Ethiopia Workye Shallo

We have been anticipating to drink this coffee ever since it arrived few months back. We are just thrilled to finally roll out this coffee that we consider to be special both in the cup as well as the efforts made behind the coffee.

Yirgacheffe is known for its complex, floral and acidic coffees. Normally the coffee cherries from small farms within an area would be blended at the wet mills with cherries from hundreds of other farmers with small plots of land. However, thanks to a project known as “One Farmer One Roaster”, a handful of small farms can now produce, sell, and export their coffee as a Single Estate Coffee. One of these farms belongs to Workye Shallo. She owns and runs the farm with the support from her son and other family members. It is located in an interesting area in Yirgacheffe called Wakesa, with altitudes up to 2000 meters above sea level. Under this project, Workye Shallo took on a micro-loan to invest in equipment that allows her and her family to run their own small scale processing operation. They are able to pay extra attention to picking, ripeness, processing and drying by embarking on this project.

This scheme is brought to us by our green coffee partner, Nordic Approach. Like the good folks behind Nordic Approach, we too believe that through this unique collaboration, we can change how some of the Ethiopian specialty coffees are produced and sold to roasters. It presents a sustainable avenue to showcase the coffee’s unique character and offers traceability for the roasters buying the Ethiopian coffees.

In support of this project, Nordic Approach added an extra USD1 per kg for this green coffee that will be handed over directly to the farmers this year. It is earmarked for investment in equipment that will help the farmers to develop and increase both quantity and quality. The prices for these coffees reflect the extra effort, risk and investment taken by the producers, and we are glad to have done our little part towards this cause.

This coffee is superbly clean and embeds the quintessential beauty of Ethiopian coffees. Lovely aromatics of coffee flower and hibiscus, delicious fruit notes of ripe peaches and apricots, coupled with candy sweetness and a bergamot finish. We only managed to buy very little of this coffee and don’t expect it to last more than 3 weeks.

• Producer: Workye Shallo
• Origin: Deveo, Wakesa, Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia
• Varietal: Old trees of Ethiopian Heirloom and new trees of improved varietals
• Altitude: 1800 - 2000m asl
• Processing: The coffee is pulped on a locally made pulper, fermented under water for 24-36 hours, graded in washing channels based on density and then soaked in clean water for 12-24 hours and sun dried in 10-15 days.

Dennis competed in Singapore’s first Aeropress competition with this coffee, and clinched the 2nd runner-up trophy. For those interested in his recipe, here goes….

16 grams of coffee, ground slightly coarser than paper filter setting
Rinse normal filter and warm up aeropress in inverted position
40g of water at 91c for about 40 sec
Add another 200g of water at 87c slowly
3 stirs, screw on cap and press after 2 min
Press gently for about 30 sec and stop before the hissing sound

Serve and enjoy!