Adola, Natural, Ethiopia 2018-2019
About the Coffee
Flavour profile: A very sweet juicy cup and a little bit funky with notes of blueberries and a hint of dried raspberries, and passionfruit. With a silky mouthfeel, and a lingering aftertaste.
Colour: Dark blue
Category: Adventurous
Producer: Israel Degfa, of the company Kerchanse
Washing Station: Adola. A privately owned, communal washing station.
Number of delivering farmers: about 2000 smallholding with an average of 1-2 hectares per farm.
Harvested: November 2018 - January 2019
Varietal: Indigenous wild varietals
Processing: Natural processed
Area: Guji Zone in the Oromia region
Altitude: 2100 masl
Roast style: Light to medium to enhance the light, juicy mouthfeel with heaps of fruity and floral notes.
Natural coffee from Ethiopia, funky and fruity! Letting the coffee dry in its cherry is the traditional way of processing coffee for personal consumption and for commodity coffee in Ethiopia. It is a sensitive process that can give the coffee a fermented taste profile, unless it is done carefully. At Adola, the grade one coffee cherries are carefully sorted and dry for over 25 days. The natural process suits the floral yet citric profile of Ethiopian coffee very well and keeps more vibrancy in the coffee that shines through the sweet flavour that the natural process adds to the cup.
This is the fourth year in a row that we are buying coffee from Israel Degfa, the only private producer we are working with in Ethiopia. Israel has become a good friend of ours and we want to support his work on sustainability.
Ethiopia is one of our favourite origins. Its’ taste profile and culture are both diverse and interesting. The Arabica coffee plant was first found growing wild in Ethiopia and Yemen, and then Ethiopia became the motherland of coffee. About 6,6 million bags are produced in the country every year, of which almost half is kept in the country for local consumption.
We hope you will enjoy this sweet adventurous coffee that is a little bit out of our safe zone! :)
About Israel Degfa
Israel is one of the warmest people we know and also very successful in the business. He was born near Sidamo, Yirgalem, and his parents were both in coffee in different ways. His mum sold coffee at the bus station and his dad was a farmer. This is where he found his love for coffee. He studied primary school in Yiralem and went to high school and college in Addis Abeba. In 2013 Israel founded the company by Kerchanshe trading company that is named after the nearest town, Kerchanste town (fondly referred to as Kercha). Today he has 26 washing stations and a few dry-mills; the guy is 32 years old and has only had the business for 6 years.
Israel visited us at Drop the first year we worked together, in 2015. From then we have been visiting each other every year. Obviously, Drop Coffee is a tiny buyer to all of Israels 26 washing stations, but coffee buying is about relationships, shared quality goals, and trust - and in that, we see eye to eye, and are important to each other. Israel is continuously improving his standards of coffee. This year the total percentage of production that was specialty coffee by Kerchance has almost doubled, this year the specialty coffee is close to 10% of all the coffee. Higher quality means more money for the farmers delivering to the washing stations.
At Adola, local farmers are delivering their freshly picked coffee cherries to the washing station, most of the farmers only have 1 to 2 hectares of land. The days they are not delivering coffee, many of them are working at the washing station. Most of the coffee being delivered to Adola is organically produced, but not everything.
Israel has been traveling to other coffee origins, such as Brazil, where he has been inspired in ways to improve the coffee processing. Isreal is always investing in better systems and putting better protocols in place at his washing stations.
Sustainability
We want to support Israel Degfa's work on sustainability with the farmers aiming to get them out of poverty through coffee and he is producing some really stunning coffees. Adola is one of four of his washing stations where the producers are being certified and given a second payment, based on the premiums.
As part of our transparency and the ongoing coffee price crisis, we want to share our FOB prices for the coffee we buy. This coffee has been paid 2.80 USD per pound. An entire 10% of Kershanse's profit goes into a non-profit sustainability company, that is investing in schools within the local communities among other things. At Adola Israel has built a school for the children living in the area. Drop Coffee has contributed by buying some furniture for the school.
