Ethiopia
Cheleleketu Legese Kebede lot - Ethiopia
250g
Cup Notes
Strawberry / Passionfruit / Mango / Lime / Kumquat suggested for espresso and filter
Competition Series
QUALITY SCORE: 91.75
when we roast
We freshly roast to order all coffees on Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excluding national holidays), and ship the same day! Cut-off time is 11:59pm (UTC+1) of the day before the roast day. *We only ship whole beans*
Details
- Producer
- Several small farmers
- Country
- Ethiopia
- Terroir
- Kochere
- Altitude
- 1900-2100 mt
- Arabica cultivar
- Ethiopian heirlooms
- Picked in
- September 2017
- Shipped in
- Jute + GrainPro
- Roast profile by
- Rubens Gardelli
- Roasted on
- Customised solid-drum roaster
THE STORY BEHIND
When we tasted this coffee on a blind cupping table we were literally incredule, we would never expect to find such amazing flavours coming from what is now getting a old crop lot.
Our newest Competition Series Cheleleketu has replaced the incredibly popular Nensebo. Coming from the Kochere micro-region in Ethiopia, a small portion of the Yirgacheffe region, the Cheleleketu is a naturaly-processed coffee with amazing complex topical flavours.
Unfortunately we don't have many bags of it, don't miss the opportunity to taste it and demonstrate to yourself how some Ethiopia coffee lots can hold flavours for so long!
The town of Chelelektu is in Kochere district (not far Yirgacheffe town) in Gedeo zone, ‘Southern Nations, Nationalities & Peoples’ (SNNP) region of Ethiopia. It is amongst the altitudinous towns in the region. Over a number of years the region has developed a distinguished reputation for fine coffees, producing some of the most sought-after microlots in the world. The combination of high altitude (up to 2,200m in some areas), fertile soil, consistent & plentiful rains, and an abundance of local knowledge are all contributing factors to the high status of Yirgacheffe coffees. The indigenous ‘heirloom’ varietals - which grow wild in Ethiopia - are responsible for the unique flavour notes which make for an unusual but refined cup.
THE VARIETY
Ethiopian Heirloom, why the generic name? It's estimated that there are somewhere in-between six and ten thousand coffee varietals in Ethiopia. And due to this colossal figure, there hasn’t been the genetic testing to allow buyers to distinguish the varietal. With the cross pollination that naturally happens in the wild, the name ‘Ethiopian Heirloom’ exists as a catch all phrase to describe this happenstance. However, that really makes Ethiopian quite a mystery – and an interesting mystery with that as each village or town could potentially have a different varietal which could carry very unique properties.
Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, meaning it was only naturally found here.
THE FERMENTATION PROCESS
Dry process seems simple: pick the fruit, lay it out in the sun until it turns from red to brown to near-back, and then hull off off the thick, dried outer layer in one step to reveal the green bean. It is a method suited to arid regions, where the sun and heat can dry the seed inside the intact fruit skin.
It's often referred to as "natural coffee" because of its simplicity, and because the fruit remains intact and undisturbed, a bit like drying grapes into raisins. Since it requires minimal investment, the dry process method is a default to create cheap commodity-grade coffee in areas that have the right climate capable of drying the fruit and seed.
But it’s a fail in humid or wet regions. If the drying isn't progressing fast enough, the fruit degrades, rots or molds.
Dry-processed coffees can also be wildly inconsistent. If you want a cleanly-fruited, sweet, intense cup, dry process (DP) takes more hand labor than the wet process. Even the most careful pickers will take green unripe or semi-ripe coffee off the branch as they pick red, ripe cherry. If these are not removed in the first days of drying, the green turns to brown that is hard to distinguish from the ripe fruit.
