Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Washed – Adame Kebele – Gr. 0

Description

The Adame washing station is an independent processing site named after the kebele or municipality in which it’s located. The Adame area is part of the larger Yirga Chefe (also spelled Yirgacheffe) area, one of 8 woredas, or districts, that together comprise the dense and competitive highland zone of Gedeo. Gedeo itself, though a large and complex producing region for coffee, is often commercially referred to as “Yirgacheffe”, after the Yirga Chefe district whose historically significant coffee terroir brought notoriety to the entire zone. 

Adame station was originally constructed in 2013 and today is managed by Birhanesmeskel Abera, who oversees a processing staff of about 250 during harvest months. In addition to traditional fully washed coffees, the station produces sundried naturals and honeys as well—a rare find in Ethiopia’s still largely traditional processing culture. Fully washed coffees, such as this one, are hand sorted and depulped the day of picking, fermented overnight, and then dried on raised beds between 12 and 15 days. 

“Grade Zero” is a custom dry-milling specification born from a Adame’s milling and exporting partner, Ranger Industry & Trading. Once dried and rested, the parchment coffee is treated to extra sorting steps at the dry mill, including multiple additional passes in the color sorter and a longer, slower hand-removal of imperfections. The idea is to present a better-than-Grade 1 result, hence the grade “0”. We want coffees like these to inspire roasters to consider new possibilities for Gedeo sourcing and producer collaboration, as well as motivate producer groups to come up with innovative targets of their own. 

The original idea of the Grade Zero initiative was to design a near-perfect rendition of top microlots from throughout southern Ethiopia. These experimental microlots from a few years ago have grown into a steady, annual grade that we pay a premium for, and whose audience is rapidly growing. This lot, for example, is a full container of vacuum pack boxes. And it’s exquisite in the cup: full of refined berry, citrus, and passion fruit, tangy with concentrated acids and lively with soft florals. 

Tasting Notes: Light to dark a very tasty coffee. Really picks up the terroir of Yirgacheffe; buzzy citric acidity with wonderfully complex darker tea like tones. Jasmine and soft fruit aromatics that only a stellar Ethiopian brings to the table.  Hints of a peachy soft fruit tone in the taste especially as the cup cools. To see this cup shine keep it in the light-medium roast range. Darker roasts will have fans as well but turn the cup much more simplistic, dark chocolate with tea like spice ending a little smoky.

Roasting Notes: Darkens up quickly in the roaster, will look a shade darker than it really is. Make sure if shooting for a lighter roast to watch for that expansion in size to mark first crack, can be a little more difficult if going by color. All in all, easy to roast, beautiful prep and medium to low chaff. Does roast slightly two toned but will cause no issues.