Ethiopia - Banko Natural

Notes of Strawberry, Blueberry and Rose An incredible coffee from one of our favorite Ethiopian coffee mills The smell of roasted bags of these beans give us the strong impression of a strawberry milkshake. The strawberry notes certainly carry through to the brewed cup where they are joined by the sweet, silky, flavor of a fine, creamy, milk chocolate. The cooling cup reveals a greater depth of flavor. Blueberry and blackberry emerge along with the sweet floral notes of a dark amber honey, honeysuckle, and rose petals. Producer Notes: Banko Gotiti is one of the mills we hold in highest regard. We have won Golden Bean and America’s Best Espresso with selections from here. The mill is supplied by roughly 600 smallholder farmers working at or near the maximum growing elevation for coffee. This lot is built from two cultivars: 74110 and 74112. Both grow well at extreme elevation, resist disease, carry a good fruit load, and are known for exceptional cup quality. The fact that we can name them at all is worth pausing on. Almost all coffee grown in Ethiopia falls under the "heirloom" umbrella, but that umbrella covers an enormous spectrum. At one end is essentially wild coffee. At the other are varieties like Wush Wush and Geisha that have reached escape velocity from the term entirely. Most heirloom coffee sits somewhere in between: plants farmers have selected and propagated across generations for favorable qualities, with little documentation along the way. There are two good reasons to categorize these varieties properly. Farmers benefit from nurseries that can reliably supply plants suited to their specific climate, plants that yield well without expensive fertilizer or pesticide. And because Ethiopia holds the overwhelming majority of Coffea arabica's genetic diversity, cataloging its heirloom varieties is essential to any breeding program working toward better cup quality and greater resilience in an unstable climate. 74110 and 74112 show what that work produces. Both were selected in the 1970s by Ethiopia's Jimma Agricultural Research Center from wild material collected in the Metu-Bishari forest, chosen for resistance to coffee berry disease during an outbreak that was devastating the country's production. Undocumented forest diversity went in, named and distributable cultivars came out. The plants growing at Banko Gotiti today and the delicious cup of coffee in your hands are the result. Brew Notes: A 1:16 to 1:18 brew ratio with a medium grind and 190-200°F yields cups that best Varieties: Cultivars 74110 & 74112 & Unnamed heirloom varieties Processing Method: Natural, Sun dried on raised beds Producers: Smallholder Farmers, Banko Gotiti Mill Altitude: 6300’–7600’