Just like humankind, Ethiopia is the motherland of all coffee. After its legendary discovery by a goat herder named Kaldi in the 9th Century, it has since spread all around the world, with a story as complex as the people that carried it with them. While most producers in different parts of the world are solely focused on keeping up with demand, Ethiopia is one of the only producing areas where farmers roast and brew their own harvest, treating coffee more like a religion than a cash crop.
In an ambiguously defined region between the Sidama and Guji regions of Ethiopia, the Hambela Estate continues the beautiful tradition of growing coffee while embodying the ideas of the modern world. Not only do they care for their crops, but they invest in programs that help the women that make up over 70% of their workforce.
The concept of this box is not just to showcase the amazing flavors of the Hambela estate and the Guji region of Ethiopia but more so how flavor is affected by the processing of the coffee cherry.
Simply put, processing is how the fruit of a coffee cherry is removed in order to get to the seed (aka “bean”) itself. How this process is done has the greatest impact on the overall flavor of the coffee, even more than the origin of the coffee.
DRY/NATURAL
Dry Processed coffees like this one from the Hambela Estate get their naturally sweet, fruity flavor from the actual skin and sugars of the coffee cherry, which is dried onto the seed and removed before it is dried further and shipped out to roasters like us.
WET/WASHED
Wet Processed coffees like this one from the Hambela Estate use a combination of washing and tumbling methods, using fresh water and machines to strip the fruit after harvest in order to preserve the bright, citrusy flavors that are natural to the seed.
Two grade one coffees from the same estate offering two completely different flavor profiles.
One tea like and all lemon cake & jasmine florals, the other heavy and dense, like a blueberry pancake.
The ultimate box set to turn peoples heads around as to what coffee can, and perhaps even should taste like.
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