ETHIOPIA peach ∙ clementine ∙ black tea
Warque is a fully washed coffee processed at Israel Degfa’s station called Bulega. Two varieties bred from local coffees, Certo and Wolisho give the coffee its unique flavour.
E
thiopia has always been the country of extraordinary coffees. Ethiopian coffees can be instantly recognized on blind cuppings because of their distinctive flavour made up of the several hundreds of indigenous arabica coffees grown wild in various micro-climates. 95% of Ethiopia’s 300000 tonnes of coffee export is supplied by more than a million small farmers. The rest is grown by an increasing number of private and state-owned farms. This coffee comes from Sidama, from the county of Nensebo in the west-Arsi region. This area is often referred to as Guji, and it was named after a local tribe, Oromo. The privately owned Bulega washing station collects the daily harvest of 700-800 small farms. The owner of the washing station, Israel Degfa, has just turned 30, but he has already acquired 13 washing stations and and has an own farm. He places a huge emphasis on perfecting his processing techniques. In order to understand the demands of the market better, he regularly participates in cuppings and consults roasteries. As he produces excep-
tional coffees that can be sold for higher prices, Israel can afford to provide outstanding working conditions for his workers. He also active in building the community by developing the local infrastructure and supporting schools and orphanages in the area. Upon arrival to the washing station, the cherries are sorted by hand and only the ripe ones are processed. Before pulping they are first dried for a few hours in shade. The cherries are then pulped and, depending on the weather, they are wet-fermented for 24-48 hours. Later the beans are washed and soaked in cold water for 12-24 hours. Then they are spread on shaded African drying beds for the period of 10-12 days protected by the direct sunlight.
Our coffees taste the best when extracted with water of the proper hardness* range. In order to highlight the best flavour of our roasts we recommend having 5 to 10 days of resting period after roasting, but consume within two weeks of opening. Enjoy!
Warqee represents a micro-region, rather than a single farm. This can have the benefit of giving a more balanced insight into the flavour of coffees grown in a particular micro-region, as the individual lots all have slightly different flavoured coffees. * Total hardness: 50 –175 ppm CaCO3 (2.9–9.8 °d), ppm CaCO3 (2.2–4.2 °d), pH: 6.5-8.0.
alkalinity/buffer: 40 –75 (The SCAE Water Chart)
photo by The the Nordic Collaborative Approach Coffee Source
WARQEE