Ethiopia, Chelchele

Essence of Coffee
$18.00
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Tasting Notes

Dark chocolate, fine wine — tangy with fruit-like sweetness.

Origin Details

  • Region / Yirgacheffe, Kochere
  • Farm / Various smallholder farmers
  • Variety / Heirloom Ethiopian Varieties
  • Process / Natural
  • Altitude / 1,900–2,400m

An exceptional coffee when experienced through a filter brew. Roasted for filter, though some enjoy it as a wild espresso.

This coffee comes from the Chelchele washing station located in the district of Kochere, part of the Yirgacheffe region. Chelchele coffees tend to have a nice backbone of sweetness from toffee and/or soft nuts like almond, with a floral and citrus overtone.

Coffees in Ethiopia are typically grown on very small plots of land by farmers who also grow other crops. The majority of smallholders will deliver their coffee in cherry to a nearby washing station or central processing unit, where their coffee will be sorted, weighed, and paid for or given a receipt. Coffee is then processed, usually washed or natural, by the washing station and dried on raised beds.

The washing stations serve hundreds of producers, who deliver cherry throughout the harvest season. The blending of these cherries into day lots makes it virtually impossible under normal circumstances to know precisely whose coffee winds up in which bags on what day, making traceability to the producer difficult.

Typically farmers in this region don't have access to, and therefore do not utilise, fertilisers or pesticides in the production of coffee.