This week we’re sharing coffee from Jabanto Farmers Group, from Kochere in Ethiopia. The group was formed by 29 smallholder coffee farmers in 2018 to allow them to export their coffee internationally, and has grown steadily since. Today there are 87 registered smallholder coffee farmers in the group.

The group tries to produce different coffee types: regional lots, village level lots, single farmer lots, variety lots and processing lots.

The collaboration between Bi-Lab and Co-Lab, two specialised coffee laboratories owned by G Broad in Addis Ababa and Condesa in Sydney respectively, helped Jabanto better define coffee sourcing approaches, quality control mechanisms, marketing and promotion opportunities for farmers.

By doing this for the 2020-21 cropping season, a great amount of high quality and different coffee types were available, and we’re pleased to be able to share them with you.

We’ve been enjoying the different processing lots this year (our Brew Crew VS subscribers are tasting an Anaerobic Process from Jabanto this month, and also Carbonic Maceration previously).

What is Honey Process?

So at this point you may be wondering what honey processed means: it’s also something different from our usual deliveries. Most of the coffee we share is washed process, where all the flesh of the coffee cherry is removed by a depulping machine when it’s processed at origin. The coffee is then fermented, washed and dried before export.

Honey process is where the pulping machine only removes a percentage of the flesh. The coffee is then dried with some of the flesh remaining, which means the sugars in the flesh are then present in the coffee.

We tend to showcase washed coffees because we think it highlights the unique characteristics of each coffee, and has a cleaner cup profile, but when we tasted this coffee we loved it, and also a part of the different processing lots from Jabanto we think it’s a great opportunity to taste the difference processing can make to the flavours in the cup.

All the images and information about this coffee and its producers have been kindly shared by the importer, Condesa, and edited by us, Sample Coffee (unless linked to or credited otherwise).

Resting beans inside the sealed bag helps develop peak flavours and acidity

Learn how long and why you should wait in our brewing window recommendations.

Try our step-by-step recipes and videos

Our recipes are easy to follow and designed to bring the best out of our coffee. Find your favourite method on our brew guides collection or test a new one—and if you have any questions, ask us anytime at [email protected].