Ethiopia Idido Women Farmers

Idido sits high in the Gedeo Zone, in the stretch of Yirgacheffe that people name-drop when they want you to know they take Ethiopian coffee seriously. This lot comes from women smallholders working plots that rarely reach a full hectare, intercropped with false banana for shade and soil, farmed the way they have always been farmed — by hand, with very little in the way of chemical help.

The cherries dry whole on raised beds for anywhere from eight to twenty-five days, turned and hand-sorted the entire time. Elevation does the rest: at 1,850 to 2,090 metres the cherry ripens slowly and the sugars have time to build.

What lands in the cup is peach and raspberry over a deep brown-sugar sweetness, with the bright, sparkling finish you only get from a natural grown this high. It scored 87+, which in Yirgacheffe terms is not a number anyone hands out casually.

Tasting notes: peaches, brown sugar, raspberry

Producers: Women smallholders of Idido
Region: Idido, Gedeo Zone, Yirgacheffe
Process: Natural
Altitude: 1,850–2,090 MASL
Varieties: Ethiopia Heirlooms
Cupping score: 87+
Importer: Falcon Coffees