Ethiopia is believed to be the birthplace of coffee and has many famous coffee-producing regions but none are quite as famous as Yirgacheffe. The region's coffees are celebrated for their delicate natures including floral aromatics and citric acidity. Long used to soften and balance blends, they are now avidly pursued by coffee lovers the world over as delicious single-origin brews.

This particular Yirgacheffe comes from the Halo Beriti washing station, which you can learn more about below. It's actually our first coffee from this washing station, despite dozens if not hundreds of Yirgacheffe offerings over the years! We're excited to try something new from one of the most famous coffee-growing regions in the world.

Phaedon's tasting notes

In many ways, this is a quintessential Yirgacheffe coffee. It's subtle; it's light-bodied; it's delicately sweet and floral. There's a hint of lemon/lime flavour on the finish and a bit of effervescence in terms of mouthfeel. It's a very enjoyable cup, particularly if you enjoy lighter-bodied coffees. I found that it was at its very best in a siphon brew.

Quaffee's notes

This coffee has sweet citric, berry and peach with a tea-like mouth feel.

• Taste Profile: A floral and sweet coffee with a fruity after-taste.
• Roast Used: Intense heat at the start of the roast. Followed by a decreasing ramp rate, with a kick ramp rate to finish the roast, dropping 45 seconds into first crack.
• Quaffee brews:
• Espresso: 1:2.54(287 sec)
• AeroPress: 17.5g:200g
• Plunger: 48g:800g
• Pour over/filter: 18g:300g

Coffee details from Quaffee

Halo Beriti coffee takes its name from the area where it grows. Gedeo farmers who live in this area have worked the land for generations. They grow food crops and coffee on the same fields. Abeyot Ageze is one of these farmers. Furthermore, he runs the Halo Beriti washing station with his partner Mebrahtu Aynalem. Mebrahtu has a background in marketing coffee. After meeting, they created the company Boledu Coffee, which owns and manages the washing station. Boledu Coffee founded in 2018, means “source” in the local language and combines over 12 years of experience in coffee from both Abyote Ageze and Mebrahtu Aynalem.

Boledu Coffee has managed the Halo Beriti washing station since 2017. It is one of their first and best washing stations. The washing station covers 4.8 hectares and accepts coffee from 1250 smallholders in and around the area. It has 220 raised beds to dry the coffee, almost double the capacity of Boledu’s other washing station, Halo Hartume.

Halo Beriti’s coffee has won many awards for its quality. It has received prizes from Cup of Excellence and Golden Bean Australia four times so far. Therse accolades have been achieved investing in farmer training, sharing profits with farmers and rewarding exceptional farmers by processing their lots individually. Mebrahtu says: “We want this to be a community effort where everyone sees and reaps the benefits of coffee”. He adds: “The job of the washing station is simple. The real work happens before the cherry comes to us.”

• Producer: Boledu Coffee’s co-operative run Halo Beriti
• Farmers: 305 smallholding farmers, who are part of the Kennisa co-operative.
• Region: Jimma Zone
• Country: Ethiopia
• Altitude: 2000–2100 masl
• Processing: Fully washed and sun-dried on raised beds.
• Species/Variety: Various heirlooms
• Packaging: Hessian with Grain Pro inside

Quaffee's transparency information

• FOB Price: €11.32/kg (logistics around R30 / kg)
• Cupping score: 87 (Trabocca)
• Producer/Organisation: Boledu Coffee’s co-operative run Halo Beriti
• Lot size bought: 2 x 60 kg bag
• Relationship: Our first coffee we have offered from Halo Beriti