Coffee Grade: ETH CA WA YIRG G1

Processing: Washed

Cup Score: 86

This is a grade 1, fully washed lot from Chelelektu wetmill in Kochere disctrict, Gedeo zone. The mill, managed by Legese Kebede, processes cherries from around 650 local smallholder farmers. Farmers typically cultivate less than 2 hectares of land and farms range between 1,900 and 2,100masl, some of the highest altitude coffee terroir in the world.

Ripe cherries are delivered to the wetmill for careful sorting and pulping, before fermentation for 36-48 hours, depending on the climactic conditions. After this point the parchment coffee is thoroughly washed and graded by bean density before being dried in the sun on raised African beds for 12 - 15 days (until the ideal moisture level has been reached). In the daytime the parchment needs to be raked and turned periodically to ensure a consistent drying process. The coffee is also covered between 12pm and 3pm to protect it from the hot sun, and at night time to protect it from rainall and moisture. Once the coffee has dried to the right level it is transported to Addis Ababa for dry-milling, grading, sorting and handpicking, before being bagged in GrainPro for export.