Ethiopia Dry-Process Grade 1 Aricha

This coffee is a dry processed coffee from the Yirga Cheffe region of Ethiopia. Dry processed coffees are prepared by drying the whole coffee cherry–spreading it out in the sun to dry for about two weeks, after which it’s hulled mechanically. This coffee is further characterized as Grade 1, which means the coffee is picked over, bean by bean. Over or underripe beans and those with other defects are removed. This results in a higher quality, more consistent coffee flavor-wise in the cup.

The resulting coffee is a good example of a Dry Processed (DP) Ethiopian, fruity and aromatic, with the complexity typically found in dry processed coffees compared to their wet process counterparts. DPs, in my experience, tend to be a bit more complex than their washed counterparts, and have a relatively muted brightness or acidity. But origin is a significant factor in both brightness and aroma, with Africans and some Central Americans tending to be both brighter and more fruity and floral than South Asian (India and Indonesian) and the typical South American coffee.

This Aricha is definitely one of those coffees with knock-your-socks-off potential!

Photo: MTC Group on flickr. License CC-BY-2.0