Ethiopian Washed Yirgacheffe Gr. 1 – Torea Village

Description

Traversing east about 30 minutes off the main road north out of Yirgacheffe township, one comes to the famous Idido mill (formerly Abdullah Bagersh’s Misty Valley) and then around the hillside to the very well-run Idido Cooperative. While still technically within the realm of the Yirgacheffe District, you are standing right on the border of an area called Repe.

Continuing up the Komolcha Drainage to the northeast, you will find yourself atop the Benti-Gure Ridge. The altitudes here reach 3000 meters– making them, in effect, the paramo of the entire Gedeo Zone. While coffee cannot grow that high, of course, along the flanks of this ridge there are trees producing at altitudes up to 2500 meters! This shocking statistic has been verified by altimeter.

The Torea station is located below the ridge and is the main catchment for farmers coming down along the drainage. This coffee has been prepared to a Grade 1 standard (meaning 0-3 defects per 300 gram sample).

Tasting Notes: Washed processed coffees like this are what made Ethiopian coffee famous. This cup is bound to impress. Very unique cup profile – One will find very rich floral and sweet citrus notes upfront mixing with a little hint of tart cherry – coming from the acidity – balanced with a fairly pronounced dark chocolate note. A super clean cup whose tones will be very greatly dependent on roast.

Roasting Notes: A very fun cup to play with. A very clean Ethiopian like this is one of the rare offerings that will hold very light roast points and not taste super grassy, earthy and sour. Crisp high acidity at light roasts with a faint hint of a developing chocolaty note and very floral. Medium roasts start to bring the best balance of tones, a little floral, a little fruit and a little chocolaty – not too extreme and will satisfy most who love African cups. Dark roasts turn very chocolaty with some spice and smoky notes, also a wonderful cup in its own regard. At the darker roasts it will be a bit thicker tasting with strong bakers chocolate and smoky tones.