Ethiopia – Yirgacheffe Aricha - Washed - اثيوبيا - يارقتشيف اريكا - مغسولة
This exceptional lot was processed and exported by our good friends at Testi Coffee, a family-run business owned and managed by the Yonis family, who are making a name for themselves on the Ethiopian Specialty Coffee scene.There are only a handful of Washing Stations near the kebele (town/sub-district) of Aricha. Testi has recently refurbished and is operating one of them. The washing station produces both fully washed and sun-dried natural specialty coffees.
In addition to 27 fermentation and soaking tanks, the site will eventually have over 300 raised ‘African’ drying beds. This means significant processing capacity and more access to the specialty market for the over 700 smallholder farmers delivering from the surrounding towns of Aricha, Edido and Gersi. These micro-regions are well-known for producing exceptional specialty coffees due to high altitudes and cool climates.smallholder farmers deliver either directly to the washing station or to various collection points near their homes. To be accepted, the delivered cherry must be selectively hand-harvested, with few to any underripe, overripe or damaged cherries. Cherry is then delivered to the washing station, where it is processed.
For the fully washed lots, clean cherry is pulped of its fruit, before being taken to the fermentation tanks. Here, coffee will remain for 12-48 hours, left to ferment. The coffee beans are then washed of their mucilage, before being transported to raised beds to dry. For these washed coffees, the drying process will typically take 10-15 days, depending on the climate, until the coffee has reached a moisture reading of 12% or less. Once dried, the coffee is milled and rested, ready for export.
