Description
Idido is part of Yirgacheffe, one of 8 woredas, or districts, that together comprise the dense and competitive highland zone of Gedeo. (The entire Gedeo zone is often referred to as “Yirgacheffe” thanks to the notoriety of this particular district.) Idido is one of Ethiopia’s best-known communities. It’s centrally located among Yirgacheffe producers, being just a few kilometers outside the town of Yirga Chefe itself—a surprisingly small community given its mythical stature as one of the world’s most gifted coffee landscapes. As a coffee terroir, this part of Gedeo has for decades been considered a benchmark for beauty and complexity in arabica coffee—known for being beguilingly ornate and jasmine-like when fully washed, and seductively punchy and sweet when sundried–and hardly requires an introduction.
Tasting Notes:
A clean, fresh and semi-fruity Ethiopian. Lower acidity with great sweetness making it a wonderful light to medium roast bean for every tongue. Although not a fruit bomb, it has noticeable red fruit tones upfront that balance with the classic Ethiopian chocolate and spice notes. Light roast have just a pinch of citric and floral upfront that quickly fade into the fruitiness, hints of the chocolate and spice notes but mostly in the aftertaste. Medium roasts accentuate the more chocolaty aspect pushing the fruity and floral tones to the background, very smooth, sweet & balanced cup with exotic highlights. Darker roast into or touching 2nd crack will hide almost all of the fruity and floral, just detectable in the aftertaste as the cup cools, very chocolaty but a bit more semi-sweet.
Roasting Notes:
A bit higher chaff levels, fairly even roasting even with the bean size variance. Light to dark it is a tasty cup. Bright, floral and fruity with tea like attributes at the light roasts. Very bakers chocolaty and strong with some spice/roasty/smoky notes at the darker roasts.
Processing Details:
Private processors will often attempt to collaborate with select communities to keep the coffee traceable and the terroir focused. For this lot, the processing station, managed by Mesele Haile, and hundreds of farmers from the Idido community contribute cherries to the station. Cherries are all floated for density and then placed directly onto drying beds, where they will be consistently turned and rotated for the few weeks that drying requires. The beds are covered at night to protect the cherry from settling humidity, as well as for a few hours each afternoon to prevent scorching from the searingly-hot midday sun.
Exporting Details:
It’s tough being a private processor in Gedeo, as the sheer density of competition among stations tends to push cherry prices as high as double throughout a single harvest, and private stations often don’t have the backing of a larger union to secure financing, regulate cherry prices, or bring export costs down with centralized milling and marketing. Successful private stations need standout quality processors and must also be excellent business developers with connections and community standing to continue winning the business of farmers and buyers alike, and stay afloat for the long term.
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