Last year the rules for exporting coffee in Ethiopia were changed. Prior to last year provenance in single lot/farmer coffee from the region was extremely difficult as all private operations big and small had to sell their coffee through the government run Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) and only cooperatives and unions were exempt.
This presented issues to green buyers who wanted to represent one farmer or one lot as all coffee sold to the ECX was stripped of provenance, save origin, so one could never know where exactly it came from. Farmer Mansur Aba Hikam's coffee, for example, would've just been blended off with other coffees of a similar grade and sold as "Limu Grade 1".
The new rules allowed farmers like Mansur Aba Hikam the same opportunity as farmers in other producing regions, namely the ability to export their own coffee to whoever wanted to buy it. . Abi Hikam is one of many farmers who have successfully applied for export licenses and are able to sell directly. His 18 hectare farm and wet mill are located near Kebele Kota, not far from Agaro town, and his coffee is planted between altitudes of 1950 and 2000 meters above sea level.
This is a "natural", dry processed coffee so expect fruit flavors and a thick dense body but as with coffees from the Agaro region this boasts a cleaner cup profile with well structured acidity.
The dry fragrance smells like fruit roll up, with a hint of brown Ale, and some sugar browning sweetness. Somehow, the wet aroma filters out a lot of the fruit, but it does not hinder sweetness, nor indicate what's to come in the cup. Blueberry is the first distinguishable flavor as the cup cools and though it's not in your face and more of an accent flavor, it's still there.
There is a lovely tartness in the cup that balances out the overall sweetness and the fruit flavors are not wild or rustic, more refined. After cooling down, the berry tartness gives way to pancake syrup and fig jam.
This is B side player only, leave the milk for the granola or oats.
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