Tasting Notes: Peach Cream, Yuzu, Honey

Duromina, which means “to improve their lives” in the Afan Oromo language, is a coffee cooperative in the South Western Jimma Zone. Coffee has grown here for generations but was traditionally processed using the dry, natural method and farmers used to pay little attention to quality control.

Despite an ideal climate and altitude for coffee growing, the coffee in that area was synonym with poor quality. Year after year, farmers received low prices for their coffee, earning little income as a result. On paper these farmers had it all; very high altitude, rich and fertile soils, Ethiopia's incredibly complex heirloom varietals and good rainfall percentage. The missing link was quality control, but now that this problem has been assessed, the Duromina farmers produce coffees of outstanding levels with scores of 90+ being achieved.

These improvements helped Duromina produce high-quality coffee and bring new prosperity to the community. Two years later, an international panel of professional judges would select Duromina’s coffee as the best in Africa, awarding the cooperative the top prize in the leading regional cupping competition.

The coffee is soaked overnight in fiberglass tanks to remove any remaining sugars, and then it is dried on drying beds for 8 days. The first 24-48 hours of drying is done under a shaded canopy to protect the parchment from direct sunlight.