Ethiopian Guji Hambela Natural Gr. 1 – Deri Kidame

Description

The Deri Kidame washing station is named for the Deri Kidame kebele, or town, where it is located in the Wamena district of Ethiopia’s Guji zone. The area has fertile red brown soil and Cordia Africana and Acacia Ensete ventricosum trees for shade, benefiting the coffee plants grown by the many smallholder farmers who contribute cherries to the washing station. Coffee farms in the area range 2000–2100 meters above sea level in elevation. The washing station is outfitted with 10 fermentation tanks and 181 raised drying beds which are assigned individual codes, allowing for improved traceability and a higher level of control and tracking throughout the drying process.

This lot of coffee underwent Natural processing at the Deri Kidame washing station. Coffee cherries are sorted to remove less dense fruit prior to processing. The cherries are then moved to raised beds where they are dried for approximately 18 days.

Tasting Notes: A wonderfully clean and exotic cup. Not nearly as herbal spice noted as its Yirgacheffe cousins. A bit of lemony floral acidity upfront quickly fading into nice red fruit notes and balancing with a smooth chocolate undertone that lingers in the aftertaste. Light roasts will promote much more citrus acidity but also leave the most red fruit tones in the cup. A longer setup helps with the lighter roasts for the citric tones will fade over time allowing more of the fruitiness and darker tones of the cup to shine. Medium roasts really bring forth the cleaner chocolaty tones in the cup reducing the fruit and citric tones to just a hint. Darker roasts burn out the fruit and acidity leaving a strong slightly edgy bakers chocolate cup with smoke smokier highlights.

Roasting Notes: Easy to roast, a little chaff heavy but shouldn’t overwhelm any of the roasters. Lighter roasts are where this cup will shine, a longer setup will really smooth it out and bring depth to the exotic fruitiness of the cup.