Chelbesa

One of the great things about Ethiopia, and there are many, is the long shelf life of its green coffee. Slow drying after processing contributes to that stability, as does attentive care throughout every step of the process, but it's remarkable to taste coffee almost a year after it's been harvested and still be able to taste the freshness and vibrancy that we associate with our favorite origin. Fortunately, we don't have to worry about aged, papery flavors working their way into this lot of Chelbesa because we have kept it frozen since it arrived. We freeze much of our green coffee in a giant warehouse freezer here in Portland to keep those off flavors out of the coffee, which means that this Ethiopia is as fresh as it was when it landed at port last April. This particular lot of coffee is from the Gedeb region of Ethiopia, and the smallholder farmers who contribute to it sell their cherry to the Negusse Debela washing station in Gedeb.