Ethiopia Gedeb - Fully Washed

March? MARCH?!? HOW IS IT MARCH!?!

I think we can all agree that 2024 has had an… interesting start to say the least so this month we’re providing you with a palette cleanser, not just for the tastebuds but for the soul. 

In January we brought you a deep complex Peaberry from Kenya. In February we gave you an insane natural processed coffee from the incredible Gold Mountain in Nicaragua. This month we’re mixing it up again with a clean, crisp, tea-like washed cup of the good stuff from the Gedeb region in Ethiopia.

We’ve seen a lot of people raving about this and felt we could not pass up the opportunity to try it for ourselves AND LET ME TELL YOU, this is one fine tasty bean you won’t want to sleep on. It’s light, delicate and floral which, if you’ve had an Ethiopian coffee from us before, you’ll know exactly the level of excellence to expect from this Chipp box of dreams. 

Ethiopia Gedeb - How the Coffee Is Made

Unless you’ve spent countless hours researching and learning how coffee is grown and cultivated in different parts of the world, which you all obviously have done, you couldn’t even begin to comprehend the level of coordination it takes to bring this coffee from the hills of Ethiopia to us here in Yorkshire and you around the country. 

Ethiopia is split into a number of different territories. Gedeb is in the Gedeo Zone, but when it comes to coffee, climate and soil don’t always cooperate with political borders. This coffee is often called “Yirgacheffe” because, profile-wise, coffees grown in this area are siblings to those grown in Yirgacheffe which is right next door. This coffee is not only an example of coffee cultivation at its finest, it’s also a symbol of different regions coming together to make something especially wonderful. 

Most farmers in the region farm on fewer than 5 hectares (many counting their coffee farms  in terms of trees rather than area). Cultivation methods remain traditional. Coffee is grown as part of an integrated ‘coffee garden’, and intercropped with other food crops. In addition to remaining traditionally intercropped, most farms are also organic-by-default. Farmers in Yirgacheffe typically use very few - if any - fertilisers or pesticides.

All coffee is selectively hand-harvested before being delivered to a collection centre or directly to the washing station. At the washing station, coffee is sorted to remove damaged or underripe cherry and is then delivered to the pulpers to be pulped. It will then be fermented for around 24 hours, depending on the weather conditions.  

Once fermentation is complete the parchment is thoroughly washed and then graded in washing channels, after washing, parchment is delivered to raised beds to dry under shade for 10-14 days until moisture content reaches 12%. During this time, the parchment is regularly turned and hand-sorted several times to remove any damaged or discoloured beans. Parchment is covered with plastic during the hottest hours of the day to protect the parchment from drying too quickly and overnight to prevent condensation from seeping into the drying parchment. This level of labour and love results in a truly exquisite cup profile.

Chipp Coffee Co. Roastery Update

It’s been a bit crackers here at the roastery! We’ve had the busiest first quarter we’ve ever had so far so let me give a huge thank you to all of you who choose to support our ambitions of making exceptional coffee accessible for everyone and doing the best we can for the planet. We couldn’t do what we do without you all so thank you for an amazing start to 2024 (at least something is going well right?). 

We’re currently working on some cool things behind the scenes to bring you a better insight into all things Chipp. We’re currently developing our content and social arms of the business to bring you entertaining but also knowledgeable and insightful content that will help you become a better more informed coffee connoisseur. You can expect brewing videos, problem solving content, new product updates and obviously a lot of stupidity and fun along the way too. 

What We’re Listening To

This month was Zach’s turn to choose an album and with Beyonce blowing us all out the water with some absolute country bangers we wanted to take the opportunity to highlight another country artist we simply can’t get enough of. With that in mind let me introduce this month's pick, ‘What Is It Even’ by Joshua Ray Walker. This album is an excellent example of modern country music and Joshua took some of the all time classics and reimagined them as country hits. Some particular highlights are his cover of ‘Cuz I Love You’ made famous by Lizzo, a beautiful cover of Cher’s ‘Believe’, an upbeat hootin’ and hollerin’ rendition of Beyonce’s ‘Halo’ and iconic ‘Linger’ which features the incredible Kyle Gass of Tenacious D!

Gedeb is available as part of our Roasters Choice subscription which you can sign up to now! Don’t want to commit to a subscription just yet? You can still purchase our Roasters Choice as a one off but we all know you’ll be back for another.