Ethiopia (Guji) - Wete Ambela Grade 3 Natural

Tasting notes

Coffee with a very low caffeine content, creamy, to be drunk in quantity, at any time of the day, hot or cold, with all temperatures in between. Milk chocolate while grinding. The nose already dominates the milk chocolate during the grinding. In the mouth then anise, medlar, nutmeg and a hint of cognac. But not all together: they return one at a time, individual and distinguishable, like in a carousel, as the sips follow one another and the temperature gradually lowers, until closing on notes of cognac.

The Farmers

Inner Ethiopia, southwestern highland region. The coffee cradle of all quality coffees.

Click, Yirgacheffe and Sidamo are the three cult areas for those who love Ethiopian coffee. Here, in Click, we are between 1900 and 2300 meters above sea level, hence the very low caffeine content. We are where the coffee, the species Coffea Arabica, was born among the best plantations of coffea arabica in the world, among various, powerful, and very ancient cultivars, many still to be identified, to the point that the term of Heirloom Ethiopian Varieties, as if to say a mix of cultivars of the purest Ethiopian agricultural heritage and tradition.

The processing

Ambela is the village where the cooperative Wete Ambela processes its precious arabicas Natural Grade 3 (the best quality of Natural), to which belong, as is the rule in Ethiopia, thousands of farmers, who own an average of half a hectare of plantation each.

The freshly picked and selected coffee cherries are quickly immersed in tubs full of water to eliminate those that remain afloat (rotten), and then immediately spread out in the sun on suspended nets, the so-called African bed. The coffee bean therefore remains in contact with its pulp throughout the drying phase, which can last from 10 days to 3 weeks, and steals some of that sugary charge that the pulp, albeit lean, carries with it.

The roasting

Hell of a coffee. The grains are not the biggest, and at first glance, raw, you would say Well, I've seen better ones. Then you start to deal with it, to toast a little to take the measurements, and you discover that you are dealing with one of the most dense you've ever toasted: a small bean of these weighs as much as two large ones of most arabica. Imagine toasting such a tenacious guy! Not enough: the variety of cultivars it is made of (this means Heirloom, unidentified cultivars, very ancient, and varied, as they grow spontaneously in those parts) means that you find yourself roasting a coffee that is anything but homogeneous: very small but high-density beans are accompanied by huge, but very light beans. If you want to set up an aggressive profile, you have to give it your all to bring it to a roasting level that is still very clear, in any case, and avoiding the risk of boil it taking it too lightly, still toasty level rather clear, but sufficient to give complete expression to a literally spectacular taste-olfactory spectrum .