Ethiopia - Megadu "Cherry Ascension" Lot-H Carbonic Macerated Natural

Tasting notes

In the roaster’s words

Continuing our sequence of coffees selected the at the Bette Buna lab during our trip to Addis, this carbonic macerated natural was a real standout. Finding the longer macerated lots too funky for our liking, this lot was in the real goldilocks zone - super interesting process character, integrating boozy liqueur and warming complex spices into the "Megadu Anoxic Profile" as we're starting to define it in the roastery. Brew Guide: Best Brewed with: Filter Lightest Roaster Influence: It's a delicate balancing act - super dense, nicely screen beans meet heavier hand processing. We've chosen a relatively fast roast with a slightly softer end, aiming to maximise aromatics and minimise funk. As per! Best Rested: 4+ weeks Filter: 62g/L, 96°C when fresh but when well rested you can go down to 91-92°C Espresso: 18g/48g/18-22s. Excellent soup/turbo We're tasting: Big maraschino cherry and lavender aromatics alongside pineapple rings. In the cup it's super complex and full - we're getting the syrupy + slightly boozy cherry/marzipan note of crème de cerise, blueberry jam, tinned pineapple, and dried mango, with a touch of milk chocolate. As it cools becoming more complex - we're getting strawberry jam, dark honey, and a warming spiced note akin to rue/passionberry + cloves, with more prominent lavender florals. Traceability Country of Origin: Ethiopia Region: Megadu, Shakisso Woreda, Guji Producer: Dawit & Hester Syoum-Westerveld Farm: Bette Buna Megadu Variety: Wild Guji Megadu (local landrace), JARC 74112/74158 Elevation: 2000 - 2200 MASL Process: Carbonic Macerated Natural: Ripe cherries carefully sorted before being placed into hermetically sealed barrels, where carbon dioxide is flushed in to create an anoxic environment. The cherries undergo a 96-hour carbonic maceration, promoting intracellular fermentation within the beans and selective microbial activity dominated by yeasts and lactic acid bacteria. Post ferment, cherries are drained and dried on raised beds with shade control. Coffees milled prior to export in the Guji highlands, with sorting for screen size and density alongside full optical sorting, and a final hand-sort check prior to bagging. Import Partner: Direct with Bette Buna (facilitated via Falcon) Harvest: Crop 25/26 - Arrived UK 01/07/26. Third year purchasing from Bette Buna The Story It's been a long time since we last explained why we use the word "anoxic" for many of our processing descriptors - but it's worth bringing up at the start of th

Notes

Farm: Bette Buna Megadu; 96-hour carbonic maceration in sealed barrels with carbon dioxide, then dried on raised beds with shade control; Crop 25/26, arrived UK 01/07/26.