ETHIOPIA - Yabitu Koba (Wet)

Passanger (Lancaster, PA)

Ethiopia - Yabite Koba 285g

Watermelon, caramel, and an orchid-like florality on the nose introduce a deeply sweet, stunningly complex cup with prominent flavors of cherry, vanilla, more melon, and bergamot.

Region: Uraga, Guji
Producer: Hana Asrat washing station
Altitude: 2160-2310masl
Variety: Ethiopian Landrace
Process: Wet

Guji coffees have the potential to express some of the most complex and interesting cup profiles we have ever experienced. This latest stunning offering from the Hana Asrat washing station in Uraga is a beautiful representation of this storied terroir and a fitting example of the impressive standards of quality and consistency that Feku Jebril and the team at Yabitu Koba have achieved in recent years.

Ethiopia is an incredibly diverse coffee producing country. For the past five harvest seasons, our green buying team has focused the bulk of its energies on coffees produced by coops in the southwestern region of this beautiful, landlocked East African country. But while our Foundational Agaro partnership has rightly commanded a significant amount of our attention during recent trips, it is southern Ethiopia that is home to arguably the most prized coffees produced in the birthplace of Arabica coffee. Within the South, the coffees of Yirgacheffe are beloved for their silky, nuanced, jasmine-like cup qualities, while the coffees of Guji - exhibiting a staggering array of floral, tropical, and citrusy flavors - are internationally renowned for their complexity and sweetness.

This particular lot comes from the Hana Asrat washing station, in the Yabitu Koba Village of southwest Uraga, in southern Ethiopia’s Guji Zone. Over the past few years, Hana Asrat has become a famous name in Guji coffee, earning well-deserved renown as the source of some of the most sought-after coffees in the entire country. Part of the beauty of these coffees is likely due to the fact that they are produced by relatively young trees at staggeringly high elevations. Equally if not more important is the consistent focus and attention to detail that Feku Jebril, a life-long coffee trader, brings to his management of the washing station.

Each morning during the harvest season roughly 720 smallholder farmers selectively pick and then deliver ripe coffee cherry to the washing station. The coffee is floated to remove defects and then pulped in the afternoon and early evening. After pulping, the coffee is fermented for 24-48 hours, washed, and then soaked for an additional four hours before being dried on raised beds for 8 to 14 days.

Guji coffees have the potential to express some of the most complex and interesting cup profiles we have ever experienced. This lot, which has some slight fruit character imparted by fermentation (though in a perfectly clean way), is even more complex than your average washed coffee from Guji. As soon as our green buying team tasted this coffee we knew that it had to be featured on our Reserve Lot menu.