Day 1 | Ethiopia Banko Chelchele Rue

This microlot comes to us from the Chelchele district of Gedeb, in the Gedeo Zone of Ethiopia. A high elevation plateau, this zone is rich with fertile volcanic soil and is well known for its top quality, complex, and aromatic coffees. This lot was grown by smallholder farmers organized around the Banko Chelchele processing station, owned and operated by EDN Ethiopian Coffee and Export Group. Banko Chelchele employs over 200 people during the harvest months, providing meals and lodging for its staff. EDN pre-finances all of its contributing farmers and provides them with a number of free educational resources.

This high intervention process uses fresh cuttings of the native herb rue, also known as tenaadam. In Ethiopian culture, rue is commonly used as an aromatic garnish in coffee ceremonies, as a natural medicine, and as a culinary spice. A sprig of the herb is customarily added to coffee prepared in a jebena, a traditional Ethiopian pottery flask used to brew coffee.

Farmers and their families hand-harvest the ripe coffee cherries and take them to the processing station to be carefully hand-sorted. The selected cherries are sealed in carbon fiber drums with fresh cuttings of rue and left to ferment anaerobically (deprived of fresh oxygen) for 10 full days at a carefully maintained temperature of 15-18 degrees Celsius. This allows the sugars in the fruit to develop far beyond where they would in a traditional natural, without the risk of over fermenting. After the fermentation, the soft and syrupy cherry mixture is moved to raised screen beds to slowly dry in the sun for between 15-20 days.

Once the coffee reaches 11% moisture, it is moved into the cool warehouse to rest for a number of weeks. This last step allows the internal moisture to equalize and the water activity to settle, thus increasing its shelf life and enhancing its unique flavors. Both the fermentation and the added fresh herb are used to create a truly transformed cup profile.