Arbegona

After a year of delayed East African coffees in 2024, this year everything showed up early. Here we have our first fresh crop Ethiopian of the season and it is such a breath of fresh air.

Ethiopia’s Sidamo region is one of the best-known coffee-producing regions in the world. Like the rest of Ethiopia, it’s divided into several woredas (districts) and kebeles (communities) with washing stations throughout—each offering unique terroir. The Arbegona woreda is one of them, and within it lies the Bochessa kebele, where we find the central washing station for the community.

This washing station was established in 2022 on 1.5 hectares of land, and currently processes between 500–600 tons of finished green coffee each year. 823 farmers deliver their cherry to this washing station where it is meticulously washed, pulped, fermented and dried. After processing, the coffee is stored safely to preserve the quality of parchment until it is moved to the dry mill.

To maintain traceability along with quality, they’re careful about lot separation. They collect coffee cherry alongside supplier name, original location, and quantity and keep thorough records as the coffee moves through processing.

This is a vibrant and astonishingly sweet coffee. Initially a very floral sip, we taste bright oranges, and candy-like raspberry. The finish presents as dried apricot with plenty of residual sugar. Arbegona is a celebration of the early Ethiopian harvest.

Producer → Local Smallholder Farmers
Washing Station → Bochessa
Location → Arbegona, Sidamo, Ethiopia
Altitude → 2,000-2,100 masl
Variety → Native Landraces
Process → Washed