Taferi Kela Coffee, Ethiopia:

A clean, sweet and full-bodied coffee

Tasting notes:

Plum, black tea, lemon.

Coffee info:

• Producer: Sidamo Taferi Kela
• Location: Sidamo
• Elevation: 1900-2100 masl
• Variety: 74112, 74158, Enat Buna
• Process: Natural

More info about this coffee:

This 10-bag microlot was processed in Taferi Kela by Hester, Dawit and Sissay. Their careful, controlled approach to processing is what defines this coffee. Every lot is handled with precision, from cherry selection through to final milling.

This coffee uses Bette Buna’s “Kickstart” process — a refinement of the traditional natural method. After harvest, the cherries are placed briefly in an anaerobic environment before drying begins. It’s not long enough for full fermentation, but just enough to alter the structure of the sugars within the fruit.

The result? Greater sweetness, more body and added depth layered onto the classic fruit-forward Sidamo natural profile.

After this short anaerobic stage, the coffee is dried on raised African beds in the usual way. Once the ideal moisture level is reached, the dried cherry rests for a minimum of eight weeks to develop complexity. It is then hulled, hand sorted, and transported to the Bette Buna dry mill near Addis Ababa for final cleaning, density grading and colour sorting before export.

It’s a thoughtful twist on a traditional natural — clean, sweet and full-bodied, with more structure and intensity than you might expect.