The Audio version of In My Mug, the weekly coffee subscription podcast from Hasbean
Episodes
Saturday Sep 28, 2019
Saturday Sep 28, 2019
We're now into our fourth wonderful year of having coffee from Ana Sora, and I'm as excited this year as I was back in 2016!
My inbox has been full of emails asking for more, more, more Ana Sora! Well, here you go folks. 😀
In the past we only had a naturally processed coffee (check it out here!) from the farm. This year we also have a washed version. Make sure you try them side by side if you get the chance, so you can enjoy the delicious variations that the different processing methods bring to the cup.
This private farm is owned by Israel Degfa, a second-generation coffee grower from Ethiopia and as coffee farms go, it's a very new farm: it was only formed in 2013. It's located at a whopping altitude of between 1,900 and 2,350 metres above sea level. It's a gorgeous but somewhat tiring walk to get there! (It's not all just holiday snaps, this coffee buying malarkey!)
It is unusual to find private farms of 250 hectares in Ethiopia, and even more unusual to find them at such high altitudes. The altitude helps with the slower maturation of the coffee cherry and allows more time for the plant to develop, which contributes to the super unique cup profile we see in coffees from Ethiopia.
Coffee growing is popular in this area, and Israel also sources coffee from the surrounding area. That area is populated by smallholder farmers who speak Oromife and are of Oromo ethnicity. Israel believes in helping these farmers through education in husbandry, and also through financial assistance.
The classic washed Yirgacheffe flavours are right there: black tea with a bergamot edge. The classic floral notes are there too, reminding me of apple blossom. There's also a delicate baker's chocolate in the finish, and a white sugar sweetness that lifts this into something very special.
- Country: Ethiopia
- Area: Guji zone
- Nearest town: Yirgacheffe
- Farm: Ana Sora
- Varietal: Indigenous wild varietals
- Processing: Washed
- Owner: Israel Degfa
- Founding year: 2013
- Altitude: 1,900–2,350 m.a.s.l.
- Farm size: 250 hectares, of which 150 hectares are coffee
CUPPING NOTES
Black tea, bergamot, apple blossom, baker's chocolate, white sugar
Clean cup: (1–8): 7
Sweetness: (1–8): 7
Acidity: (1–8): 6.5
Mouthfeel: (1–8): 6
Flavour: (1–8): 7.5
Aftertaste: (1–8): 6
Balance: (1–8): 6
Overall: (1–8): 7
Correction: (+36): +36
Total: (max. 100): 89
Roasting Information
Medium – through first, keep it fairly quick and drop this mid-way through the gap between cracks.