Ethiopia Jimma Washed

Jimma is a region in the Southwest of Ethiopia grown at high altitude and considered to be a specialty coffee, although its reputation is a bit lower than some of the other regions. This particular one is from the Tuma Tesso cooperative.

Being a washed coffee, you would expect the fruit to be more subdued, but it does have some lemon-lime, floral, and toffee flavors and a little bit of peach. Better body/mouthfeel than a lot of washed Yirgacheffes that I've had, and decent balanced acidity with a clean sweet aftertaste.

I don't find washed Ethiopia coffees very interesting compared to their Natural options, so we don't usually roast them; but washed Ethiopian beans are MUCH easier to roast, and they are generally less expensive (they require a lot less labor from the farmers and less risk); so we do try to carry one for our homeroaster customers when we run across a nice one. In sample roasts, we roast it lightly, roughly 15 seconds after the 1st cracks have stopped is our sweet spot.  Erring too light will make it thinner and more tea-like.  Erring too dark will make it a little bit bitter and hide the fruit flavors. Nice enough as a drip coffee, but I found it underwhelming as espresso, even at slightly darker roasts.

US Arrival May 2020