This is a coffee that barely needs an introduction. This is the fifth time in a row that we have bought this coffee and yet again, it is set to be our best seller. The wildness has been toned down this year and the coffee is much more balanced. In the cup you can expect the usual strawberries and floral notes but this time we have a wonderful dark chocolate orange thing going on too. Just stunning.
Brewing Guide
V60: 12g dose, 2:20 brew time .
Aeropress: 15g dose, 3:00 brew time.
Espresso: 18g > 36g in 42 seconds, including a 6 second pre-infusion using flat burrs.
Yirgacheffe is both a town and grade of coffee in Ethiopia. The town itself is located in the Gedeo zone in the Southern Nations and Nationalities Peoples Regional State (SNNPRS) in Southern Ethiopia. More than any other country, Ethiopia has a broad genetic diversity among its coffee varieties, with each type having distinctive taste, shape and colour. As a result, each region in the country can offer a different flavour profile, forming the grading system for Ethiopian coffees e.g. Sidamo, Harrar, Limu, Djimmah etc. It is widely argued that a Yirgacheffe grade coffee can offer one of the most distinctive flavour profiles in the world with pungent floral aroma and intense citrus flavour.
Processing in Yirgacheffe can take the form of both washed and natural, with most of the coffee growing at over 2000 metres above sea level. Much of the coffee grown in Ethiopia is done using traditional methods, under shade trees alongside other crops and without the use of chemicals. Coffee from Yirgacheffe is often referred to as ‘garden coffee’ as it is grown on very small plots, often in the back yard of small dwellings.
Working in partnership with Addis Exporter, a business with more than 100 years experience in exporting high quality coffee from Ethiopia, we have been able to select an incredible natural processed coffee from smallholders based around the Rocko Mountain in the Haricha Woreda, Yirgacheffe. These smallholder farmers have hand-picked their cherries and sold them to a local trader who oversees the processing and sorting before selling the beans to the ECX who grade according to SCAA standards. Addis Exporter then purchase the top quality lots from the ECX and select the best for their ‘Rocko Mountain Reserve’