Ethiopia Yirgacheffe G1 Natural - Aricha

Blackberry, red fruits, chocolate nibs, good body
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Bag Weight 60 KG BAG
Harvest Season 2022/23
Status Spot
Lot Number P610930-2
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About This Coffee

This coffee comes from the Aricha station, formerly known as the highly coveted Misty Valley station and sometimes called Idido. This station is located at around 1,925 masl in the Yirgacheffe highlands of southern Ethiopia. Approximately 700 small holder farmers contribute their coffee to this station. Aricha is about 8 kilometers from the center of Yirgacheffe Town. The coffee is picked ripe between November and January, depulped within 12 hours, and washed clean with spring water. The soils in this region are red-brown clay soil, about 1.5 meters deep.

Country of Origin Ethiopia
Region Yirgacheffe
Producer Type Washing Station
Farm Name Various smallholders
Processing Natural/Dry Processed
Processing Description Sun-dried on raised beds
Growing Altitude 1900m - 2100m
Harvest Season 2022/23
Bag Weight 60 KG BAG
Bag Type Grain Pro / Ecotact
Plant Species Arabica
Variety Ethiopia Heirloom

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.

  • Region Yirgacheffe
  • Farm Name Various smallholders
  • Producer Type Washing Station
  • Processing Natural/Dry Processed
  • Processing Description Sun-dried on raised beds
  • Bag Type Grain Pro / Ecotact
  • Plant Species Arabica
  • Variety Ethiopia Heirloom
  • Min Growing Altitude 1900m
  • Max Growing Altitude 2100m
  • On Sale Yes
  • On Sale Text pallet discount
  • Top Lot No
  • Status Spot
  • Coffee Grade ETH CA NAT YIRG G1
  • CTRM Contract Number P610930-2
  • Ctrm Region Yirgacheffe
  • Country of Origin Ethiopia