Ethiopia - Weessi Tima Anoxic Honey

Tasting notes

In the roaster’s words

When we went to Ethiopia in February, we aimed to go visit all of our key supply chain partners in country. We visited Mike Mamo's Addis Exporter lab - where Ture Waji also partners for export operations. We cupped fresh crop samples from Mike and Ture, and confirmed many of our returning coffees - and a few new ones. On this table was a set of yellow honey lots - the only difference between them being the number of hours on the sample name. This lot ("48 hrs") had such an electric and compelling acidity that we were smitten - supremely zippy and fresh. With more context from Ture, this is a sequence of honey lots with a post pulp anoxic (an environment without oxygen) fermentation step before drying, and while they were all very good the 48 hrs seemed to be the sweet spot for our preferences. Super zippy & crisp and distinct. Brew Guide: Best Brewed with: Filter/Turbo Espresso Lightest Roaster Influence: This one is an interesting one - we find honey process lots tend to sit somewhere between washed and naturals when it comes to the sort of heat and time they require at the end of the roast, as one might expect, but generally tending to be closer to washed than natural. But then the curveball aspect in this case is something pulling it in two opposite directions - it's an anoxic processed lot, but also a very high density high altitude small screen size coffee. We've ended up splitting the difference - marginally longer overall roasting than our typical Ethiopian lots, slightly longer development time, slightly lower end temperature than we would for a washed lot. Our first test roasts were very, very light but rested out well, so we're tweaking the amount of development to get them to open earlier without adding too much roaster influence and preserve the maximum amount of electric acidity and florals we love in this coffee. Best Rested: 4+ weeks Filter: 64g/L, 94°C when fresh; 92°C when rested Espresso: 18g/50g/18-22s We're tasting: Sweet aromatics of lemongrass, cantaloupe, and apple blossom. In the cup while hot it's super bright & zippy - we find meyer lemon, granny smith apple, white grape, milk oolong and a hint of lemongrass. As it cools becoming more like kesar mango, slightly underripe crisp concord pear, with the sparkling acids & freshness of young dry riesling wine. Traceability Country of Origin: Ethiopia Region: Tima, Odo Shakiso, Guji Producer: 25 smallholder farmers; Ture Waji (Sookoo/Mayole Coffee) Station: Weessi Variety: JARC: 74110 &

Notes

Post-pulp anoxic fermentation for 48 hours before drying; Station: Weessi; best rested 4+ weeks.