Idido Misty Valley

Ethiopia, Yirga Cheffe region (Idido) and an Indigenous/Heirloom bean. It’s harvested from October – March and has the most incredible pineapple and strawberry notes.It has a juicy, delicate acidity and a velvety sweet finish.

Process:

This is a naturally processed coffee, which means the coffee is dried with the fruit of the coffee cherry still on the bean. It’s picked, then sorted before the beans are raked out on a concrete patio and left to dry under the hot Ethiopian sun

Tasting Notes:

The Misty Valley is extraordinary. Expect incredible fruit sweetness, pineapple and strawberry notes, balanced out with a delicate acidity, a delicate chocolate finish and a velvety body. This coffee is very pleasant brewed with a paper filter, but it really shines in a French press or vacuum pot.

About the Farm:

To Abdulla Bagersh, coffee isn’t just business, it’s a calling. Mr Bagersh owns the farm that produces the Misty Valley coffee. Once upon a time, all of Ethiopia’s coffees were processed naturally. Then political turmoil, drought and famine destabilized Ethiopia. This, coupled with new coffee processing techniques, combined to very nearly destroy a way of life.

Lucky for us, Mr Bagersh has devoted his life to relearning the traditional coffee processing methods that were very nearly lost. Today, his farm produces one of the world’s finest coffees using one of the world’s oldest techniques, and the original varietal of coffee plant.

Sidamo Natural

Some of you guys will have all ready had a cup of the new, delicious Sidamo Natural. Some of you will have had a few. But in the interests of full disclosure, and because it’s nice to share information, here are Tam’s cupping notes for the new roast of the Sidamo Natural:

Sidamo Natural (Special Select) comes to us from Ethiopia. It’s an Indigenous/Heirloom varietal bean, harvested between October – March.

About this bean:

Ethiopia is enjoying a resurgence of traditional coffee processing techniques and the Sidamo, which is sun-dried with the tangy pulp of the coffee cherry still on the bean, is one of the fruits of that labour.

Tasting Notes:

Not for the faint of heart, this coffee owes its powerful fermented fruit flavours to the process it’s undergone. Expect to taste flavours more commonly associated with berry wine than coffee. Those flavours are tempered a sweet and herby sarsaparilla note, which balances the cup out. Crisp acidity leaves a nice, long finish that sweetens until it’s gone.

About the Farm:

This coffee is the end result of the labour of several small farms. We often say in coffee that each bean passes through fifty pairs of hands, from farming to processing, to exporting, to importing, to roasting, and finally to you. Fifty pairs of hands is a lot, but it’s safe to say that this Sidamo has passed through many more.

Ethiopia Limu

Tasting a new coffee:

Ethiopia Limu

This coffee is a dry processed coffee that comes from the southwest of Ethiopia, in the Jimu region. This is probably one of the freshest coffees we’ve ever stocked, truly a coffee that’s in season. The beans we have would have been harvested in December, dried on patios in the January sun and then, in February, shipped to us for sale in March.

Because this coffee is so fresh, there are lots of lovely delicate flavours still present in this coffee. When the water first hits it, a very potent lime note comes up, but hiding just behind that is a more subtle note of fresh mint leaves (and I’m not just saying this because I like the occasional mint julep). Milk chocolate is the next flavour that appears, but rather than overpowering the cup, it comes hand in hand with a delicate cedar note that goes well with the lime and hint o’ mint. All this mellows together to form a very well balanced cup where the acidity, body and flavours combine to make a very pleasant and surprising coffee.

As the beans age, more of the starches may be converted into sugars, and the end product might be a slightly sweeter cup, but fewer of those delicate, unusual notes.

It brews up best in a paper filter. A french press or plunger pot hides some of those delicate fruity notes that I’m so in love with. I haven’t tried it in an espresso machine because I think the flavours would end up badly jumbled. With this one, I say stick with a brewer, manual or automatic, and savour the delicate notes.