The summary

A natural micro-lot from a private farm in the prestigious Shakiso area of Guji. This coffee successfully summarises the cup characteristics of a natural Ethiopia: a lot of funky ripe fruit, tons of sweetness mixed with strawberries and candy floss.

The finer details

The origin

The micro-lot comes from the Shakiso area of Guji and, in particular, from the kebele (an Ethiopian administrative subdivision) called Tarro. The cultivation area is located at 2050masl.

The producer

Kayon Mountain Farm is a private farm owned by Ismal Hassan. Founded in 2009 it extends over about 200 hectares of land where the Heirloom Ethiopia native varietal is grown. Until a few years ago, cultivations of this size did not exist because they legally had to rely on cooperatives in order to sell the coffee. This legislative limitation has recently been removed and now private farms of at least 50 hectares are allowed to sell their own coffee directly. This has fostered a strong drive towards investments to improve production processes and obtained quality.

The process

The harvest, made exclusively by hand, is separated into micro-lots according to the harvest day. Each lot is composed of about 100 bags of green coffee. The specific lot from which Nero Scuro's coffee comes from has been processed according to a traditional natural (unwashed) approach. The cherries are first poured into separation tanks, in order to remove the immature ones, which float in the tanks and are easily identified and caught. They are then laid on raised drying tables (African beds). The farm is equipped with around 200 drying tables. A large amount of space for drying allows to place cherries in layers of very low thickness and to control the fermentation process in a timely manner. The temperature during the day is relatively low and the cherries are exposed for about 8 hours to the sun for a period ranging from 13 to 20 days, depending on the temperature. The cherries are turned several times a day and are covered during the central hours of the day to avoid unwanted fermentation. Once dried, the skin and the dry pulp are removed mechanically, as is the parchment. The coffee beans are then packaged in GrainPro bags, in which they have reached our laboratory.

In the cup

This coffee has the characteristics that make the Ethiopian natural known and sought after: notes of ripe fruit, extreme sweetness of the cotton candy of the strawberry and raspberry.

Being suitable for both filter and espresso / moka extractions, we have studied two specific profiles for these extractions.