Aricha Adorsi lies in the heart of Gedeo, just a few kilometers from Yirgachefe Town. Dusty roads branch like arteries to connect the station with the coffee growing communities of Aricha, Gersi, Idido, Reko, and Naga Singage. The station processes coffees from each community as separate lots—a practice that is rather uncommon—providing better traceability while highlighting their distinct flavor profiles.
This lot comes from small-scale producers on Naga Singage, a mountain nearby. There is a ceremony among the Gedeo people which is associated with the mountain called a songo, or reconciliation ceremony. Individuals would climb the mountain to seek consultation and resolution through elders. Disputes would be presented and discussed, and the elders would offer solutions for the problems of the community.
The farmers of Naga Singage mostly grow kurume and wolisho, colloquial names given to local heirloom varieties that seem to have originated in Gedeo. It is not especially clear whether these names refer to specific, distinct varieties or common morphological traits shared by a few broader groups. Both are named after indigenous, fruit-bearing trees with similar characteristics: kurume's small fruits and consistent annual yields versus wolisho's taller stature, large fruits, and inconsistent annual yields. What is astonishing about the coffee here is the diversity even from tree to tree—you could taste coffee fruits from one kurume tree that taste like red plum and honey, then from an identical looking kurume tree one meter away that taste like galaxy hops and orange sherbet.
Yirgachefe is part of the Gedeo Zone, which itself is part of Ethiopia's Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (or SNNPR). Traceability here is complicated: for many years, the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange labeled everything from Gedeo as Yirgachefe coffee, regardless of which district it actually came from. And before that, coffees from Gedeo were lumped together with those from the neighboring region of Sidama.
In spite of its limitations, the ECX was very successful in establishing effective "brands" for Ethiopia's main coffee producing regions, and today Yirgachefe is one of the most celebrated names in coffee (though perhaps one of the least intuitive for westerners to pronounce: "yer-gotcha-fe"). Though coffee has been consumed in the area for over a thousand years, it has only been cultivated for export since the 1920s. Still, this predates coffee production in Guji, where most of our Ethiopian business is concentrated. Hence, most of the coffee planted in Yirgachefe is from slightly older rootstock.
Aricha Adorsi had been abandoned when Testi Coffee purchased and restored it in 2018, and today the station is productive and well-organized, capable of producing naturals, honeys, or fully washed coffees such as this. The station is adept with experimental practices too, recently finding success with anoxic fermentations and with coffees dried under partial shade.
Since renovating the station Testi has also invested in the communities who deliver coffee there, building a primary school in Aricha and working with the government to run new electricity service to farmers' homes. The station shares its profits with each community to incentivize quality and it hopes to double its membership in the coming years.
This lot comes from small-scale producers on Naga Singage, a mountain nearby. There is a ceremony among the Gedeo people which is associated with the mountain called a songo, or reconciliation ceremony. Individuals would climb the mountain to seek consultation and resolution through elders. Disputes would be presented and discussed, and the elders would offer solutions for the problems of the community.
The farmers of Naga Singage mostly grow kurume and wolisho, colloquial names given to local heirloom varieties that seem to have originated in Gedeo. It is not especially clear whether these names refer to specific, distinct varieties or common morphological traits shared by a few broader groups. Both are named after indigenous, fruit-bearing trees with similar characteristics: kurume's small fruits and consistent annual yields versus wolisho's taller stature, large fruits, and inconsistent annual yields. What is astonishing about the coffee here is the diversity even from tree to tree—you could taste coffee fruits from one kurume tree that taste like red plum and honey, then from an identical looking kurume tree one meter away that taste like galaxy hops and orange sherbet.
Yirgachefe is part of the Gedeo Zone, which itself is part of Ethiopia's Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (or SNNPR). Traceability here is complicated: for many years, the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange labeled everything from Gedeo as Yirgachefe coffee, regardless of which district it actually came from. And before that, coffees from Gedeo were lumped together with those from the neighboring region of Sidama.
In spite of its limitations, the ECX was very successful in establishing effective "brands" for Ethiopia's main coffee producing regions, and today Yirgachefe is one of the most celebrated names in coffee (though perhaps one of the least intuitive for westerners to pronounce: "yer-gotcha-fe"). Though coffee has been consumed in the area for over a thousand years, it has only been cultivated for export since the 1920s. Still, this predates coffee production in Guji, where most of our Ethiopian business is concentrated. Hence, most of the coffee planted in Yirgachefe is from slightly older rootstock.
Aricha Adorsi had been abandoned when Testi Coffee purchased and restored it in 2018, and today the station is productive and well-organized, capable of producing naturals, honeys, or fully washed coffees such as this. The station is adept with experimental practices too, recently finding success with anoxic fermentations and with coffees dried under partial shade.
Since renovating the station Testi has also invested in the communities who deliver coffee there, building a primary school in Aricha and working with the government to run new electricity service to farmers' homes. The station shares its profits with each community to incentivize quality and it hopes to double its membership in the coming years.
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