Ethiopia Agaro Nano Genji

Tasting Notes: Raisin, Plum, Black Tea

Producer: Nano Genji washing station — 819 smallholder farmers of Genji Challa

Location: Agaro, Jimma Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia

Altitude: 2,000 – 2,050 masl

Process: Washed

The dry fragrance is raisin and cocoa with a nuttiness of almond and cashew. Once water is poured, the aroma deepens into dried fruit and molasses. The first sip leads with cacao nibs and raisin, followed by plum and a soft nougat sweetness. As the cup cools, black tea and roasted nut settle in and carry the finish. The acidity is low and rounded, and the body is medium and syrupy. This is a washed Ethiopia that leans dried fruit and cocoa rather than florals - deeply sweet, and easygoing.

Nano Genji is a washing station in the Genji Challa community, in the Agaro area of western Ethiopia's Jimma Zone. Around 819 smallholder farmers deliver cherry here, most of them working plots between a tenth of a hectare and two hectares at 2,000 to 2,050 meters. The farmers of Genji Challa are Oromo, and coffee is the center of life here. The coffee is grown under false banana and maize planted for shade, chosen according to the age and needs of each coffee tree. The soil is a fertile sandy loam that drains well and holds water, productive enough that it yields this quality without fertilizer.

At the station, cherry is mechanically depulped, then soaked overnight so the last of the sugars rinse off the seed before it ever reaches the beds. Drying takes six to eight days on raised beds with frequent turning. There is one more thing worth knowing about Agaro coffees: western Ethiopia's growing season runs earlier than the rest of the country, so these are the first Ethiopians to land each year and they keep opening up in the cup for six months or more after arrival. First in, and last to fade.