Ethiopia natural | Howolso, SCFCU

Description

One-of-a-kind beans from our partners at Howolso Cooperative

Renowned worldwide, natural (unwashed) Ethiopian coffees are truly unique. These green beans, following the Sidamo natural transformation process (unwashed), develop a palette of enchanting tastes–an acidity reminiscent of red berries with a syrupy body–after being roasted in our workshop at LpB – La p’tite Brûlerie.

Freshly roasted or ground, the beans boast an intense cherry aroma, delighting noses everywhere. With milk, this coffee could nearly be mistaken for a slice of pie or Black Forest cake!

LpB – La p’tite Brûlerie is supplied through the Howolso Cooperative, with whom we have a direct commercial relationship via Cooperative Coffees. Our partners at Howolso are members of the Sidama Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (SCFCU), a group that supports sustainable coffee production in the Sidama region of southern Ethiopia. The SCFCU is certified fair trade and organic.

Coffee plants are grown in the shade, in low density, under the canopy of native trees and enset (false banana tree). It is a subsistence crop for families in the Sidama region, which stretches across the steep Bensa mountains to the Dale and Aleta Wendo valleys, offering grains with a range of quality profiles and reflecting the richness of the production landscapes.

What is a natural coffee?

After harvesting, the coffee cherries are treated through different processes and then exported as green beans and roasted here at LpB – La p’tite Brûlerie. The drying process is distinctive for our natural coffee beans from the Sidama region. Once the coffee cherries have been harvested and cleaned, they are laid directly on drying beds, whole (bean, mucilage and pulp), in the sun. The beans stay inside the fruit for 3 to 4 weeks, until the pulp detaches by itself, giving the bean more sugar and a very pronounced berry taste.