Ethiopia West Arsi G3 Natural - Refisa Werka

Grape hard candy, pineapple, key lime

TOP LOT

Bag Weight	60 KG BAG
Harvest Season	2024/25
Status	Spot
Lot Number	P613238-2

Carteret, NJ: 100 Bag(s)

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About This Coffee

This Grade 3, natural-processed lot comes from producers growing heirloom varieties near Werka town, Refisa kebele, in the Nensebo district of West Arsi. Merdiya washing station is operated by Testi Specialty Coffee and serves some 750 smallholder farmers. 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. Careful attention to detail distinguishes this lot -- hand-picked cherries are sorted for ripeness and then floated to remove low-density seeds, before being placed on raised beds with good airflow for several weeks of drying.

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 favorablity, allowing them to offered at an approachable price point.

Country of Origin	Ethiopia
Region	Refisa, Nensebo, West Arsi
Producer Type	Washing Station
Farm Name	Various smallholders
Wet Mill	Merdiya
Processing	Natural/Dry Processed
Processing Description	Sun-dried on raised beds
Growing Altitude	1950m - 2100m

Harvest Season	2024/25
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.