Ethiopia
Yirgacheffe
Small holder producers
Small holder farms
Ethiopian Heirloom and Landrace Varieties
Limited Oxygen Natural
October - January
Milk Chocolate, Baked Apple, Caramel, Orange, Peach, Stone Fruit, Strawberry
1800 meters
N/A
30 kg
USA - Oakland, CA - Annex - CTI
These Ethiopian heirloom and landrace are separated by batches and processed through what the supplier describes as Limited Oxygen Fermentation.
The Limited Oxygen Fermentation process starts with ripe cherries, which are placed in float tanks to remove lower-density fruit, leaving only the highest density cherries. Unlike typical Natural processes, these cherries undergo a critical fermentation step in an oxygen-controlled environment. This “Limited Oxygen Fermentation” is influenced by naturally occurring environmental yeasts enhancing clarity, fruit notes, and sweetness. Refined over several seasons in Ethiopia, each farm and microclimate require careful adaptation to meet flavor and quality targets. The cherries are fermenting in this environment for approximately 24 hours, dependent on variables such as temperatures and weather. After fermentation, the cherries dry slowly on open-air tables under mesh canopies.
This coffee comes to us through ZEM Coffee, a vertically integrated coffee company founded by Ethiopian and American trio Zele, Emily, and Michael. Their partnership began in 2013 and has evolved through various ventures, including Catalyst Trade, which scaled as an Ethiopian coffee importer from 2018 to 2023. ZEM Coffee now operates with a small team in Kansas City and specialized teams in Ethiopia and Peru. Their focus is on quality coffee and intimate, sustainable partnerships in the coffee industry.
Literally translated as “Land of Many Springs,” Yirgacheffe has the ideal topography, elevation, and water sources to produce and process exceptional coffees. Yirgacheffe is a coffee classification in the Ethiopia coffee market. It is also one of the woredas in the Gedeo zone, a district like a municipality or county that includes many towns of South Ethiopia Region (formerly Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region-SNNPR).
Coffee farmers in Yirgacheffe are typically multi-generational small-scale landholders, sometimes farming only a few acres. Most coffees in Yirgacheffe are sold as cherry to centralized washing stations that help further separate flavor profiles.
Yirgacheffe is considered by many to be the birthplace of coffee and the coffee trees grown in the region are a naturally occurring mix of heirloom varieties cultivated among other species in coffee gardens and coffee forests. As part of the Gedeo Zone, Yirgacheffe is bordered to the south by Kochere, to the west by the Oromia Zone, to the north by Wenago, and to the east by Bule.
