Ethiopian Sidama (Daye Bensa)

CO-OP
Light Roast
Notes: Bright, Balanced, Citrus
Process Method: Natural

More about this roast:
The Sidama Zone has long been considered a kind of gateway to Ethiopia’s southern coffees. This is true, as Sidama is the first producing zone on the way south from Addis Ababa. It has also been true in the cup: Sidama has been known for having a robust and stable union of more than 50 coops that turn out predictably honey-like, herbaceous fully washed coffee year after year, and almost always with earlier availability and lower prices than neighboring Gedeo (a.k.a. “Yirgacheffe”). Perhaps because of its stability, the sprawling zone has also seen little disruption to its union presence and hallmark washed profiles. 

It is in Sidama’s eastern districts of Bensa and Arbegona that the zone has spent the past few years reinventing itself, one innovative group at a time. For the past four harvests, we have seen several private processors turn out incredible coffees that reset our expectations for Sidama. Some have used transformative anaerobic fermentations, whereas others, like this one, are nothing more than sound traditional washed processing fundamentals applied to a select subset of the region’s coffee—some of the highest and most genetically gifted on the planet. 

Coffees this good wouldn’t be possible without a divine terroir to begin with. Eastern Sidama runs up against the mighty Harenna Forest National Park, Ethiopia’s largest indigenous forest, whose elevation surpasses 3,000 meters and whose old growth tree species can be found across eastern Sidama, whose presence boosts natural shade and soil health. Were this not enough, the elevation alone is enough to make a coffee buyer’s eyes water, with coffee farms as high as 2300 meters above sea level. Harvest here pushes past the end of the calendar year.