Ethiopia, Chelchele

Chelchele station is located in the coveted Gedeb district, the southernmost district of Ethiopia’s famous Gedeo zone. Nearly all of Gedeb is known for its gifted processing climate and experienced growers. Washed and natural coffees alike from this area tend to be dense and fruit-forward, ranging from sparkling clean acidic fruits to jammy or herbal concentrated sweetness.

This particular processing station has hundreds of individual smallholders contributing cherries, each averaging about 3 hectares of coffee cultivation.  The washed processed coffees are sorted by hand on arrival, then floated to remove less dense and damaged cherries.  Next the sorted cherries are depulped, fermented and washed, and then taken to raised beds to fully dry, a process that takes about 18 days. Finished dried parchment is stored locally to rest and allow internal moisture to equilibrate, and then trucked to Addis Ababa to be dehulled and for additional sorting and preparation for export.