This coffee’s roasted in our espresso style — but that doesn’t mean you need to brew it as espresso. You can make it however you like — espresso, filter, moka pot, AeroPress or whatever you enjoy. We roast it a touch darker than we would a filter roast to caramelise the sugars and bring out smooth chocolatey and nutty flavours that cut beautifully through milk.
When you add milk the natural sweetness, fat and proteins tend to soften acidity and highlight caramelised flavours. That’s why lighter filter roasts can sometimes taste a bit sharp or sour with milk — they’re simply not built for it. Espresso roasts being more developed balance this out. The deeper caramelisation creates toffee and cocoa notes that blend harmoniously with milk’s creaminess while a hint of gentle bitterness adds that satisfying ‘coffee punch’ in your flat white or cappuccino.
If you prefer your coffee black this roast will still give you a full-bodied rich cup with plenty of depth and sweetness. For a lighter fruitier experience you might enjoy exploring our filter range instead.
Origin and Sourcing
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Roast Details
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Taste Profile
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Import into Beanconqueror
Ethiopia | Chelchele | Heirloom Washed Grade 1 - When is peak freshness?
Medium Roast - Roasted on Roest P3000
Washed Special Prep
With the special prep (what the producers generally call “Premium” in Ethiopia) the cherries are collected from a limited number of small-holder farmers.
90% of the cherries are perfectly picked, the right red color. 5% semi red and 5% overripe.
All of it is processed and stored it separately from the other lots. They generally produce a very small number of bags in this way every year.
In most instances, cherries used to produce these lots are collected from a day lot (picked in one day).
The process of producing Washed coffees in Ethiopia will vary slightly from washing station to washing station, but generally speaking the coffee is picked ripe and depulped the same day. There is usually a fermentation period of 8–12 hours in open-air tanks, then washed in water channels to remove the mucilage. The coffee seeds will be spread on raised beds to dry for 5–15 days, depending on the weather.
About Chelchele Washing Station
This coffee comes from the Chelchele washing station, which is in the kebele, or village, of Chelchele, in the words, or district, of Kochere, in the Yirgacheffe region. Chelchele coffees tend to have a nice backbone of sweetness from toffee and/or soft nuts like almond, with a floral and citrus overtone.
Coffees in Ethiopia are typically grown on very small plots of land by farmers who also grow other crops. The majority of smallholders will deliver their coffee in cherry to a nearby washing station or central processing unit, where their coffee will be sorted, weighed, and paid for or given a receipt. Coffee is then processed, usually washed or natural, by the washing station and dried on raised beds.
The washing stations serve as many as several hundred to sometimes a thousand or more producers, who deliver cherry throughout the harvest season: The blending of these cherries into day lots makes it virtually impossible under normal circumstances to know precisely whose coffee winds up in which bags on what day, making traceability to the producer difficult. We do, however, make every available effort to source coffee from the same washing stations every year, through our export partners and their connections with mills and washing stations.
Typically farmers in this region don't have access to and therefore do not utilize fertilizers or pesticides in the production of coffee.
Heirloom Ethiopian Varieties
Although this offering is not traceable to a single variety, it is comprised of native heirloom varieties cultivated in Ethiopia.
What is Grade 1?
Grades in Ethiopia depend on visual inspection for defects and on cup quality. Grade 1 is considered the highest quality coffee. Grade 1 and 2 are considered specialty coffee, grades 3-9 are classified as commercial coffee. Grade 1 is free of cup faults and taints and has zero quakers.
Yirgacheffe
Yirgacheffe has become famous for coffees that tastes like blueberries. This region is plentiful. The thick vegetation is a product of the warm tropical climate with moderate wet and dry seasons. Most coffee is shade-grown by small producers using organic practices. Coffees are cultivated from 1600 to 2400 masl in these highlands. The multitude of microregions creates complex profiles depending on the washing station a particular coffee is from.
Coffee in Ethiopia
While Ethiopia is famous as coffee’s birthplace, today it remains a specialty coffee industry darling for its incredible variety of flavors. While full traceability has been difficult in recent history, new regulations have made direct purchasing possible. We’re partnering directly with farmers to help them produce top quality specialty lots that are now completely traceable, adding value for farmers and roasters, alike.
The exceptional quality of Ethiopian coffee is due to a combination of factors. The genetic diversity of coffee varieties means that we find a diversity of flavor, even between (or within) farms with similar growing conditions and processing. In addition to varieties, processing methods also contribute to end quality. The final key ingredients for excellent coffee in Ethiopia are the producing traditions that have created the genetic diversity, processing infrastructure and great coffee we enjoy today.
Most producers in Ethiopia are smallholders, and the majority continue to cultivate coffee using traditional methods. As a result, most coffee is grown with no chemical fertilizer or pesticide use. Coffee is almost entirely cultivated, harvested and dried using manual systems.
SKU: ETH-CHEL-HEIR-WSH-G1_1000
Package Weight: 1150g
How does my coffee come packaged?
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