Night Swim Coffee
Charlotte, NC, USA
As our team was tasting lot after lot between July-late August, it's no surprise that fresh crop Ethiopian coffees were dazzling. Hence, two Ethiopians ended up on our initial coffee menu. Our friends at Red Fox Coffee Merchants provided this coffee for us and we’re very grateful they did. This coffee also comes from the Guji region, the same as Dur Feres, however this is from a community mill in the forests of Uraga. Its a blend of Kurume and Wolisco varitetals and is grown between 2000-2300 meters above sea level. Originally, the coffees grown and milled at Gogogu were transported over the border into Yirgacheffe and sold as Yirgacheffe coffees. Now, however, they are lauded as unique, delicious, and among the highest grown coffees in the world. In the southernmost forest of the Uraga region lies the Ugo Begne forest and Wate Gogogu community, where the Gogogu washing station produces a truly singular coffee. The wet mill is located on a plain surrounded by smallholder farms that supply cherry to the mill. Managed by lifelong coffee trader Kedir Jebril, Gogugu’s coffee goes through a meticulous process: he leaves freshly peeled seeds underwater for 60 hours compared to the average washing station’s 48. Coffees are then washed vigorously in elongated channels while also being selected for quality. The less dense Grade 2 quality beans are sifted off the top of the channel and taken to their own drying stations. The denser Grade 1 coffees eventually make it to a soaking tank where they’ll sit overnight removing any excess mucilage from the seed before they’re sent to the drying beds. Kedir keeps his parchment coffee covered in mesh for the first 5-6 days in order to avoid cracking and direct exposure to sunlight which can damage the integrity of the beans. After this first drying period the coffee is then opened to sunlight and left to dry for another 5-6 days before being conditioned in the storage warehouse for upwards of a month.
Chocolate
Agave
Tamarind
Anise
Type
Single Origin
Origin
Guji, Ethiopia
Roast
Light
Species
Arabica
Varieties
Wolisho, Kurume
Process
Washed
Altitude
2000-2300m
Producer
Kedir Jebril