Ethiopia Sidama – Blowout Special! – Archived

Taste: Delicate berry flavors make this a very special cup. An 83 cupping score makes this a steal of a blowout!

Roast: Keep your roast on the light to medium side, as this dense bean loses its natural flavors and can become bitter at the darkest roasts.

For more roasting information, check out: Ethiopian coffee: a roasters guide

About: This specific offering comes from the Gora Kone Washing Station, located in the village of Werka in the Nensebo district of the Sidamo region. The station itself has been in operation for seven years and has an estimated 800 contributing farmers registered for cherry delivery throughout the harvest period. These offerings are promptly sorted and floated to remove unwanted and unripe cherries. The prime selection is then depulped using a traditional disc pulper, washed, then dried for an average period of 10-12 days.

Aside from its near-legendary status as the “birthplace” of Arabica coffee, there is much to love about Ethiopia as a producing nation, including but not limited to the incredible diversity of flavor and character that exists among microregions, specifically within the southwestern Gedeo Zone of Yirgacheffe within the region of Sidama — areas whose names alone conjure thoughts of the finest coffees in the world. Coffee was literally made to thrive in the lush environment Yirgacheffe’s forests provide, developing nuanced floral characteristics, articulate sweetness and sparkling acidity. However, coffee has also adapted to the more arid climate of Harrar, in the northeast of the country; the varieties planted there have historically had more chocolatey, rich undertones. Processing, of course, also plays a significant part in what makes Ethiopian coffees distinct — both distinctly Ethiopian, as well as distinct from one another, washed or natural. One of the other things that make Ethiopia distinct as a growing country is the complexity involved in the coffee market there, and the myriad systems and customs that ensure there’s never a dull moment in sourcing the best lots, whether they are from individual farms, co-operatives or grower groups, or from the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX), a market institution founded in 2008 in attempt to protect small farmers from various risks and market forces that threaten the profitability of their harvest.

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