Ethiopia Kercha Natural

ETHIOPIA

KERCHA NATURAL

YUZU, PINK FLOWERS, CITRON, BRIGHT BERRY

This coffee sits firmly on the light and bright end of the natural Ethiopian spectrum. We're tasting fresh mandarin, yuzu, citron essence, pink and purple florals, and beautifully fragrant black tea.

It's incredibly aromatic, with lively citrus acidity and a freshness that almost makes you forget you're drinking a natural. There's none of the heavy, jammy fruit you might expect. Instead, everything feels lifted, transparent, and elegant. In fact, there's a lot about this coffee that reminds us of a great washed Ethiopia.

A super small lot for us, and a really beautiful one.

---

BEAN DETAILS:

ORIGIN: Kercha, Guji Zone, Ethiopia

ELEVATION: Approximately 2,150–2,200 masl
VARIETY: Local Heirlooms
PROCESS: Sun-dried Natural

TASTING NOTES: Fragrant pink and purple florals, fresh yuzu, mandarin orange, and citron essence, with delicate black tea aromatics. Bright, exceptionally clean, and beautifully refreshing.

ROAST TYPE: Light

Farm Level

About Kercha

This coffee comes from a privately owned processing station near Kercha, close to Uraga in Ethiopia's southern Guji Zone.

The station works with more than 1,500 smallholder farmers through an outgrower program, purchasing their cherries and handling processing and export.

The program goes beyond simply buying coffee. The mill's owners provide participating farmers with seedlings and agricultural support, helping strengthen coffee production and improve quality throughout the surrounding communities.

The family also manages its own coffee-growing operations, contributing additional volume to the coffees it processes and exports.

Guji has become one of our favorite regions for its incredible range of flavor profiles, and this coffee is a great example of why.

Rather than the saturated berry character often associated with Ethiopian naturals, Kercha shows off the region's more delicate side: fresh citrus, floral aromatics, and tea-like clarity.

The Process

Kercha is a sun-dried natural, meaning the coffee is dried with the cherry intact rather than being depulped and washed before drying.

Natural processing can produce intensely fruity, wine-like coffees, but it doesn't always have to.

What makes this lot so compelling is its remarkably clean expression. The fruit is bright and fresh rather than heavy or fermented, and the floral character remains beautifully defined.

The result is a natural coffee with much of the elegance and transparency we typically associate with washed Ethiopian lots.

For anyone who loves the aromatics of a great Yirgacheffe but wants a little extra fruit sweetness, this is a really exciting place to land.