ETHIOPIA - GUJI DOGO SODU WASHED
Ethiopia is the country where Arabica coffee originates, and the Guji Zone in the southern Oromia region is one of its most renowned growing areas. The zone takes its name from the Guji, a branch of the Oromo people, and sits at elevations where cool temperatures and a long growing season allow cherries to develop slowly and with intention. The Bule Hora woreda region benefits from rich soils and a low and slow sort of maturation that builds flavor into the seed before it ever reaches a mill.
 
PRODUCER
The Dogo Sodu washing station is owned and operated by Morkata Shonora, one of three processing sites he runs in the Guji Zone. Cherry comes from small, multigenerational farms in the surrounding hills, where the farming tradition is as much inherited as it is practiced. Coffee grows here alongside shade trees and other native vegetation, a layered approach to the land that supports soil health and biodiversity in a way that large scale production was never designed to accommodate. The environment these families tend is not unlike what made our Finca Amistad from Costa Rica so distinct, though without the formal certification that coffee carried. Generations of careful observation and attention to the land are what drive quality here, and that shows up in this offering.
 
VARIETY
The trees at these farms are indigenous Ethiopian varieties, locally adapted populations that have developed over generations through traditional farming and natural selection. Rather than a single registered cultivar, this coffee represents a kind of genetic diversity that is unique to Ethiopia, and it is one of the reasons Ethiopian coffees tend to carry such distinctive aromatics compared to coffees grown elsewhere in the world.
 
PROCESS
Cherries are hand-sorted at the station before pulping, with any underripe or damaged fruit removed. The coffee then ferments for two to three days, which loosens the remaining fruit layer before the beans are washed in fresh water and moved to raised drying beds. Over roughly two weeks, the parchment dries slowly under regular raking to keep the process even and consistent. The washed method results in a clean, transparent cup that lets the character of the land come forward without interruption.
 
COFFEE PROFILE
Honey, chocolate, lemon, jasmine, and tea rose. Light body, bright acidity.
 
BREWING
POUR OVER
Dose: 15g coffee / 250g water
Grind: Medium-fine
Water temp: 200°F / 93°C
Brew time: 3:00–3:30
 
ESPRESSO
Dose: 19g in / 38–40g out
Grind: Fine
Water temp: 200°F / 93°C
Brew time: 28–32 seconds
 
COFFEE DETAILS
Origin: Guji Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia
Region: Bule Hora Woreda
Producer: Morkata Shonora, Dogo Sodu Washing Station
Variety: Indigenous Ethiopian Landraces
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1,950–2,350 masl
Harvest: November–January