Foundry Coffee Roasters: Ethiopia, Layo Taraga, Washed

Layo Taraga is a fantastic example of washed Ethiopian coffee from the Guji region. You can expect a vibrant, complex and beautifully balanced coffee with heady floral notes which are perfectly balanced by a gently crisp lime zest acidity. It's just delicious and one of those coffees that really puts a smile on your face.

You know us, we can't get enough of Ethiopian coffee and this is our final offering until the new crops start to land later this year. We've been loving this one in espresso - it's really well balanced and the complexity shines through, even when we add milk. When brewing using other methods, the delicate flavours linger around for ages, making it a satisfying, refreshing and cleansing drink. Enjoy.

The Layo Taraga Cooperative is situated in the Uraga district of Oromia, in the Guji zone, amongst some of Ethiopia's foremost areas of coffee growing territory. The coop has approximately 500 members, who farm shade grown garden coffees on plots approximately 1 hectare in size. Elevations in this region top out at around 2200 masl, making it one of the highest coffee growing regions in the country. It also benefits from fertile clay soil and annual rainfall of around 1500-2000 mm per year.

Layo Taraga is part of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (OCFCU), established in 1999. One of the largest coffee unions in Ethiopia, as of 2014 the OCFCU served as the umbrella organisation for 240 cooperatives, representing approximately 250,000 coffee farmers. As one of the union's prized cooperatives, Layo Teraga has received finance for improvements in recent years, including a new McKinnon disc pulper, tiled fermentation tanks and storage sheds at the washing station.