Ethiopia Dry Process Hambela Buliye

Cupping Notes:

Excels in middle-to-dark roasts, and as espresso too. Big rustic fruits, earthy sweetness, notes of plum, strawberry-rhubarb, dried apricot, and an aromatic woody aspect in the finish.

Region: Buliye Kebele, Hambela Wamena
Variety: Heirloom Cultivars
Altitude: ~2195 masl
Processing: Dry Process (Natural)
Certification: Farm Gate

Farm Description:

Though this second lot of Buliye is from a different group than the one we sold earlier in the year, the coffee comes from the same Buliye village, in Hambela, and likely from a lot of the same small holder farmers. The station is Buno Buliye Buliye, and sits at a very high altitude of 2195 meters above sea level. They are process around 1.5 containers of dry process coffee, which believe it or not, is on the small side. It also means these 120 bags are roughly 1/3 of their output last year. These lots are made up of coffee from several hundred different farmers, most with only a couple hundred coffee trees or less. You tend to see coffee intercropped with other fruits and vegetables, "false banana" being one the more common food staples to see planted in the Hambela region. Dry processing is the oldest coffee processing method still used, and involves drying the coffee bean and cherry whole. From pictures you see, you might think you can just dump the cherries to the beds and wait. This is not the case, and the best lots take a lot of preparation! The coffee has to be spread out to a layer depth of only a few centimeters, no more, in order to allow air flow. The coffee is turned hourly, or even more frequently, in order to facilitate even drying and keep the coffee from molding. It's not difficult, but requires constant attention. Workers continually pull out lower quality coffee in the form of physical defects and coffee that was not harvested at peak ripeness in order to cultivate Grade 1 quality.

Description from Coffee Shrub.