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Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Halo Bariti

Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Halo Bariti

Halo Bariti is marketed and officially labeled as a Yirgacheffe, but in truth, it is grown too far south to be Yirgacheffe and doesn't share many attributes with a Yirgacheffe. This is a fairly new fair trade organic co-op from a previously undeveloped region south of Yirgacheffe. The co-op's name is Halo Bariti, and has only been in existence since 2012. The members of the co-op own their own land and can boast that they have the highest altitude to work with in the entire country of Ethiopia (4800 to 6800 feet above sea level). It's an area where wild, heirloom coffee grows naturally, and even though this co-op is cultivating the coffee plants for commercial sale, they still grow heirloom varietals native to their land, some of which aren't grown anywhere else in the world. It's a little bit cheaper than our other Ethiopia coffees because it is only a grade 3, but it still seems like a value. This is one of those co-ops which quickly made a name for themselves.

This is a natural (dry) process coffee and so we are roasting it lightly -- barely even out of the 1st cracks. We can get away with that because the coffee is less acidic and has a thicker body than you would expect in a natural Ethiopian. It doesn't seem to matter if you roast it slow or too fast or if you air roast it or drum roast it. It doesn't matter if you get it a few degrees too dark. It's just good coffee.

There isn't much not to like about this coffee. Solid quality here and roasts up evenly. Another thing to note is that it doesn't have as much of the citrus notes usually associated with coffees sold under the Yirgacheffe name. Instead, the fruity flavor here is blueberry and bread. Baked berry, smooth, creamy, very sweet (a little tart if you underroast it), aromatic, no earthiness or fermented notes whatsoever. Everything about this coffee is enjoyable, from the appearance and aroma of the green coffee, to the aroma while it roasts, to chewing on a bean hot out of the roaster, the blueberry muffin aroma while grinding it, the sweetness and fruitiness of the taste and the creamy texture of the coffee itself. You're going to like this one.

We roast it 3 degrees lighter than our other natural Ethiopian coffees in order to showcase the tart berry complexity.

US Arrival January 2022

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Recent
10
07/07/2021
DL
David Lee
Quickly became one of my favorites from Happy Mug.
05/13/2021
A
Andrew
Seems to turn out best when roasted very light. Still full-bodied with strong blueberry/lemon flavors.
03/30/2021
T
Tyler
I have loved this coffee in previous years, but this year is definitely not a blueberry bomb. The blueberry is very faint/subtle. I ve tried 4 different roast profiles on this and it s just not coming out for me, unfortunately. Not what I was expecting on this one.
02/11/2021
VG
Vincent Galbo
The note of blueberry is a lot more subtle this time around. I had this coffee roasted by Happy Mug in 2019 and it was absolutely bonkers, marshmallow, chocolate, and blueberry. This time around it s like a lemon-berry thing.
12/03/2019
G
Geordan
I have tried this at four roast levels so far: Just into first crack Just after first crack ends Just into second crack Just after second crack ends My favorite is right on the far side of the first crack. It is light, fruity, sweet, smooth. Low acid, blueberry flavor is very apparent. I like to brew this one a bit stronger (14:1 water:coffee ratio) than I usually make coffee. At higher roast levels it loses the fruit character and becomes very generic tasting - not bad at all, but it loses a lot of what makes this special.
12/03/2019
C
Colton
Very strong blueberry and fruity flavor, low acid for a yirgifchaffe. Body is very light when brewed by drip. I roasted it 30 seconds past first crack, which may be a little too far with how dry this bean is. The batch I got is very dry and quickly over roasts. I burnt my first batch to a crisp at the standard time I use for a light medium south american.