Ethiopia Chelchele Filter

Tasting notes: A very pretty coffee with stonefruit blossom and citrus.

Coffee breakdown:
Origin: Chelchele, Ethiopia
Variety: Wolisho and Dega JARC
Process: Washed
Producer: Gebeyehu Mekonen
Altitude: 1900-2100 m

This coffee is from the heavily populated Gedeo zone of what is known as the “Yirgacheffe” region by the coffee trade. It comes to us from a washing station owned by Gebeyehu Mekonen, located in the town of Banko Chelchele, in the booming Gedeb woreda, Gedeo zone, SNNPR.

The mill was built in 2021, and is nestled into the dense, shade-forested area. Gebeyehu is from the area, and has been working in washing stations for over a decade. 458 smallholder farmers surrounding the village contributing cherry to the station, they each work an average of 1-2 hectares of coffee trees around their homes in most cases.

The station is located in a region that has pretty perfect weather conditions for growing, drying and processing coffee (truly- we’ve scarcely ever seen better soil health, plant and cultivar selection, health, cherry maturation and a more ideal overall climate in our travels). Gedeb Woreda is known for its dense, layered semi-forest vegetation structure including banana trees and shade-grown coffee, and it’s a great example of coffee growing agro-ecology in Ethiopia.

This lot is a fully washed coffee with approximately 36-48 hours of fermentation time. It is then soaked for 4 hours before being carefully dried on African drying beds. Stunning clarity and a juicy acidity are the result.