This natural, dry-process coffee is one of the most exquisitely cultivated beans we have ever served. The cooperative, Operation Cherry Red, incorporates small family farms and regional micro-lots, producing coffees solely from fully ripened, red coffee cherries. This leads to a greater price for the farmers, and a superior cup quality. The ripe cherries are plucked directly from the tree and immediately laid out on raised screens to dry naturally in the sun. The beans are rotated on these African Drying Beds several times a day, locking the flavors inside.

Prolonged contact between the ripe fruit and the coffee seed produces a wonderfully complex flavor experience. In fact, I would go as far as to say that this coffee - sun-dried and infused with fruit - has a wine-like quality to it. The raw beans are moist and musky with a beautiful aroma of bananas and citrus fruit. Once roasted, an unexpectedly thin body provides for a clean and fruity cup.

The whole husk and parchment is removed in one step and all defective seeds are carefully removed by hand. This is what makes Ethiopian coffees so alluring and glorious - with no wet-mill equipment to sort the coffee, everything is done with the hand and with the eye. The result of this labor-intensive process is nothing short of sublime.

This Sidamo has beautiful floral characteristics, unusual among Ethiopian varietals. It's flavors are lively with a brilliant, well-defined acidity. The body is thrilling & light, complimented by a bouquet of charming aromas. The scent is strong, with pulp-fruitiness and a lemon-blossom sweetness, complete with delicate hints of dried peach and lemon rinds. Expect subtle accents of spicy ginger & clove, which serve to round-out the unusually powerful citrus quality, along with wine-fruit in the aftertaste and a mild cocoa finish. As it cools, the chocolate evolves, resulting in an intensified aftertaste akin to confectioners' chocolate. To taste this coffee is absolute joy!