In the last few years, something transformational started to happen in the way our coffees from Ethiopia were prepared, sourced & classified. Last year we came across one coffee from the Dumerso washing station, in Yirgacheffe, which totally blew us away. It was late in the season & we only had one sack of Washed and one of Natural and the latter was so sensationally fruity it stopped us in our tracks. For years we have traditionally only been offered washed coffees from this region. Beautifully soft, sweetly fragrant coffees that were an established favourite with generations of Atkinsons customers. Now all of a sudden we had a new, but authentically old, kid on the block – a dynamic, spiky, juicy punk of a bean that was going back to basics to overthrow the established order.
So, earlier this year, eager to find out more, I went there myself to see what else I could find. This was nothing short of a personal quest to find the Holy Grail of Ethiopian Coffee! I visited numerous traders, farms and washing stations. I met dozens of wonderfully memorable people from all walks of life at the beginning of the coffee supply chain. I cupped hundreds of coffees. We tasted an array of fabulous new coffee experiences but there was one that really stood out as a prime example of this exciting new sensation, to me, of a Naturally Processed Yirgacheffe.
We call it Shelaitu, named after the glittering stream that runs through the washing station.
It was at the corner of one particular cupping table and I knew the moment I caught something delicately fragrant yet insistently and generously fruity in the aroma emanating from the grounds in the cupping bowl.
Some Naturals are almost synthetically sour like Juicy Fruit chewing gum but this was a delicious iron fist of intense juice in a velvet glove of sheer soft-fruit sweetness. This was what I had been searching for. This was the apotheosis of a Yirgacheffe Natural.
So, earlier this year, eager to find out more, I went there myself to see what else I could find. This was nothing short of a personal quest to find the Holy Grail of Ethiopian Coffee! I visited numerous traders, farms and washing stations. I met dozens of wonderfully memorable people from all walks of life at the beginning of the coffee supply chain. I cupped hundreds of coffees. We tasted an array of fabulous new coffee experiences but there was one that really stood out as a prime example of this exciting new sensation, to me, of a Naturally Processed Yirgacheffe.
We call it Shelaitu, named after the glittering stream that runs through the washing station.
It was at the corner of one particular cupping table and I knew the moment I caught something delicately fragrant yet insistently and generously fruity in the aroma emanating from the grounds in the cupping bowl.
Some Naturals are almost synthetically sour like Juicy Fruit chewing gum but this was a delicious iron fist of intense juice in a velvet glove of sheer soft-fruit sweetness. This was what I had been searching for. This was the apotheosis of a Yirgacheffe Natural.
Great for: Aeropress, Filter
Origin: Africa/Ethiopia
Process Method: Natural (Dry)
Varietals: HEIRLOOM VARIETALS