Darling

Darling comes from Danche Washing Station in Gedeb, and it’s one of the more delicate Ethiopians we’ve had this year. The coffee goes through a 48-hour anaerobic fermentation before being washed, resulting in a cup with good clarity despite the additional fermentation. Wild florals lead, followed by peach iced tea and a black-tea finish. Light, elegant and very tea-like.

Danche Washing Station sits in Gedeb, Gedeo, and has been a source of some of the clean, expressive Ethiopian coffees we’ve worked with this year. For Darling, only ripe cherries are selected before being depulped and fermented for 48 hours in sealed tanks. The coffee is then washed twice and slowly dried on raised beds. Despite the additional fermentation, the cup remains delicate and very clean, with wild florals, peach iced tea and black tea.

Danche Washing Station sits in Gedeb, Gedeo, at around 2200 masl. The coffee is collected from surrounding producers and brought to the station for processing. For this lot, the cherries are hand-sorted and floated before processing, with only the ripest cherries selected.

Ethiopian heirloom, a broad term used for the locally grown varieties found across the country rather than one single cultivar. In Darling, we find a particularly floral and tea-like expression, with wild florals followed by peach iced tea and a black-tea quality on the finish.

Anaerobic washed. After sorting and floating, the cherries are depulped and fermented for 48 hours in sealed tanks without oxygen. The parchment is then washed twice with clean water and dried on raised beds for 15 to 20 days, depending on the weather.

Low. The 48-hour anaerobic fermentation adds a controlled step, but the overall process remains relatively simple: the coffee is depulped, fermented, washed twice and dried on raised beds. The result is clean and origin-driven rather than heavily processed or boozy.