New single origin

ETHIOPIA 
ALAKA
WASHED 

By Intelligentsia Sourcing | Aug 30, 2024

New single origin

ETHIOPIA
ALAKA
WASHED

By Intelligentsia Sourcing | August 30, 2024

New single origin

COLOMBIA
STRIPED RED BOURBON
COLOMBIA
STRIPED RED BOURBON

By Intelligentsia Sourcing | January 26, 2024

The Variety

Metad


Within Ethiopia, we have yet to find anyone producing more flavorful coffees more consistently than the Adinew family operation, METAD. As operators of the first CQI-certified lab in Africa, the highly trained teams at METAD washing stations apply best-in-class quality control processes to create opportunities for thousands of smallholder coffee growers. We first partnered with METAD just over 10 years ago, and have continued to feature lots from their network of regional washing stations ever since.  

Both of these lots were grown by members of the Alaka Farmers Association and processed with the utmost care and detail at their washing station in the Hambela district, located in Ethiopia's famed West Guji Zone in the region of Oromia. 

Alaka Washed

The first steps of the washed process resemble that of the natural: cherry is received at the wet mill and sorted for ripeness. From there, however, cherries are mechanically pulped to remove the outermost layer of the fruit before they are sent to fermentation tanks. Once fermentation is complete, the coffee is washed in clean water to remove the remaining mucilage and the resulting coffee is transferred to raised beds where it will be monitored as it slowly dries on raised beds. Though washed coffees dry more quickly than naturals, they still benefit from the same slow, gentle process that involves rotation of the beans, ventilation, and protection from extremes such as rain and harsh sunlight. 

Compared to naturals, which require little to no water, washed coffees can be resource intensive because water is used to operate both the pulping machines and the washing channels. At METAD, in an effort to reduce their water consumption, they use a specialized pulping machine to remove the cherry that uses as little as 1% of the water required by traditional pulping methods. Importantly, this method also reduces the amount of wastewater produced which, if untreated, can pollute ground and surface water.  

Look for

Blood Orange | Peach | Plum

This Coffee is Direct Trade and in Season.

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