Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Natural Cheap

This coffee is produced and processed by farmers organized around the Halo Hartume Coffee Farmers Basic Cooperative. The cooperative is located in the Worka municipality in the southern district of Gedeb in the Gedeo Zone within the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, Ethiopia.

Halo Hartume was established in 2016, very recently compared to many Ethiopian cooperatives in the Gedeo zone. The cooperative began with just 88 member farmers; today there are over 300 farmers spanning 512 hectares of coffee production -under 2 hectares apiece on average. These are quintessential Gedeo family farms: small and forested, whose production is often divided between spacious, lofty coffee trees, other fruits or legumes, and enset, a fruitless cousin of the banana plant whose pulp is packed into cakes, fermented underground, and then toasted as a staple starch. This common pair of crops satisfies unique and separate needs: coffee for economic livelihood, and enset for nutrition.

The Naturals at Halo Hartume are very straightforward. The freshly picked cherry is sorted by hand upon delivery for density and imperfections and then taken directly to raised screen beds to dry in full sun. During the drying stage, which takes an average of 21 days, the cherry is regularly rotated and raked to ensure even air and sun exposure and to allow for further cherry inspection and removal. Once fully dried, the cherry is de-husked in a local milling warehouse and then stored until ready for shipment to Addis Ababa, where the final milling and packing for export takes place.

Origin

  Grower: smallholder farmers

  Farm: Halo Hartume Coffee Farmers Basic Cooperative

  Region: Gotiti, Gedeb District, Gedeo Zone, Ethiopia

  Cultivar: Indigenous heirloom

  Altitude: 1800 to 2200 meters

  Processing Method: Natural and dried on raised beds

Profile

  Roast Level: Medium Light Roast

  Cup profile: blackberry, chocolate, blueberry

The Cup: A medley of berries, stone fruit, dark chocolate, and grape candy make up some of the pleasures to be found in this outstanding and delicious cup from Ethiopia.