About 14 hours drive from Addis Ababa, you find the plateau communities around Bombe village, which is amongst the largest in the Bensa district of Sidama. This area is known as "Konjo Buna," which means "good coffee" in their language: the local villages are known for growing spectacular coffees. Here you have the ideal conditions to grow great coffees, and the people do an excellent job selecting and processing only ripe cherries. In the highlands, coffee has more time to grow and more time to develop complex characters.

This lot was processed by the smallholders from Shantawene registered farmers.

Shantawene Village is located between Bombe Village and Mount Bombe. The producers are part of a member organization consisting of 350 farmers in various mountain ranges.

This microlot is the result of anaerobic natural processing and shared experience for generations. The growers of the Bombe area have a long tradition of coffee cultivation which you can taste. Due to its unique processing method, the beans have a wonderful fruity and funky aroma.

The cherries are manually selected, 80% with the best ripeness, 15% semi-ripe, and 5% overripe, and mainly used the variety Kurume. The meticulously picked cherries are immersed into the water to remove the floaters before placing them in air-tight plastic containers for five days. During the fermentation, they removed oxygen from the fermentation tanks through the modified valve-regulated PVC pipes. The regulator valves indeed helped them to make sure no oxygen can seep through during the fermentation process. Throughout the fermentation period, they properly monitored the changes to sugar and pH levels. The fermentation occurred for five days until the pH level and sugar Brix drop to about 4.00 and 10/12 respectively to get the desired flavor profile. In this process, they did not use any additives to enhance the quality of the fermentation. The fermentation was 100% Natural. The crucial thing was to store all fermentation containers under the shade of the trees by their washing station. This approach enabled them to maintain a steady temperature between 16C and 18C throughout the days and helped the fermentation process be slow and long.

Drying method:

After five days of slow and long fermentation, they brought the coffee cherries out of the containers and immediately laid them on the African beds to get direct sunlight for one day.

After a quick dry-up to 35% humidity under direct sunlight that took 24 hours, they put the cherries under a shade net for the rest of 39 days to dry very slowly. In the meantime, they assigned workers to move the cherry continuously (every half an hour during the hottest hours of the day or every hour during typical weather).

The cherries were collected at night and covered to avoid condensation and moisture reabsorption and spread again the following day. After 40 days of drying, when the cherry dried down to 11-12% humidity, they collected the cherries and stored them in a warehouse at a constant temperature of 18C.

After completing the drying phase, the coffee was placed in a GrainPro to retain its character.

In the cup, this is an exceptional coffee, a true tropical fruit punch!

We indeed find it intensely fruity and funky, with notes of tropical fruits, raisin and dark cherry. With a smooth and long lasting chocolaty and floral aftertaste.

Minimum resting period: 10 days from roast date for espresso roast, 7 days for filter roast.