Ethiopia Sidamo FTO G2 Washed - Gidbonashayicha

Red plum, pomegranate, dates, lime, caramel

TOP LOT

Bag Weight	60 KG BAG
Harvest Season	2024/25
Status	Spot
Lot Number	P613484-1

Carteret, NJ: 37 Bag(s)

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About This Coffee

The Gidbonashayicha Cooperative is part of the larger Sidamo Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, a group representing over 80,000 farmers in the Sdiamo region.

This is a Grade 2 washed coffee from the Yirgacheffe region of Ethiopia. Unlike other countries, in Ethiopia coffees are graded solely based on cup quality and number of defects, not size. Grade 1 and Grade 2 are considered "Specialty" at origin. Grade 2 washed coffees usually offer similar flavor characteristics to their G1 counterparts at a slightly more approachable price.

Country of Origin	Ethiopia
Producer Type	Washing Station
Farm Name	Various producers
Processing	Washed
Processing Description	Sun-dried on raised beds
Growing Altitude	1850m - 2000m

Harvest Season	2024/25
Bag Weight	60 KG BAG
Bag Type	Grain Pro / Ecotact
Plant Species	Arabica
Variety	Ethiopia Heirloom
Certifications	Organic Certified NOP, FLO Fairtrade Certified

History of Coffee in Ethiopia

Coffee is ancient in Ethiopia, but coffee farming is not. By the end of the 9th Century coffee was actively being cultivated in Ethiopia as food, but probably not as a beverage. It was the Arab world that developed brewing. Even as coffee became an export for Ethiopia in the late 1800’s, Ethiopian coffee was the result of gathering rather than agricultural practices. A hundred years ago, plantations, mostly in Harar, were still the exception, while “Kaffa” coffee from the southwest was still harvested wild. In 1935, William Ukers wrote: “Wild coffee is also known as Kaffa coffee, from one of the districts where it grows most abundantly in a state of nature. The trees grow in such profusion that the possible supply, at a minimum of labor in gathering, is practically unlimited. It is said that in south-western Abyssinia there are immense forests of it that have never been encroached upon except at the outskirts.”

Growing Coffee in Ethiopia

As the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia is home to more species of coffee plants than any place on earth, much of it still growing wild, and much of it still undiscovered. All Ethiopian coffee is Arabica and at least 150 varieties are commercially cultivated. Traditionally, these have simply been labelled as “heirloom varietals”; however, this is changing as the Jimma Agricultural Research Center works to identify species. Although there are a few estates in Ethiopia, 95% of coffee is grown by small land holders in a wide variety of environments, including “coffee forests” where coffee grows wild and is harvested by the local people. All specialty grade Ethiopian Coffee is grown above 4,000 feet and most above 6,000. In the highlands of Sidamo and Yirgacheffe, coffee can grow above 7,000 feet.