Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Chelbesa

Yirgacheffe is a region in southern Ethiopia long known for stellar coffees with characteristic notes of citrus and delicate florals. As the homeland of the Coffea Arabica, coffee plants grow wild throughout the country and provide work for about 15 million Ethiopians. This particular coffee comes to us from the Chelbesa washing station and represents the work of about 672 producers in the area. Producers deliver coffee cherries to the washing station where they are floated and sorted before being depulped and placed in fermentation tanks for 2 to 3 days. The coffee is then soaked in water for 12 hours and put on raised beds to dry for another 7-10 days. Coffee is then sorted again and transferred to the warehouse for dry processing before it is ready to sell.

SNAP Specialty Coffee is the organization behind this coffee and is "committed to enhancing farmer livelihoods and elevating coffee quality."  This includes offering training to over 6,000 coffee producers in the areas of nursery management, production, and processing. There is a strong emphasis on coffee quality as well as environmental and economic sustainability, which works to continually improve the livelihoods of those who work in the industry and the land they cultivate. 

We roasted this Chelbesa selection lightly to capture the floral and citrusy notes so well known in this region. We recommend brewing this at a 1:16 coffee to (filtered) water ratio to achieve a delicate and silky mouthfeel to balance the flavor and bright acidity. We experience notes of buttery shortbread, orange blossom, sweet black tea, and Meyer lemon. 

Note: This coffee will taste best at least 10 days off roast.