Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Natural

The farmer, Bekele Heto, at 52 years, grows coffee on his 38-acre farm near the town of Worka-Sakaro located in the south-eastern corner of the coveted Gedeo Zone - the narrow section of plateau dense with savvy farmers whose coffee is known as “Yirgacheffe”. Bekele has been cultivating coffee for 14 years but with the help of the single lot program he has been able to sell his coffee as a micro-lot in recent years. Coffee is Bekele’s main source of income that he uses to support his family of 14.

Ripe cherries for this natural processed coffee were carefully hand sorted and floated to remove less dense coffee beans. Next the cherries were dried on raised beds for 15 to 20 days and turned regularly to avoid over-fermentation and mold. Raised beds are carefully constructed to ensure proper air circulation and temperature control, for optimal drying. Cherries were covered during the afternoons to prevent harsh drying in the intense sun. Once the cherries finished drying to 11 percent moisture, they were transported to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, to be milled and prepared for export.