Ethiopia
Abiyot Boru

Washed process Bourbon, Typica, Ethiopian Heirloom

Flavour: tropical fruit, guava, lime

Body: Acidity:

We’re starting 2018 with this delicious coffee from Ethiopia – it feel right to go back to the birthplace of coffee to get the new year started.

Abiyot Boru washing station (pronounced “Ab-yet bu-ru”) is located in the Shakiso district, within the Guji zone, and around 100km south-west from the more familiar and famous Yirgacheffe. Shakiso is one of the regions which was previously grouped together as Sidamo coffee, but is now being separated out as a region in its own right.

The station’s name comes from its owner, and at Abiyot Boru they process coffee cherries from around seven hundred nearby smallholders, who delivery harvests daily. The particular lot that you’re drinking is Grade 1, meaning it’s the best quality cherries from the mill, which were hand-selected as part of the milling process.

Like much of the coffee from Ethiopia, this is marked as Ethiopian Heirloom varietal – a mix of the naturally occurring mutations and hybrids of Arabica that grow in the region. They’re mostly traceable back to the Typica varietal, but these mutations are one of the reasons Ethiopian coffee has the complex, delicate flavours that we love here at Sample.

Learn everything about this coffee:

Ethical, traceable sourcing

This page has all the sourcing information (variety, process, region, story, importer, and more) that our importers share with us, and give us permission to use.

The transparency helps us talk confidently about the quality and background of our product, and it helps you know exactly what you’re buying.

Learn more:
Coffee page transparency legend
Our coffee philosophy
Our business approach

Fresh harvest coffee

We only source and roast coffee from each country’s latest harvest season (so the green coffee is never older than 1 year from the time of picking, processing and packing). This ensures the sensory qualities are always at their peak and unaffected by excessive ageing.

Roasted for espresso and filter (best enjoyed black)

Roast style: omni. Omni roasts are designed to brew and taste great both as espresso and filter. Our omni single origins generally sit on Agtron values in the ~70-60 value range. So, technically, they are somewhere in the lighter side of the medium spectrum.

Designed for espresso and filter brewing. Best enjoyed black.

Learn more:
Our Loring Kestrel S35 roaster
Our roasting style and approach

Best brewed within days 15-49 post-roast

The ‘fresh is best’ saying doesn’t apply to coffee (contrary to popular belief). Waiting before opening and brewing your bag of whole coffee beans helps develop peak flavour and acidity.

But heads up: if you buy pre-ground coffee, brew it as soon as possible.

Learn more:
Our recommended brewing window

Try our custom brewing recipes

Our recipes and ratios are tailored to our coffee sourcing and roasting styles, bringing the best flavour and feel out of each coffee.

For pour over, immersion, and other filter brewing styles, check our brew guides.
For our espresso single origins, we recommend a coffee:yield ratio of 1:3:

Dose: 20g ground coffee
Yield: 60g espresso
Total brew time: ~24-28 seconds

This is just a starting point! We encourage you to experiment, taste, and adjust to find the recipe that you enjoy the most.

Learn more:
Our espresso brew guide (single origin)
Brewing ratio calculator

Packaging and sustainability

Bags: ABA-certified home compostable (AS 5810-2010)
Labels: recyclable
Valves (only on +250g bags): general waste
Box and tape (online orders): recyclable

Learn more:
Our packaging

Producer: Abiyot Boru
Country: Ethiopia
Region: Shakiso, Guji
Altitude: 1650 – 1800m above sea level
Varieties: Bourbon, Typica, and Ethiopian Heirloom
Process: washed
Importer: Melbourne Coffee Merchants
Body: Light
Acidity: Medium
Tasting notes: Tropical fruit, guava, lime
Roast style: Omni (filter + espresso)

Varieties

Bourbon variety

A natural mutation of the Typica varietal, Bourbon is named after Reunion Island (then known as Il Bourbon) where the French cultivated the Typica plants which naturally mutated.

Ethiopian Heirloom variety

Heirloom (or sometimes Landrace) is an umbrella term that refers to all the coffee varietals endemic to Ethiopia.

Typica variety

Considered to be one of the ‘genus’ varietals from which all other varietals have mutated from

The location

Coffee from Ethiopia

Seen as the birthplace of domesticated coffee, there are not many more exciting times at the Sample warehouse as when our fresh Ethiopian lots arrive. Legend says it’s our favourite origin…

The Sidamo region of Ethiopia

Both ‘Sidamo’ and ‘Sidama’ can be used to describe coffees from this region, Sidama refers to the locals of the area. It grows some of the highest coffees in Ethiopia

Farm processes

Washed process

Machines are used to remove the flesh from the coffee cherry before being fermented in water, washed again, and finally sun dried. This process tends to result in more distinct, cleaner flavours.