Being the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia arguably possesses some of the best growing conditions in the world with heirloom varietals dating back to the 10^th century and bountiful shade trees. Here coffee almost grows wild with trees growing up to 20 metres in height. The provenance of this coffee really comes through into the cup with layers of complexity and huge depth of flavour.

This lot comes from the Kochere village in the Gedeo zone in Yirgacheffe and is comprised of coffees from smallholders from across the region. Each smallholder farmer has between 1 and 2 hectares of coffee growing land which is farmed alongside other crops such as maize, bananas and teff for their families. The coffee is selectively handpicked before being delivered to centralised collection points where it is sorted into grades before being washed in the traditional way – in channels moved by groups of workers with large wooden paddles to remove any floaters (underripe/overripe cherries). There is meticulous attention to detail here which really adds to the consistency and cleanliness of the resulting cup.