Ethiopia Guji Uraga – “Top Lot”

Taste: This is an Ethiopian indigenous heirloom variety characterized by strong citric acidity (see the cupping notes), sweet chocolate and floral/herbal notes of lavender, jasmine, bergamot & hops.

Roast: Our customer and home-roaster extraordinaire Bruce R. turned us onto this fantastic bean, and he was kind enough to share his roast process with us, and now with all of you:

“Once I got the beans up to temperature (320-340C) I kept them within that range for 5 minutes before raising the temperature to just below 400F and held it there until first crack plus 2:30 minutes. I get rapid cooldown by removing the roasting cage (with leather gloves or oven pads) before auto-cooldown cycle starts, and shake it up and down in front of a floor fan on high. (Chaf blows out the garage door…) Then I place a steamer tray (the kind with lots of holes) in front of the fan and slowly pour the beans out so any remaining chaf is blow away from the beans. The floor fan cools the beans within a couple of minutes.”

We hope you enjoy this bean, and Bruce’s insights.  If you discover other roasting nuances, feel free to share in the comments below.

About: This grade 1 washed lot was produced by 600 smallholders around the village (or ‘kebele’) of Uraga in Guji district.

Grown at altitudes between 1,650 and 1,800 masl, the farmers deliver ripe coffee cherries to the local Uraga washing station managed by Haji Feku. After careful sorting and flotation to select only the highest quality cherries, they are pulped and then fermented for 36-48 hours depending on the climatic conditions. The coffee is then washed and graded by density in clean water channels before being dried in the sun on raised African beds for 12-15 days. In the daytime the parchment needs to be raked and turned periodically to ensure a consistent drying process. The coffee is also covered between 12pm and 3pm to protect it from the hot sun, and at night time to protect from rainfall and condensing ambient moisture. Once the coffee has dried to the optimum level it is transported to Addis Ababa for dry-milling, grading, sorting and handpicking, before being bagged in GrainPro for export.

Uraga washing station is located in Guji district, Sidama zone, in the Oromia region of Southern Ethiopia. Over a number of years the region has developed a distinguished reputation for fine coffees, producing some of the most sought after microlots in world. The combination of high altitude (up to 2,200m in some areas), fertile soil, consistent & plentiful rains, and an abundance of local knowledge are all contributing factors to the high status of Yirgacheffe coffees. The indigenous ‘heirloom’ varietals – which grow wild in Ethiopia – are responsible for the unique flavor notes.

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