In the Cup

This coffee is a real banger! It has a super nice funky fermneted edge, yet it remains super clean in the cup! Very fruity and super smooth! It is a super easy to drink filter coffee yet a surprisingly complex espresso that mixes even well with milk.

Origin

This black honey lot comes from Lalesa, in Gedeb woreda. The site sits at approximately 2,150 to 2,200 metres above sea level and is the largest drying site in Gedeb. Coffee in the area is naturally grown under shade trees, mainly Ensete, also known as false banana. The lot is made up of local heirloom cultivars and is harvested between December and January.

Process

For this black honey process, the best cherries are purchased from nearby farmers and first floated to remove lower-density cherries and quakers. The coffee is then placed on drying beds for one day, helping to increase the mucilage present on the beans before pulping. After pulping, the coffee is dried under shade for around 25 days. This slower, shaded drying approach is chosen to maximise quality, with careful cherry selection and controlled moisture reduction supporting clarity, sweetness and consistency in the final lot.

The Lalesa site covers approximately 3.5 hectares and has around 400 drying beds. It employs seven permanent staff and around 130 seasonal workers during the harvest period. In addition to coffee, farmers in the area also produce Ensete, or false banana, which is an important staple crop in the region.

Once dried, the coffee is transported to Addis Ababa, where it is stored at Moplaco in Gerji. It is then prepared for export and moved by train to Djibouti before shipment.

The wider Gedeb area is one of Ethiopia’s best-known coffee-producing regions and is closely associated with high-quality washed, natural and honey processed coffees. The local community is predominantly Christian Protestant, with some Orthodox Christian communities also present, and Gedeoiniya is the main local language. Enset remains an important staple food crop, and the Siqe River marks a local boundary between Gedeo, Guji and neighbouring administrative regions.