Ethiopia Sidamo G3 Natural - Bensa Bombe

Blueberry, dried passion fruit, chocolate chips, cinnamon
TOP LOT
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Bag Weight 60 KG BAG
Harvest Season 2023/24
Status ETA Dec 2024
Lot Number P612603-3
  • 320 Bag(s)
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About This Coffee

This is a Grade 3, natural-process coffee from Sidamo, specifically the Shentawane village near the town of Daye. At Bombe station, hand-picked harvests from about 600 smallholder farmers are sorted by flotation to remove imperfect cherries, then laid on raised African drying beds, where they are turned 5 to 6 times daily until reach an average moisture content of 11-12%. 

Unlike other countries, in Ethiopia coffees are graded solely based on cup quality and number of defects, not size. Due to the peculiarities of this grading system, many G3 Naturals are quite sweet and cup very nicely, allowing them to be offered at an approachable price point.

Country of Origin Ethiopia
Region Shentawane, Bombe, Sidamo
Producer Type Washing Station
Farm Name Various smallholders
Wet Mill Bombe Station
Processing Natural/Dry Processed
Processing Description Dried on shaded raised beds
Growing Altitude 1950m - 2150m
Harvest Season 2023/24
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 Shentawane, Bombe, Sidamo
  • Farm Name Various smallholders
  • Producer Type Washing Station
  • Wet Mill Bombe Station
  • Processing Natural/Dry Processed
  • Processing Description Dried on shaded raised beds
  • Bag Type Grain Pro / Ecotact
  • Plant Species Arabica
  • Variety Ethiopia Heirloom
  • Min Growing Altitude 1950m
  • Max Growing Altitude 2150m
  • On Sale No
  • Top Lot Yes
  • Status Afloat
  • Coffee Grade ETH CA NAT SID G3
  • CTRM Contract Number P612603-3
  • Country of Origin Ethiopia
  • Warehouse The Annex CA