Our Konga!

Ethiopian coffees have a special place in our hearts. Whenever we brew an Ethiopian in the shop, at home or even at competitions we always get a truly unique cup. Without fail. Our Yirgacheffe Konga is no different. We are extremely lucky to have such a complex and flavourful yet delicate coffee on the bar. The Konga is both floral and fruity with notes of stone fruits, citrus and a tea like body.

We have, yet again, worked with Cup A Lot from Belgium who sourced this amazing coffee. They travel to Ethiopia every year, and work with the same washing station year in year out. This is why we love working with Cup A Lot. They ensure that each farmer or washing station have a sustainable income which is hugely important for both the owners and the employees of these farms and washing stations. Katrien and the team have worked with Miteko Shentu for a while now. His washing station is located 4 kilometres from Yirgacheffe and works with up to 5000 pickers in the surrounding region. His washing station produces both washed and natural coffees. We’ve chosen the washed coffee to share with you.

Ethiopia is known for being the “birthplace of coffee”. Initially, coffee was consumed as a fruit rather than a beverage. Coffee production in Ethiopia was all through harvesting wild coffee trees, rather than from plantations or farms. Still, a huge amount of Ethiopian coffee is grown in the wild however single estate coffees from the country are becoming more and more common. Between 2008 and 2017, it became difficult to trace exactly where Ethiopian coffees came from. This is due to the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) which was established for many Ethiopian commodities. It was designed to be an efficient trading system for both sellers and buyers. This system had both a positive an negative effect on the coffee industry in Ethiopia. On the positive side, Farmers and washing station owners were paid sooner than they were previously and financial contracts were more transparent. However, the system restricted which coffees could be sold on the international market and also capped what a seller can earn. Today, it is possible to work outside of the constraints of the ECX while also maintaining fair buying protocol. Farmers and washing stations now sell privately to roasters and green buyers while earning more money due to the high quality coffee Ethiopia produces. This makes great coffees like this available to us today!

Grab a bag of this beaut in store on Grand Parade or follow the link here!