Chelbesa

This is our second time buying from Chelbesa in Ethiopia and we have been so looking forward to releasing it. Expect a super classic Yirgacheffe profile with zesty florals and juicy nectarines.

This lot comes from the Chelbesa station in Gedeb to which around 672 farmers contribute. Gedeb is one of the districts in Yirgacheffe. Literally translated as “Land of Many Springs,” Yirgacheffe has the ideal topography, elevation, and water sources to produce and process exceptional coffees. 

This region is located inside of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia, which is home to 45 distinct people groups. Coffee farmers in Yirgacheffe are typically multi-generational small-scale landholders, sometimes farming only a few hectares. Most coffees in Yirgacheffe are sold as cherry to centralized washing stations that help further separate flavor profiles.

Yirgacheffe is considered by many to be the birthplace of coffee and the coffee trees grown in the region are a naturally occurring mix of heirloom varieties cultivated among other species in coffee gardens and coffee forests.

The coffee is floated and sorted before getting pulped, Chelebsa uses the water saving eco-pulpers to remove the skin to get to the parchment coffee. Next, they remove mucilage by keeping the parchment coffee in a fermentation tank for two or three days. Afterwards, the coffee is placed in a soaking tank for 12h then put on a raised bed to dry for 7-10 days. They sort through the dried coffee to find any beans that have been damaged, and send the good ones to a warehouse for dry processing.

We transitioned to one optimized roast profile to bring out the best each coffee has to offer. We have noticed that our filter and espresso profiles are slowly moving towards each other and that our preferred profiles for both filter and espresso brew methods are almost the same lately. Not much will change except that there is just one roast per coffee now, similar to our past filter roasts and a touch lighter than our past espresso roasts. This change will give you cleaner, more balanced espresso’s with high clarity and tons of flavor. Reach out if you have any questions about this transition.