Echemo

A sweet and delicate coffee reminiscent of stone fruits, flowers, and white tea.

Tim's Notes

We have been buying coffee from Khalid for several years, but it was not until our visit to his farm in November 2023 that we could directly impact the quality of his coffee. During that visit, I went through the entire production process, step by step, checking if we could agree on protocols to improve the coffee quality. As expected, there were many small details that could be improved, some having a minor impact on the final quality, and some a significant impact. Some of the key improvements included ensuring daily harvest separation, storing each daily lot in sealed GrainPro bags after drying, drying under shade nets, more rigorous management of the fermentation process, and some slight changes in the process itself.

These improvements allowed us to evaluate multiple samples, each representing a daily harvest, rather than just 2-3 combined samples as before. This enabled us to exclude lower-quality coffee from higher-quality lots, and at the same time, the improved processing and drying methods led to increased clarity and a more pronounced character in the coffee. All these changes were achieved in a short period thanks to the excellent assistance and continuous follow-up from the Belco team in Ethiopia and Fantanesh Keleme, who ensured Khalid thoroughly understood and could follow the protocols we proposed.

This year, by processing the coffee at a smaller dry mill, we were able to vacuum pack Ethiopian coffee for the first time. This method helps preserve the coffee's flavor and freshness for much longer.

Washed coffee from the Echemo region is very delicate and smooth. It feels like drinking white tea, with notes of peach and floral aromas. It is distinctly different from the typical Yirgacheffe or Guji coffees from southern Ethiopia, likely due to being grown in a different region and being a different varietal.

Like other Ethiopian coffees and Gesha varietals, this coffee can produce more fines when ground, which can clog paper filters during percolation brewing methods like V60 and Kalita, leading to longer extraction times. However, there's no need to grind coarser. Instead, we recommend avoiding excessive stirring of the slurry during brewing and allowing a slightly longer extraction time. This coffee truly expresses its flavor and sweetness even more distinctly with a higher extraction.

Cultivar - Ethiopian heirloom from Coche forest
Flavour Notes - Floral, White tea & Stone fruits
Producer - Khalid Shifa
Country - Ethiopia
Region - Goma, Jimma
Process - Washed
Harvest - December 2025
Roast Profile - Light Roast
Contents - Whole Coffee Beans