Ethiopia Guji Dimtu Natural

The Cup: Dried citrus and kahlua flavors with good acidity and mild sweetness. Happ’s notes: ripe plum, lemongrass, strawberry taffy

Region: Guji Grade 1 - Dimtu

Guji is a beautifully forested area in southern Ethiopia. Before the early 2000's, this region was considered part of Sidama, but has since become its own region. The people of Guji grow coffee gardens at very high altitudes in the rich red soil of the highlands, setting this coffee's profile apart from neighboring regions. These smallholders deliver their coffee to washing stations to be sorted and processed together, developing flavors of fruits, deep chocolate, and light florals.

Washing Station: Dimtu 

This coffee comes to the Dimtu Washing Station from a collection of around 500 smallholder farmers around the town of Dimtu. Cherries are handpicked once they are fully matured, fully ripe, and processed fresh. Only middle-to-end crop is used. When processing, rising and floating is used to sort out any bed cherries before being laid out to dry. Cherries are dried in shade and frequently sorted for defects throughout the 18 day drying time. Once the moisture reaches 11.2%, the dry cherry is rest for 4 weeks before hulling. Enset, banana trees, bolokea, orange, and indigenous trees are also commonly grown throughout the region.

Country: Ethiopia Grade 1 - Dimtu

Among coffee-producing countries, Ethiopia holds near-legendary status not only because it’s the “birthplace” of Arabica coffee, but also because it is simply unlike every other place in the coffee world. Unlike the vast majority of coffee-growing countries, the plant was not introduced as a cash crop through colonization. Instead, growing, processing, and drinking coffee is part of the everyday way of life, and has been for centuries since the trees were discovered growing wild in forests and eventually cultivated for household use and commercial sale.The majority of Ethiopia’s farmers are smallholders and sustenance farmers, with less than 1 hectare of land apiece. In many cases, it is almost more accurate to describe these farms as “coffee gardens” as the trees do sometimes grow in more of a garden or forest environment than what we imagine fields of farmland to look like. There are some large privately owned estates, as well as co-operative societies comprising a mix of small and more mid-size farms, but the average producer here grows relatively very little for commercial sale.

Process: Natural Grade 1 - Dimtu

Natural coffees are typically delivered the day they are harvested, and are first sorted for ripeness and quality before being rinsed clean of dirt. Then they are spread on raised drying beds or tables, where they will be rotated constantly throughout the course of drying. Drying can take an average of 8–25 days, depending on the weather.

Variety: Heirloom Ethiopian Varieties Grade 1 - Dimtu

Although this offering is not traceable to a single variety, it is comprised of native heirloom varieties cultivated in Ethiopia.