Ethiopia Hadeso - Natural

Tastes like White Peach, Jasmine, Honey

COUNTRY: Ethiopia
TRADITIONAL COFFEE REGION: Sidama
POLITICAL REGION: Oromia
POLITICAL ZONE: Guji
WOREDA: Shakisso
KEBELE: Dambi Uddo
WASHING STATION: Hadeso
ELEVATION: 1,950m above sea level
VARIETY: Karume, Wolisho
PROCESSING: Natural
FARMERS: 500 independent outgrowers
WASHING STATION OWNER: Faysel A. Yonis
IMPORTER: Melbourne Coffee Merchants
IMPORTER RELATIONSHIP LENGTH: Since 2019

Hadeso (pronounced “Had-ess-oh”) is a privately-owned washing station that is located in the Shakisso woreda(administrative district) in Ethiopia’s Guji zone. The washing station is named after the nearby kebele (local village) of Hadeso, and is one of 28 owned and managed by Testi Coffee, a family-owned company founded by Mr. Faysel A. Yonis.

Sitting at 1,950m above sea level, Hadeso produces exceptional washed and natural processed lots. The washing station was established in 2017, and currently employs eight permanent staff and 250 seasonal workers. During harvest, freshly picked coffee cherry is delivered daily by some 500 independent outgrowers from the nearby kebele of Dambi Uddo and a collection point in Addis.

The majority of the families that contribute to this lot farm organically on tiny plots of land, which average between two to five hectares in size. Coffee is their main cash crop and grows alongside food crops of corn, grain and bananas, under the shade of native Birbira, Wanza, and Acacia trees. The average elevation of the farms in this region is very high – around 1,800–2,050m above sea level – and this, combined region’s cool temperatures, is ideal for the slow ripening of coffee cherries, leading to denser beans and a sweeter, more complex cup profile.

This coffee lot was produced as part of Testi’s quality improvement initiative, Premium Cherry Selection (PCS). Launched in 2018, the Premium Cherry Selection program ensures that best practices are used for growing, harvesting and processing the coffee cherry. Through the program, Testi pay a premium to farmers who pick and deliver only the ripest cherries from their farms. Coffees produced as part of the program represent the highest quality and cleanest cup profile available from the washing station and wider region. 

VARIETALS

This coffee is mostly made up of local landrace varieties Kurume and Wolisho.

For many years, most Ethiopian coffees have been described as being a mix of cultivated and wild varieties, referred to as “heirloom varieties.” This is a term that is all-encompassing and used by many actors in the coffee industry to generally categorise Ethiopian coffee varieties that are from native forest origins. Whilst “heirloom” describes many of the varieties found in Ethiopia, it is also a bit simplistic and does not acknowledge the varieties that are already locally recognised and purposely cultivated, or those that have been specifically developed and widely distributed by the Jimma Agricultural Research Centre (JARC).

Sidama is home to many landrace varieties that were originally selected from the forest and have been propagated successfully for decades. There are five popular varieties that are named after indigenous trees in the area— Bedessa, Kurume, Mique, Sawe and Wolisho. There is little documentation on the history of these varieties, and it is hard to know if they represent a single plant or a wider group of varieties; however, it is widely accepted that they play a major role in the quality and floral flavour profile of the coffee from this region. JARC varieties were developed using “mother trees” from Ethiopia’s coffee forests, and are now grown for disease and pest resistance, as well as exceptional cup profile, and are released by number. For example, 74110, 74112 and 74116 are all widely propagated in the Sidama growing region.