Location: Aricha, Gedeo Zone, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Regional State, Ethiopia
Altitude: 1,900 - 2,100 m
Varietal: Indigenous Cultivars
Process: Natural
Drying: Sun Dried
Cupping Notes: Tangerine, Berries, Bright
This coffee is sourced from 650 family-owned farms organized around the Aricha coffee mill located in the Yirgacheffe district of the Gedeo Zone within the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Regional State, Ethiopia. The Gedeo region is named after the Gedeo people who are indigenous to this area. The Aricha mill is owned and operated by Cherab na Betesebu and his family. The Aricha mill receives ripe cherries from 650 small coffee farmers. Coffee producers deliver their ripe cherries to the Aricha coffee mill station where the cherries are sorted and then pulped. After pulping, the beans are fermented for 36 to 48 hours and then washed. The wet beans in parchment are placed on raised drying beds in thin layers and turned every 2 to 3 hours during the first few days of the drying process. Depending on weather, the beans are dried for 10 to 12 days until the moisture in the coffee beans is reduced to 11.5 percent. Then the beans are transported to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, to be milled and bagged prior to export.
