Ethiopia Dry Process Guji Hambela

The name we're using for this coffee, "Hambela Hassan", refers to both the location of the washing station where the coffee comes from, Hambela, as well as the owner, Kedir Hassan. The coffee is pulled from several neighboring villages in Ethiopia's Guji Zone, not far from Yirga Cheffe, and mixed together by both coffee growing region, and date of delivery. Kedir Hassan is the older sibling to Esmael Hassan, who you may remember as the producer of another Guji coffee we had last year, Kayon Mountain. Like his brother, Hassan produces both wet and dry processed coffees. He's an extremely proficient and capable engineer as well, and built the entire Hambela station in one season. You wouldn't know this, as it's visually apparent everything was built with high processing standards, and efficiency in mind. Of course he did not complete Hambela on his own, and thanks to his long standing connection with the the people in this area, he had much needed community support. This is a dry process lot, meaning the whole coffee cherry is laid to dry in the sun for upwards to 30 days, and tends to produce a fruited cup in comparison to a wet processed coffee. Dry Processing can be tricky, and if the conditions are not just right, will result in off, souring, and unclean flavors. This lot from Sibu Hambela couldn't be farther from that, and cups with remarkable cleanliness, not just in context of other dry process coffees. Hambela Station sits at just over 1800 meters above sea level, and the growing areas top out at a whopping 2300 meters!