Unroasted Arabica Green Coffee Beans - African Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Varietal

Ethiopia is undoubtedly the most famous and compelling among the coffee-producing countries. The fascination with Ethiopian coffee stems not only from the unique and astonishing coffee it produces but also from the mystery that shrouds much of it. The explosively floral and fruity coffees from Ethiopia have opened the eyes of many coffee enthusiasts to the remarkable diversity of flavors that coffee can possess. Many consider Ethiopia to be the birthplace of coffee, with the harvesting of coffee cherries from the wild Arabica Ethiopian heirloom coffee plants for export first beginning around the 16th century. Today, variations of these plants are grown in numerous countries around the world, yet it remains extremely challenging to find better-tasting coffees than the Ethiopian heirloom varieties.

These Ethiopian coffees are hand-picked and then milled and processed in two distinctively different ways. The original centuries-old practice is Natural Processing, which involves picking the ripe coffee cherries and letting them dry naturally in the sunshine on raised beds with the coffee seeds (beans) still inside the cherry. Once the cherries have dried, they are run through the mill, which separates the coffee seeds from the parchment. This method creates a very fruity and floral cup with usually a much softer, milder acidity.

The newer Washed Processing, on the other hand, consists of picking ripe cherries and then running them through the mill and pulping the coffee seeds out of the coffee cherries. The seeds are then placed in wash tanks, where the remaining cherry mucilage is washed off. Afterward, the seeds are placed on drying beds and sun-dried to about 11% moisture. This washed method results in a cup that is much brighter and cleaner-tasting than a naturally processed coffee, due to the higher acidity in the beans.

In summary, the natural process produces more berry and fruity notes, while the washed process yields a brighter, cleaner cup. An excellent example of a conventional Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Heirloom Coffee would be a Premium Green Coffee Bean with taste notes of juiciness, floral and fruity (blueberry, lemon) flavors, and a clean/bright profile. These African, Ethiopian coffees are grown by farmers in the Ethiopian Highlands, producing some of the world's finest and most distinctive Arabica coffees, with the coffee being hand-picked, washed, sun-dried, and cultivated in rich, fertile red/brown soil.

product information: