About the coffee
- Cupping notes: Sweet and clean, lemon, caramel, maple syrup, black tea
- Cultivation: Extremely high grown in the mountains in the Guji region, south of Yirgacheffe
- Altitude: 6,500 feet
- Varietals: Heirloom
- Preparation: Washed, sun-dried on raised beds
About the people who grow it
The road south out of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia leads straight to coffee country. The new highway toll road makes travel to the lowlands quicker than ever, but the pace slows down when the road starts to climb into the mountains. At Shashamane town, the western road carries travelers into the heart of the Sidamo Guji coffee region, past family farms and pointed huts made of curved reeds.
Thousands of small farmers live in this area, growing coffee at high altitudes where the Rift Valley meets the Bale Mountains. Farms range in size from 1 to 20 hectares, and banana and mango trees grow alongside coffee trees, imparting their fruity flavors into the soil. For hundreds of years, people here have governed by the Gadaa system, an indigenous democratic process of electing a leader and local representatives.
The Guji area (named for the Guji tribe of the Oromo people) is rich in history and rich in coffee. Producers bring their ripe harvests to central washing stations, in this case to the Mekuria Mergia station. Here the cherries are pulped and washed with mountain spring water the same day. The pulped coffee goes into a fermentation tank for 72 hours, then is washed, spread, and sun-dried for up to 2 weeks on raised beds.
Guji coffee has been receiving lots of attention from the specialty coffee world in recent years, and for good reason. Many privately-owned washing stations have sprung up recently in this area that traditionally processed coffee using a natural (dry) method. The quality of these washed coffees can be outstanding. Not surprising, considering the area’s close proximity to Yirgacheffe, which has perfected the washed process. The people of the Guji region take pride in the high quality of this sweet, clean coffee.
Thousands of small farmers live in this area, growing coffee at high altitudes where the Rift Valley meets the Bale Mountains. Farms range in size from 1 to 20 hectares, and banana and mango trees grow alongside coffee trees, imparting their fruity flavors into the soil. For hundreds of years, people here have governed by the Gadaa system, an indigenous democratic process of electing a leader and local representatives.
The Guji area (named for the Guji tribe of the Oromo people) is rich in history and rich in coffee. Producers bring their ripe harvests to central washing stations, in this case to the Mekuria Mergia station. Here the cherries are pulped and washed with mountain spring water the same day. The pulped coffee goes into a fermentation tank for 72 hours, then is washed, spread, and sun-dried for up to 2 weeks on raised beds.
Guji coffee has been receiving lots of attention from the specialty coffee world in recent years, and for good reason. Many privately-owned washing stations have sprung up recently in this area that traditionally processed coffee using a natural (dry) method. The quality of these washed coffees can be outstanding. Not surprising, considering the area’s close proximity to Yirgacheffe, which has perfected the washed process. The people of the Guji region take pride in the high quality of this sweet, clean coffee.
