Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Washed Org. Gr. 2 – Oromia

Description

The Oromia Regional State is Ethiopia’s largest, including more than 110,000 square miles and 35 million people. It touches the borders of both Kenya to the south and South Sudan to the west, and includes Ethiopia’s massive capital city, Addis Ababa, along with 65% of Ethiopia coffee growing territory, as of 2014. There are a number of famous coffee regions included in full or in part in Oromia: Jimma and Illubabor in the west; Harar to the northeast; Arsi, bordering Sidama in the mid-south, which produces many similar terroirs; and the Guji Zone, where Royal also works with a diversity of forward-thinking growers and processors.   

The Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (OCFCU) is an umbrella organization established in 1999 by 34 individual cooperatives interested in centralizing resources and gaining leverage in the export market.  As of 2020, OCFCU supports more than 400 individual cooperatives—more than 400,000 households, by far the largest unionization of farmers in the country. Premiums from coffee exports are returned directly to farmers, and the union also funds organic farming programs, mill equipment purchases, and food security programs. OCFCU has established a central cupping lab to support quality control and is a founding shareholder in its members’ bank, the Cooperative Bank of Oromia, that provides pre-harvest financing and crop insurance; both resources historically unavailable to rural farmers in Ethiopia.  

Tasting Notes: A lovely cup of certified Ethiopian. Lemony and floral upfront balanced with a chocolatey/herbal/spice dark tone reminiscent of black tea. Although this cup has some more acidic features, we would consider it a darker toned Ethiopian cup, best from medium to dark roasts, a little slower roast will benefit this bean, building more robust and jazzy dark tones in the cup while muting some of the more acidic notes. Light to medium roasts one will get some crisp tones in the cup which add some good depth of flavor and present a nicely balanced and smooth cup, best for drip or pour-over methods, dark roasts though, are exotic with a bakers-chocolate/black-tea like spin, stronger cup with some kick, lovely bean for espresso or mixed beverages.

Roasting Notes: Easy cup to roast, make sure you get some development past first crack, can risk a little grassy at super light roasts. Great from a medium roast to as dark as you want to go. Medium chaff, shouldn’t cause any issues. A slower roast helps mute some acidity and bring the lovely complex dark tone to the foreground.