Ethiopia Yirgacheffe G2 Washed Ajere | Covoya Coffee Covoya Coffee

Bag Weight	60 KG BAG
Harvest Season	2022/23
Status	Spot
Lot Number	P610930-4

About This Coffee

This is a grade 2, fully washed lot from the Ajere washing station in Yirgacheffe disctrict, Gedeo zone. The mill, managed by Abdulmejid Jibril, processes cherries from around 650 local smallholder farmers. Farmers typically cultivate less than 2 hectares of land and farms range between 1,900 and 2,100masl, representing some of the highest altitude coffee terroir in the world. Ripe cherries are delivered to the wetmill for careful sorting and pulping before fermentation for 36-48 hours. The coffee is washed and sorted density before being dried in the sun on raised African beds The coffee is also covered between 12pm and 3pm to protect it from the hot sun, and at night time to protect it from rainall and moisture.

The village of Ajere is in the Aricha sub-region of Yirgacheffe District. Over a number of years the region has developed a distinguised reputation for fine coffees, producing some of the most sought-after microlots in world. The combination of high altitude (up to 2,200m in some areas), fertile soil, consistent and plentiful rains, and an abundance of local knowledge are all contributing factors to the high status of Yirgacheffe coffees.

Country of Origin	Ethiopia
Region	Yirgacheffe
Producer Type	Washing Station
Farm Name	Various producers
Processing	Washed
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.