Ethiopia Konga Natural

Back from our origin trip to Central America, we have plenty of new stuff coming along in the early part of the Horse year. First up is a new single origin espresso from Ethiopia, Konga Cooperative.

For those who find this name familiar, we had a coffee which we rolled out back in end November last year from the same cooperative. That coffee was a “washed-processed” coffee. This new single origin espresso is a “natural-processed” coffee. We bought a small quantity to showcase how drastically different the taste can be for the same coffee with different processing methods.

For Konga “washed”, the coffee cherries were harvested, depulped and wet fermented for 24-36 hours. It was then graded in washing channels, soaked in clean water for 12-24 hours and finally sun-dried for 10-15 days on African drying beds. For Konga “natural”, the coffee cherries are picked from the tree and dried directly in the sun on African drying beds, without peeling the skin, or any water-based sorting or fermenting. This method is also commonly called “dry process”. Natural/dry process can be risky as any small oversight in the supervision of the drying might lead to defective flavours. But when done well, this method can bring out another dimension to the inherent flavours of the coffee.  This is the first “natural” coffee that we have purchased and we think it’s really quite good.

The Konga Natural presents a complex and juicy espresso with a fruit-forward appeal. First sip, you might get blueberries, strawberries with some undertones of jackfruit. The mouthfeel is lushly velvety and finishes off with hints of dark cocoa. If you’re up for an “off-the-beaten-track” espresso, this might be one…

• Cooperative: Konga Cooperative
• Origin: Gedeo, Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia
• Producers: About 2400 smallholders
• Varietal: Ethiopian Heirloom
• Altitude: 1900 - 2300m asl
• Processing: Sun-dried on African drying beds.