Danche

This specific delivery (Danche Lot 7) was late to arrive in our hands here at Black Fox.

It was traveling aboard the Lobivia (one of the ships struck by Houthi missiles in the Gulf in August). Fortunately, the container holding this coffee was unharmed but the ship had to dock in Somalia and reload onto another boat destined for the US. This delayed it's arrival by a month or two meaning this is our final Ethiopian of the 2024 harvest as we prepare to book lots for 2025.

Danche is a small sub-community of Worka Chelbesa in Gedeb, Ethiopia. In 2008, Neguesse Debela started 'SNAP' specialty coffee, a company dedicated to providing centralized processing facilities for remote communities around Ethiopia whilst guaranteeing environmental protection through waste recycling systems.

In 2019, two years after establishing his first washing station in Worka Chelbesa, Neguesse purchased another washing station a few kilometers away, in Danche. The two sites, run by Negusse and his family, execute immaculate washed and natural processed coffees, but also create unique experimental lots in an effort to always keep improving their quality.

SNAP's washing stations utilize traditional underwater fermentation. A practice commonly seen in Ethiopia where the coffee is fully submerged in water for 36-48 hours. After fermentation, the coffee is dried for 10-14 days on raised African beds.

Gedeb is the southernmost woreda (district) of the Gedeo Zone, and in comparison to other areas, coffee is somewhat newer to this area. Many farms here have only been growing coffee for 1 or 2 generations, and much of the coffee is only 20-30 years old. Farms in this area tend to be slightly larger than in the northern part of Yirgacheffe but are still relatively small-averaging around 1.5 -2 hectares.

In the cup, we get big florals up front and a melon candy-like fruit quality. The residual sweetness is clean like cane sugar and concord grape.

Producer → Local Smallholder Farmers
Washing Station → Danche
Location → Chelbesa, Gedeb, Ethiopia
Altitude → 2,200 masl
Variety → Native Landraces
Process → Washed