Description
The Guji Zone
The city of Hambella is located at 2 320 meters above sea level, a particularly high location, and until a few years ago it was too cold for coffee cultivation. New plantations produce young, healthy, and slow-growing trees that yield excellent quality coffee. Spreading over areas between 3 and 15 hectares, they are much larger than the average of plantations in Ethiopia. Having more ground allows farmers to have more negotiation leverage and greater ease in finding financing aimed at training and investment for continuous improvement of the quality of their crops.
The Goro Station
Goro is one of the seven washing stations of the coffee exporter Buno General Trading and is managed by Abiyot. To obtain the highest quality specialties possible, he selects the producers who supply the best lots favoring large plantations (between 8 and 15 hectares), this is because it is easier to improve the harvest method and the quality of the coffee in these plantations. In addition, this policy, in the medium-long term, allows you to create micro-lots for each individual plantation, further increasing the traceability and storytelling of the coffee.
This washing station only processes coffees with a natural process and Abiyot experiments with different drying methods to obtain the best result for each lot.
The Process
Thanks to the cool climate conditions, the cherries present a slow maturation which allows for the complete development of sugars in the fruit. When ripe, the cherries are harvested by hand with the selective picking method and taken to the washing station where they are washed and selected with the floating technique. They are then laid out on raised beds where they dry slowly for up to 40 days. Even for drying, the times are too long compared to the Ethiopian standard, due to the cooler climatic conditions at this altitude more days of drying are needed. The process is constantly monitored and particular attention is paid to protecting the grains with the help of sheets during the hours of greatest sun exposure. At these altitudes, the sun is particularly intense and could damage the fruits. The careful selection of the crop and the careful monitoring of the drying process guarantee an excellent cup result which translates into very high scores during the cupping evaluations.
