Ethiopia - Metu Illubabor | Washed - Archived

Origin

• 🇪🇹 Ethiopia

Tasting notes

Character

• Clean
  30

Ethiopia’s Illubabor Zone is one of the country’s most fertile and least exploited regions. It boasts a total area of approximately 16,555 square kilometers. It’s also home to a warm temperate climate, atypical of conditions in the rest of the country, with a mean average temperature of 20.7° C and rainfall in excess of 1800 mm per annum. The undulating topography of the landscape, which ranges between 1400 and 2100 metres above sea level, combined with the climatic conditions, is characterised by steep-sided river valleys and flat, waterlogged valley bottoms. The washing stationWashing stationA central mill where many smallholder farmers deliver cherry for processing. In Ethiopia, Kenya, and Rwanda the station name (e.g. Idido) often identifies the coffee. was established in 2015 on 1.5 hectares of land. They currently process a total annual volume between 300–400 tons of clean green coffeeGreen coffeeUnroasted coffee seeds as they are traded and shipped. Roasters buy green and roast locally; 'green buying' is the sourcing side of the craft.. They meticulously wash, pulp, ferment and dry their coffees, leading to a superb final product. After processing the coffee is stored safely to preserve the quality of parchment until it is moved to the dry mill. Fully dry parchment is packed in bags and either moved to the parchment store or bulked in conditioning bins. To maintain traceability along with quality, they’re careful about lot separation. They collect coffee cherry alongside supplier name, original location, and quantity and keep thorough records as the coffee moves through processing. Most farms have access to dirt roads, so at harvest time producers transport bags of cherry by motorcycle, horse, or donkey to the nearest collection center. These bags then travel by truck to a central collection center. In general, transport between farms and collection centers is relatively simple. The producers intercrop their coffee with native trees of the area like the false banana tree to shade and fertilize their fields. The majority of producers here belong to the Oromo culture and speak Oromo dialects. The traditions of their native culture are still very present in producers’ daily life. Life in Illubabor can be idyllic in some ways, but equally complicated in others. Since many farms are remote, a