tea can easily be found. The coffee has a lighter body, medium sweetness and acidity.
Filter:
A very pleasant clean filter with a tea-like character. There is a peach flavour on the body which combines with notes of yuzu and bergamot. On the finish, the taste of green tea can easily be found. The coffee has a medium, lighter body and medium-high acidity.
Recommended recipe for V60:
94 °C water
300ml water
20g coffee
780 micron grind (26 clicks per comandante)
0:00 40ml water
0:35 100 ml water
1:10 80ml water
1:55 80 ml water
Total time around 3 minutes.
