Shakiso

Once cherries are picked, they are sorted and placed directly on raised beds. The dry and hot conditions during harvest allow for careful and consistent control of natural drying, covering the drying beds with tarps during the most intense hours of sun to protect from damage and slow the drying. Coffee is turned often, and hand sorted at several stages during processing to ensure cleanliness. This creates a very clean and rich expression in the cup, with a great deal of clarity, especially in the aromatics. 

In the case of Shakiso, we find soft stone fruit and red berry character underpinning the aromatic top notes of bergamot and orange blossom.

Throughout these endemic systems, a much higher level of biodiversity is maintained than in modern coffee production in much of the rest of the world. This is partly due to the forest system, and partly down to the genetic diversity of the coffee plants themselves. There are thousands of ‘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. Maintaining these systems is important, both within the context of the coffee industry, and for wider biodiversity and sustainability.