For many of us who work in specialty coffee, Ethiopian naturals were our gateway drug. The best examples are so intensely fruity and complex that after tasting your first, it's hard to think of coffee as just coffee anymore.
Natural-processed coffees - dried in the cherry rather than after removing the fruit - are by no means new to us at Huck, and we roast naturals from all over theworld. But there's something special about how the fruit-forward processing combines with floral Ethiopian heirloom coffee varieties, so we always look forward to fresh crop naturals from Ethiopia as a special arrival. Bekele Belachew is new to us, and he produced our first Ethiopia natural of 2022!
Bekele Belachew and his family operate a small farm in the Sidama region of Ethiopia, and are part of a group organized by Buriso Amaje, another farmer in the area, dedicated to helping individuals sell their fully-processed coffee directly to foreign buyers, rather than selling just-harvested cherry to a cooperative or washing station. While there's nothing inherently wrong with the collective processing method, farmers who do a good job processing their own coffee can keep a bit of added value at the farm.
Single farm naturals from Ethiopia are still relatively rare, but have been some of our favorite coffees over the last few years. We're excited to roast up this goodness from Bekele and are fully enjoying its intense complexity. We're tasting strawberry, hibiscus florality, melon, and sweet honey in this juicy bean juice!