Ethiopia Yirgacheffe

The Farmers:

Aricha is the name of the washing station or mill the farmers bring their harvest to be processed and prepared for export. The coffee is washed, the fruit removed, dried and raised beds of bamboo, then processed for shipment to the coffee consuming world. There are more or less 700 smallholder farmers (less than 200 trees) that utilize this mill most of whom are the Gadeo people that occupy the area around the small town of Yirgacheffe which is about 8 miles away from the city.

The Coffee:

The Yirgacheffe Region of Ethiopia is one of the most famous coffee growing regions in the world. Warm enough to grow at high elevations, moderate wet and dry seasons
provide the perfect climate. The varieties of coffee here are ancient heirloom that are often unique to each village. Much of the individual beauty of the village coffees have
been lost due to politics of government and export requirements but this years entry from the Aricha Washing Station brings some of the qualities of the individual
village coffees.