Coffee Story
Grown in the acclaimed Gedeo zone in the legendary Yirgacheffe region of Ethiopia in the Gerse Kebele by smallholder farmers between 1900 and 2200 MASL. This specific lot comprises regional local landraces grown by local smallholder farmers in naturally occurring semi-forested or garden conditions and have undergone red honey processing after picking at the washing station.
Harvesting Red Honey lots boasts going through a meticulous multi-phase process to achieve the consistency we see today after multiple rounds of hand sorting and floating cherry to ensure consistency across the coffee. Floating cherries are a standard part of processing in water-accessible areas, where coffee can be tested by whether or not it floats or sinks. Higher-density, deemed acceptable cherries will sink and continue through further processing and de-pulping.
Next, the disc pulped is calibrated to allow for control during red honey processing efforts, which actively controls the speed of pulping coffee from their cherries, done slowly to minimize parchment and seed damage while still mucilage content intact and undergoes a short time of fermentation before moving on to the final drying phase.
Red honey-processed coffees are classified as those that have approximately 30%-50% of their mucilage removed during processing. Therefore, they are left with a deep red, brown colour on the green coffee’s exterior while it’s drying.
Fun fact! ZemCoffee Importers are proud to have shared honey processing education with Producers in the Gedeo, Yirgacheffe region, including providing education for producers, washing station owners, and coffee quality approvals, and brought buyers to demonstrate the market for the process — quite the feat!
