Ethiopia Arsosala

Dark Berries / Plum / Brown Sugar

Country Ethiopia

Region Arsosala village, Uraga, Guji

Farm Various smallholder farmers delivering to the Arsosala Washing Station

Cultivar Heirloom Ethiopian varieties

Process Washed

Elevation 1800  masl

Arsosala is a washing station founded in 2015 that currently serves about 1,200 smallholder producers in the Urga woreda of Guji.

Washed lots at this washing station are delivered ripe, depulped the same day, fermented overnight, and washed before being soaked/fermented underwater for 8–16 hours. Then they are washed again. The total fermentation time is between 48–72 hours. The coffee is dried on raised beds for 9–12 days.

Coffees in Ethiopia are typically traceable to the washing station level, where smallholder farmers—many of whom own less than 1/2 hectare of land, and as little as 1/8 hectare on average—deliver cherry by weight to receive payment at a market rate. The coffee is sorted and processed into lots without retaining information about whose coffee harvest is in which bag or which lot.