ETHIOPIA - Sidama Rumudamo

The Flavour Profile

There's a reason natural process Ethiopian coffee stops people in their tracks — and this light roast single origin from Rumudamo in Sidama is a beautiful example why. Grown at 1,920 to 2,330 metres above sea level, where cooler air and slow-ripening cherries build real sweetness and clarity, this specialty coffee opens with jasmine and vanilla, layered with jammy plum and stewed fruit. The natural process — where the whole cherry dries around the bean for 12 to 15 days — lets those fruit sugars soak right into the bean, giving a cup that's syrupy, winey and far more expressive than you'd expect from a light roast.

Expect a silky, syrupy body with a bright, juicy acidity that lingers long after the last sip — the kind of complexity that comes from smallholder farms averaging under 5 hectares, hand-tended and hand-picked at peak ripeness.

Drinking it black? This is where the fruit really sings — plum, jam and stewed fruit up front, jasmine and vanilla trailing through a bright, wine-like finish. Best brewed as a pour over or V60 to let those delicate floral notes shine, though it holds its own in an Aeropress too.

Drinking it with milk? The vanilla sweetness comes forward and rounds the fruit into something smooth and dessert-like — plum jam with a creamy vanilla finish. Lovely as a filter coffee or flat white if you fancy something a touch softer than black.

This is a single origin specialty coffee, good for all brewing methods, freshly roasted to order by Nick in our roastery, just outside Canterbury — never sitting on a shelf waiting for you. Buy a kilo and save 10%, and just ask if you'd like it ground for your brewing method of choice.

The Little Details

This coffee comes from the Rumudamo Washing Station in the Arbegona woreda of Sidama, Ethiopia, owned by Asefa Dukamo and run in partnership with exporters Daye Bensa. Around 600 smallholder producers, each farming less than 5 hectares on average, hand-deliver their cherries here from farms sitting between 1,920 and 2,330 metres above sea level. The coffee is a mix of JARC Selection 74112 and heirloom varietals, naturally processed and dried on raised beds — effectively organic, as most farmers in the region can't afford chemical fertilisers or pesticides, even without formal certification.

About the Process

It starts with the cherries themselves — only the ripest are selectively handpicked by the 600 smallholder farmers who supply Rumudamo Station, many travelling from farms scattered across the steep, fertile slopes of the Arbegona woreda.

Once delivered to the mill, the cherries are sorted for density and quality by submerging them in tanks of water — any that float are removed before drying, leaving only the ripest, densest cherries to go forward.

From there, the cherries move to traditional raised beds lined with mesh nets, where they're rotated by hand every 30 minutes to dry evenly and avoid over-fermentation. This natural drying process takes 12 to 15 days depending on the weather, allowing the fruit's sugars to slowly work their way into the bean — this is where all that jammy plum, stewed fruit and jasmine sweetness comes from.

Once fully dried, the coffee is hulled by machine and carefully packed for export. It's a slow, hands-on process run by a family — Asefa and his brother Mulugeta Dukamo — who built this washing station specifically to make life easier for the farmers around them. Every cup traces back to that care, all the way from a hillside in Sidama to your morning brew.