Ethiopia | Hadeso Washed

Regular price $29.00
Unit price
per 

Region: Shakisso, Guji
Altitude: 1,950 metres above sea level
Varietal: Kurume & Wolisho
Process: Washed
Producer: Faysel Yonis
Sourcing Partner: Melbourne Coffee Merchants

Honey-sweetness and clean fruit tones of raspberry and apricot finishing with vibrant hints of citrus. Exceptional clarity and structure in the cup.  

Recommended for all pour-over brew methods.

Origin Story
Hadeso is a privately-owned washing station that is located in the Shakisso woreda (administrative district) in Ethiopia’s Guji zone. The washing station is named after the nearby kebele (local village) of Hadeso, and is one of twenty owned and managed by Testi Coffee, a family-owned company founded by Mr Faysel A. Yonis.

Sitting at 1,950m above sea level, Hadeso produces exceptional washed and natural processed lots. The washing station was established in 2017, and currently employs eight permanent staff and 250 seasonal workers. During harvest, freshly picked coffee cherry is delivered daily by some 500 independent outgrowers from the nearby kebele of Dambi Uddo and a collection point in Addis.

This coffee lot was produced as part of Testi’s quality improvement initiative, Premium Cherry Selection (PCS). Launched in 2018, the Premium Cherry Selection program ensures that best practices are used for growing, harvesting and processing the coffee cherry. Through the program, Testi pay a premium to farmers who pick and deliver only the ripest cherries from their farms. Coffees produced as part of the program represent the highest quality and cleanest cup profile available from the washing station and wider region.

About the varietal
This coffee is mostly made up of local landrace varieties Kurume and Wolisho. Sidama is home to many landrace varieties that were originally selected from the forest and have been propagated successfully for decades. There are five popular varieties that are named after indigenous trees in the area— Bedessa, Kurume, Mique, Sawe and Wolisho.

There is little documentation on the history of these varieties, and it is hard to know if they represent a single plant or a wider group of varieties; however, it is widely accepted that they play a major role in the quality and floral flavour profile of the coffee from this region.

Processing
This coffee has been processed following the washed method, using fresh, clean water. It is classified as Grade 1, the highest quality classification for Ethiopian coffees, indicating a great deal of effort has been put into the selecting and grading during processing.

Each day, carefully hand-picked coffee cherries are delivered to the Hadeso washing station and are meticulously sorted by hand and in a floatation tank prior to processing to remove unripe, overripe, or damaged fruit, in order to enhance the quality and sweetness of the cup.

After sorting, the coffee cherries are then pulped to remove the fruit and skin and graded by weight; heavier beans are of superior quality and deliver a sweeter cup. After grading, the parchment-covered coffee is soaked in tanks of clean water for 36–48 hours to remove the mucilage (sticky fruit pulp) by allowing it to ferment and detach from the coffee.

The coffee is then re-washed and graded again by density in washing channels and soaked in clean water for 12 hours. While doing this, mill workers keep a close eye on the clarity of the water being used (and replace it with fresh water as necessary), and check the parchment manually to feel how much mucilage is left on the seeds. As the texture of the washed seeds changes, and millworkers notice slightly more traction, parchment is just about ready to be dried.