Climpson & Sons: Banko Gutiti - Ethiopia - Washed

The start of the UK Summer time also brings the arrival of new crop coffees from some of our favourite origins in East Africa. Our first Ethiopian of the season is the juicy Banko Gutiti, full of stone fruit, citrus and florals.

Banko Gutiti is located in the Kochere Woreda within the region of Yirgache e. Almost 650 smallholders contribute cherry to the washing station owned by Alemu Bukato where there is a rigid focus on improving quality through precise sorting and processing. Each contributing farmer generally only has 1 hectare of coffee production and lacks the infrastructure to individually process their own very small output. In bringing their cherry to this local washing station they benefit in contributing to larger lots where coffee can be sorted, processed and collectively rewarded for quality.

The Yirgacheffee region has almost always been synonymous with intensely floral and elegant cup profiles. The local heirloom varieties are descendant from native Typica found in the surrounding forests and the washed processing here is so rigorously controlled that the intensity and clarity of flavour is certainly no surprise. All cherries are hand sorted before being pulped and sorted again by density. The coffee is then allowed an extended fermentation time of 48 hours in clean water before further density sorting in washing channels. The parchment is soaked in fresh water once more for 12-24 hours before being moved to raised drying beds for a period of 12-15 days. Across nearly all producing countries this ranks as some of the most intensive and well controlled washed processing resulting in a cup that is fruity, delicate and complex.