This coffee is very special to us, since we have never had coffee like this before. Ethiopian farmers from Hambela Bedessa felt adventurous enough to go out of their way and produce a lot that turned out to be quite spectacular. Cardamom was added when processing this washed coffee, and the result makes justice to its name: Ethiopia Hambela Cardamom.
This Ethiopian coffee comes from Bedessa. The farms in this area are quite green, they have a lot of variations of vegetables, Ethiopian banana trees and pulse crops. The size of the farms varies between 0.5 - 3 ha owned by small family farms. The soil is a very fertile rich forest with red clay loamy. On average, there are 2800 trees per hectare. The productivity or cherry yield is 5-6 kg per tree on average. The grown varieties of coffee in this region are Kurume, Wolisho, 74110 and 74112. As a distinctive part of coffee processing, coffee was washed together with added cardamom. This is a result of farmers' own initiatives in order to give more value to their crops. Delicious and warm cardamom notes shine in every sip of this very distinctive coffee. To make our seasonal Christmas coffee stand out, we have selected this delicious coffee for our light Christmas coffee. If you are looking for that one very special coffee that will stand out on your Christmas table, you should definitely taste this one. First words of Nordic Approach’s (our partner who sourced this coffee) Lab Manager Espen, after cupping this coffee on the cupping table "Yep, it tastes like cardamom". No lie. Cardamom is what you will get. As a roaster, I feel proud that we can offer such a special coffee to give you memorable coffee experiences. In the beginning, there was a challenge to bring out these cardamom notes the best possible way. Once you find the best roast profile for the coffee, I would say that the dominant aroma for the coffee is cardamom and it is really pleasant.
Harvest and coffee processing
Harvest started in all the major growing areas of Ethiopia early November. Farms located above 2000 masl still had 10 days to go before they too could start delivering cherries to nearby washing stations.
CHERRY SELECTION
Cherries are collected manually and hand sorted later. The cultivars are Welisho and Dega.
PULPING AND PRE-GRADING
The cherries are pulped by a traditional Agaarde Discpulper. Skin and fruit pulp are removed before the machine grades the parchment in water as 1st or 2nd quality, determined by density.
CARDAMOM STEP
Wet fermentation for 72 hours and cardamom is added to the tank. The cardamom is bought from another coffee farmer in large pods. Theses pods are ground into powder and powder is added to the fermentation tank
WASHING AND GRADING IN CHANNELS
Coffees are washed in channels, and graded in water by density. The lower density (lower quality) will float and are removed, leaving only the denser and therefore higher quality beans which are separated as higher grade lots.
SOAKED UNDER CLEAN WATER
After fermentation, soaking takes place for 2 hours
DRYING AND HANDSORTING
Coffee is then piled up in layers which are 2 cm in height and dried over a 10 day period then followed by hand sorting for 2-4 hours
Warehousing
After drying the coffees will be packed in jute bags and stored in the local warehouse onsite, separated by process and grade. Lot sizes can vary from 100 – 300 bags. This process helps condition the coffee and achieve a more uniform humidity. They will normally be stored 1-2 months before they are moved. In some cases the parchment will be hand-sorted in the warehouse.
Logistics
After the harvest season is over the coffees are moved to warehouses and dry mills in Addis. Trucking is expensive in Ethiopia. The coffee trucks must pass a local ECX checkpoint where its contents are graded and registered as an exportable product, before it continues to Addis Ababa.
Dry milling
The coffee will sit in parchment in a warehouse in Addis. This is when our partner Nordic Approach will go to the warehouse and collect the samples from the specific stocklots. It remains in parchment until it is contracted and the destination for shipment is confirmed.
