Ethiopia [Washed] – Yirgacheffe

Description

Our Konga coffee, from a microregion within the Gedeo Zone of Yirgacheffe, is named after the local tribe, Konga Sede. There are 5,000 farmers and 10 mills represented in this lot. One mill can produce an average of five containers of washed coffee, and four of natural-process coffee. The region’s average annual production is between 40 and 50 containers.

Other common local crops include bananas and corn. Coffee here is processed using wet fermentation for six hours, then a post-fermentation soak. There is a 24-hour pre-dry before the coffee is laid on raised beds to dry for 7–10 days.

Konga is about four kilometers south of the town of Yirgacheffe, and nearby both Harfusa and Biloya. We’ve always liked the Konga microregion of Yirgacheffee for both its strong citrus (mostly lemon this year) and supportive stone-fruit flavors of peach and apricot and when this is combined with processing as a natural, the result is dried cherry, cranberry, and lemonade-like acidity.

One of the great things about Ethiopian coffees is the complete mix of varieties. It is estimated that somewhere between six thousand and ten thousand varietals exist naturally in these highlands, the origin of coffee: The cross-pollination of genetics is totally amazing.