Coffee from the Worka Chelbesa washing stations in Gedeb, Ethiopia has quickly become some of our most anticipated lots each year. In fact, we buy more coffee from this washing station than any other. We are such big fans of these coffees for many reasons including the undeniable quality. Additionally, the team at Atlantic Specialty Coffee works closely with Neguesse Debela (the owner of the washing station) to push the envelope on new and innovative processing methods. Our Worka Chelbesa CM Washed is the first of three commissioned experimental processing lots we will offer this year. CM stands for Carbonic Macerated; it is very new and unique in the world of coffee processing. Ripe coffee cherries are loaded into large containers where oxygen is flushed out of the system using compressed CO2. This lowers the overall temperature of the chamber and allows a particular bacteria strain, lactobacillus, to thrive. Sugars in the coffee cherry are consumed by lactobacillus and the result is more CO2 and lactic acid. When CM coffees are washed before drying, some of the brightness and fruit characteristic can be lost. So this year, the fermentation impact is even higher, owing to a longer in-chamber fermentation time. Washed coffee from Worka Chelbesa is enjoyed for its big florality and tea-like body with a dark honey sweetness. Our CM Washed lot for 2021 maintains that lovely floral quality and has much more stone fruit flavor with sweet peaches and nectarine being quite pronounced. There is more body and texture in this coffee and the acidity is nicely rounded by the fruitiness. This coffee marries the flavor profiles of washed coffee from the Yirgacheffe and Guji regions. We've been looking forward to it all year! You're going to love this coffee and we hope you'll keep an eye out for the other experimental lots, in addition to the traditional washed lot from Worka Chelbesa.