Roricho
This washed lot was processed at SNAP Coffee’s washing station in the town of Refisa, located in the Nansebo area, close to Sidamo. During our trip to Ethiopia in February, we cupped several tables of excellent coffees from this year’s harvest at SNAP’s headquarters in Addis Ababa. Coffee for this lot was delivered by 742 smallholders in the town of Roricho.
The processing for this lot is typically Ethiopian, with a long and controlled fermentation after de-pulping. Parchment coffee is fermented under water, slowing the temperature rise associated with fermentation, and allowing a long, slow fermentation of up to 60 hours, creating a soft and complex expression in the cup. In the case of Roricho, this creates a delicate sweetness, reminiscent of peach, underpinning the aromatic top notes of jasmine and citrus.
Ethiopia
In Ethiopia, coffee still grows semi-wild, and in some cases completely wild. Apart from some regions of neighbouring South Sudan, Ethiopia is the only country in which coffee is found growing in this way, due to its status as the genetic birthplace of arabica coffee. This means in many regions, small producers still harvest cherries from wild coffee trees growing in high altitude humid forests, especially around Ethiopia’s famous Great Rift Valley.
There are thousands of so far uncategorised ‘heirloom’ varieties growing in Ethiopia; all descended from wild cross pollination between species derived from the original Arabica trees. This biodiversity leads to hardier coffee plants, which don’t need to be artificially fertilised. This means that 95% of coffee production in Ethiopia is organic, although most small farmers and mills can’t afford to pay for certification, so can’t label their coffee as such. The absence of monoculture in the Ethiopian coffee lands also means plants are much less susceptible to the decimating effects of diseases such as leaf rust that have ripped through other producing countries.
