Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Gutu Birre Natural

Ethiopia is special to every coffee lover as it is the birthplace of coffee and produces juicy, vibrant, and aromatic coffees. This micro-lot is made from the Kurume local landrace coffee variety, known for its superior genetics and processing techniques. This single farm and varietal lot produce an outstandingly sweet and complex flavour profile due to the combined effects of high altitude and careful control.

Most coffee grown in Ethiopia is produced by smallholder producers who own less than one hectare of land. They harvest and deliver their coffee to the nearest processing station, where cherries are sorted and processed. Speciality or Grade 1 coffee in Ethiopia is then sold either as being from the processing station or blended with other lots of similar quality from the region. While this system can produce excellent coffee quality, it restricts exploration into clear and complex flavour profiles that can result from separating genetic varieties and unique micro-climates and terroirs of individual farms. This lot from Gutu Birre illustrates the new and exciting approach of separating varietals and farms for more control over processing and unique flavour profiles.

Gutu Birre was born into a coffee-farming family and grew up helping his father on the family farm. Following the Gedeo tradition, when Gutu got married in 1960, his family gave him one hectare of land. Throughout his long years of coffee farming, Gutu invested in quality improvement and acquired more land and infrastructure. Recognizing the economic significance of coffee farming as his family's only source of income, Gutu decided to expand his coffee farm. Currently, he produces coffee from 3.8 hectares of land in the village of Tulise in Yirgacheffe county, Gedeo Zone, Ethiopia.

His elder son, Tarekegn Gutu, followed in his father's footsteps and quit school to start coffee farming and business. As an independent young boy, he inherited half a hectare from his father in 2010. Since then, Tarekegn has acquired and contracted additional coffee farms. As of the 2019/20 cropping season, Tarekegn Gutu owns 4.8 hectares. He is one of the few young coffee farmers in the region who invests a lot of time and energy in coffee agronomy and processing to produce high-quality coffee lots.

Both father and son inherited Gedeo local landrace coffee varieties through their original coffee land. They expanded their grounds and introduced improved coffee varieties. These micro-lots are produced from the well-known Kurume local landrace coffee variety and two other improved coffee varieties, namely 74110 and 74112, developed by coffee breeders at Jimma Agricultural Research Center (JARC).

Their garden coffee production system is characterized by coffee trees grown near the home under light shade from perennial trees like Albizia and intercropped with root crops and Enset (false banana). The farms are located in a higher-altitude coffee growing area in Yirgacheffe, where coffee harvesting usually starts late in November, compared to the majority of coffee growing areas in Gedeo, where harvesting usually begins in October.

• Origin: Ethiopia
• Region: Kocherre, Yirgacheffe
• Farm/Coop/Mill: Gutu Birre
• Producer: Gutu Birre
• Variety: Kurume
• Process: Natural
• Altitude: 2,100masl

• Roast Level: Light
• Aroma(8.5/10): 
• Sweetness(8.5/10): 
• Flavour(8.5/10):
• Aftertaste(8.5/10):
• Acidity(8.5/10): 
• Mouthfeel/Body(8/10): 
• Balance & Overall(8.5/10): 

• Espresso: 20g In, 40g Out, 27 Seconds
• Milk-based (150ml): 21g In, 42g Out, 30 Seconds, 150g Milk
• Filter: 15g In, 225g Out, 2 Minute 00 Seconds (45G Bloom, 30 Seconds)
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