Ethiopia West Arsi Organic G3 Natural Uchuro

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Bag Weight 60 KG BAG
Harvest Season 2023/24
Status ETA Sep 2024
Lot Number P611513-2
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About This Coffee

This natural-processed, Grade 3 lot was grown in the hills around Uchuro village by smallholder farmers, who deliver ripe hand-picked cherries to Merdiya Washing Station. After careful floatation sorting at the station to remove less dense cherries, the selected cherries are placed to dry on raised beds at a depth of less than 5cm, to encourage airflow, for 21 days. 

Merdiya washing station is operated by Testi Specialty Coffee and serves some 750 smallholder farmers located in Refisa, Nensebo district. This lot is a landrace Typica variety grown above 2000 masl. Testi is deeply involved in the communities surrounding their network of washing stations, with a particular focus on providing access to education for farmer's children.

Country of Origin Ethiopia
Region Uchuro, Nensebo, West Arsi
Producer Type Washing Station
Farm Name Various smallholders
Wet Mill Merdiya Station
Processing Natural/Dry Processed
Processing Description Sun-dried on raised beds
Growing Altitude 1950m - 2100m
Harvest Season 2023/24
Bag Weight 60 KG BAG
Bag Type Grain Pro / Ecotact
Plant Species Arabica
Variety Ethiopia Heirloom
Certifications Organic Certified NOP

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 Uchuro, Nensebo, West Arsi
  • Farm Name Various smallholders
  • Producer Type Washing Station
  • Wet Mill Merdiya 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 1950m
  • Max Growing Altitude 2100m
  • On Sale No
  • Top Lot No
  • Status Afloat
  • Certifications Organic Certified NOP
  • Coffee Grade ETH CA NAT ARSI G4
  • CTRM Contract Number P611513-2
  • Country of Origin Ethiopia
  • Warehouse The Annex CA