Treat Selection: Beloya

It is characteristic of Ethiopia that coffee does not come from (relatively) larger farms, but from many independent producers (the smallest "farm" here is two bushes at the end of the garden). The coffees produced in this way are collected by washing stations, where the coffee is processed, evaluated and sold. Farmers living in the surrounding area bring all their crops here. The washing station uses water from local rivers to process the coffee cherries (hence its name, as washed processing is common here).

The Beloya washing station is located north of Chelelektu, in the Kochere district, 45 km from the regional capital, Dilla. The plant, which has been in operation for 20 years, has two processing units and is currently undergoing expansion and modernization.

Carbonic maceration (also known from winemaking) is a relatively new process in the coffee world, where the pulp is removed from the coffee cherries to access the seed (which is green coffee, and which we will then roast, grind and encapsulate). During this process, only the highest quality fruits are placed in an airtight steel tank, and then oxygen is completely displaced with CO2.

In this medium, an internal, intracellular fermentation process begins, where decomposition is not initiated by external microorganisms and yeasts, but an enzymatic transformation occurs in the sugar content. Since cells begin to break down sugar in the absence of oxygen, all kinds of aroma and ester - sometimes alcohol - components are formed, giving carbonic macerated coffees a very distinctive, almost fruit-gummy flavor, while retaining the classic Ethiopian coffee characteristics.