Qilenso
We find flavours of grape jelly and lemongrass tea
Qilenso is a privately owned washing station in Ethiopia’s Guji region – one of several regions which were previously grouped together under the wider area of Sidamo.
The washing station’s name, pronounced “Kilen-so,” translates to ‘Air.’
Coffee cherries are produced and delivered daily to Qilenso by 550-600 nearby small producers, who mostly farm organically on small plots of land of around 0.7 hectares.
Washed method involves hand-sorting coffee cherries to remove any damaged or unripe fruit, then the skin of the cherries is removed using a simple disc pulper.
The resulting coffee is then graded by weight; heavier beans are superior quality and deliver a sweeter cup. The lot we’re sharing is Grade 1, indicating that it’s the very best quality.
After grading, the parchment-covered coffee is then soaked in tanks of clean water for 16–48 hours to remove the mucilage (the fleshy pulp around the bean) by allowing it to ferment and detach from the coffee.
The coffee is then re-washed and graded again by density in washing channels and then dried for 10–15 days on African drying beds. The coffee is covered at midday to protect from full sun and overnight to prevent damage from morning dew.
 
All the images and information about this coffee and its producers have been kindly shared by the importer, Melbourne Coffee Merchants, and edited by us, Sample Coffee (unless linked to or credited otherwise).
Learn how long and why you should wait in our brewing window recommendations.
Our brewguide recipes are easy to follow and designed to bring the best out of our coffee.
1:3
dose:yield
ratio
To brew on espresso, we recommend using 20g of beans (dose) to get 60g of espresso out (yield), during 24-28 seconds.
1:16.7
beans:water
ratio
To brew in infusion/fed brewers (V60, Chemex) use a ratio of 1:16.7 ratio of beans:water.
1:14.3
beans:water
ratio
To brew in immersion brewers (plunger, AeroPress, Kalita, batch brewer) we recommend using a 1:14.3 ratio of beans:water
1:12
beans:water
ratio
To brew as cold brew we recommend using a 1:12 ratio of beans:water
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.
Heirloom (or sometimes Landrace) is an umbrella term that refers to all the coffee varietals endemic to Ethiopia.
Considered to be one of the ‘genus’ varietals from which all other varietals have mutated from
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…
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
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.
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