ETHIOPIA YABITU KOBA NATURAL #1469

Curator's Notes

Uraga’s dense, high-altitude forests produce some of the world’s most sought after coffees. With its bright, complex acidity and candied sweetness, this lot brings an upfront tang of fire-grilled citrus and a delicate, lingering finish like spun sugar.

Roaster's Notes

Notes of Raspberry, Cotton Candy, Cereal Milk & Lemon Blossom Washing Station: Welichu Wachu Pruducer: Dagne Chomen Process & Variety: Natural Ethiopian Landraces Region: Uraga, Guji, Oromia Altitude: 2100 to 2300 masl Sourcer/Importer: Red Fox Coffee Merchants Additional info from Red Fox: At some of Ethiopia’s most extreme altitudes lies Guji’s Uraga region, a dense, mountainous forest that spans almost a thousand miles. Within this immense forest lies an array of distinct subregions, where we source some of the most extraordinary and sought-after coffees we see anywhere in the world. Uraga coffees are profoundly nuanced with a piquant florality and a bright, complex acidity like lime and bergamot backed by stone fruit sweetness like ripe peach. When we taste Guji coffees, we look for that taste that we describe as almost scallion-like when fresh, which ripens into that unparalleled florality on arrival. This year, we’re even more excited about Uraga due to a new sourcing partnership with an old friend: Dagne Chomen of Welichu Wachu. Years ago, Dagne ran QC for the Oromia Cooperative Union. We connected way back then and spent a ton of time selecting coffee together. Cupping with Dagne continues to be a euphoric experience. He loves not only cupping, but understands the likes and dislikes of the people he is cupping with. He has a knack for knowing exactly what we are looking for. Like many other critical supply chain partners we met through Oromia Union, Dagne moved on, worked for private exporters for a few years, then more recently opened his central washing station Welichu Wachu collecting coffee from all over Uraga’s vast forests.