Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Supernatural

We had this one last year, and it left faster than almost anything we've put on the shelf. It's back. Classic natural Yirgacheffe, and about as fruit forward as coffee gets. The fruit bomb of all fruit bombs.

It comes from smallholder farmers around the Banko Gotiti processing station in the Gedeo Zone, grown between 1,900 and 2,300 meters. EDN runs the site, taking on more than 200 seasonal workers through harvest and providing prefinancing, meals, and lodging to the farmers delivering cherry. Steady footing in a season that rarely offers much.

The supernatural process is what separates it. Cherries ferment in cold water for a full 24 hours before they ever reach the drying beds, then dry whole on raised screens for three to four weeks. It draws the fruit out clean rather than muddying it: strawberry and cherry up front, lemon peel and rose underneath, milk chocolate on the finish. Candy sweet, and unmistakably Yirgacheffe.