Always an exciting and delicious time when we start to have multiple fresh Ethiopians on our shelves. This week we see the addition of a naturally processed lot, and look forward to a third more experimental lot in the coming weeks! We return for the third year to Haru from Yirgacheffe. The last two years we have worked with washed lots, and this year we also have another washed lot in the pipeline. The consistency and high quality over the last two years got us thinking about the other lots the top quality washing station does, and this lot is where the thoughts led to! The cup profile is complex and juicy, filled with silky fruits and a floral sweetness. Tropical notes upfront, leaning into a mouthwatering mango delight, add a fresh berry acidity with ongoing strawberry undertones throughout the cup. Then theres this sweet caramel like florality, adding an ever so moreish high note, think vanilla.
HARU WASHING STATION
Haru is a washing station just outside the infamous Yirgacheffe, but with a distinct enough profile to demand its own recognition. First set up in 1979, the current owner, Komilachu, has taken on a piece of Ethiopian history, as this was one of the first washing stations to bring quality Ethiopian coffee to a worldwide audience.
With 320 raised beds across just over 4 hectares, Komilachu has been working with Tracon, who export this coffee for us, for over 10 years now. Relationships like this are important due the particular way that coffee buying works in Ethiopia. Controls have started to be relaxed so that these may now flourish and coffee can be sold ‘forward’, rather than bought as spot coffee through the ECX. A washing station is not allowed to also export their coffee, so has to work with an additional exporter.
Komilachu also owns a small farm next door to the washing station that also contributes to the lots. Like most of the area, coffee is shade grown under a mixture of endemic species, in line with its history.
Although coffee is from Ethiopia, over generations people have selected varietals that work best for them and their environment. This means that there is a varietal dominance in each landscape, often being described as heirloom for ease. 74112 which dominates here is a Kurume ‘type’ coffee, with similar morphological characteristics to a good yielding indigenous fruit tree. It is common to name coffee selections after local characteristics and this was the case where the coffee tree resembled the ‘Kurume’ fruit tree.
PROCESSING
Coffee is brought to the washing station by the many smallholders that live locally.
The cherry is handpicked to remove any noticeable defects before being taken to the raised drying beds and dried for around 21 days.
Once dried, it is hulled to remove the husk, then stored before being taken to Addis Ababa for sorting, grading and export.
