Etiopien: Koke Washed - Tvättat - Yirgacheffe

I koppen: Ett fint, balanserat kaffe med söta toner av bär och vindruva samt en elegant arom av apelsinblomma, på en bas med karaktär av mjölkchoklad.

Koppning: 89 poäng

Munkänsla: Krämig, fyllig, skiktad

Botanisk variant: Heirloom

Process: Tvättat (Washed)

Producent: Hafursa Waro (Washing Station Manager)

Växthöjd: 1870 - 1900 möh 

Region: Gedeo / Yirgacheffe

Background:

In the southern region of Ethiopia, farmers pick coffee selectively, harvesting only ripe cherries individually by hand. Pickers rotate among the trees every eight to ten days, choosing only the cherries which are at peak ripeness. 

Many pickers average approximately 100 to 200 pounds of coffee cherries a day, which will produce 20 to 40 pounds of coffee beans. Each worker’s daily haul is carefully weighed, and each picker is paid on the merit of his or her work. The day’s harvest is then transported to the processing plant.

Washing Station

The Koke washing station is named for the Koke kebele, or town, where it is located in the Yirgacheffe district of the Gedeo Zone. The family-owned Koke washing station was built in 2011 and has seen many improvements since 2015, when the washing station staff began providing guidance to contributing producers regarding steps to increase coffee quality.  

The Koke station stands on the side of a hill, with coffee grown above and below the station. For the last three years, the Koke station managers have been separating out the higher elevation cherries, and the quality clearly shows. 96 small scale farmers provided cherries to Koke this harvest most of them multi-generational family farmers.

Washed Processing

Ripe coffee cherries are freshly sorted before depulping. Over-ripe and under-ripe beans are handpicked and separated before processing. After depulping, coffee is allowed to ferment naturally for 36-72 hours in the washing station’s 10 cement fermentation tanks. The fermented coffee is washed with clean running water, soaked in clean water with a pH of 7.8, and then dried for 18-21 days on Koke’s 89 raised beds to retain around 11.5% moisture. Dried parchment coffee is stored at the washing station warehouse until it is transported  to Addis Ababa for further processing.