2.11.2008 : Coffee of the Month for February – Ethiopian Yirgacheffe
Panache® Ethiopian
Yirgacheffe is a rare coffee grown in a
remote valley near the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is
little known to most of us in North America, yet
all coffee lovers pay homage to Ethiopia –
considered by botanists to be the ancestral home to
Arabica coffees.
Grown in the rugged Sidamo tablelands of southern Ethiopia – where the Great Rift Valley splits Africa from north to south – Ethiopian Yirgacheffe is considered among the finest coffees from anywhere in Africa. A complexly flavorful coffee, with hints of citrus and fruit in the top notes, Yirgacheffe's rich flavor is balanced by its moderate body, while delighting the senses with its lofty aroma and lingering aftertaste.
The village of Yirgacheffe (or "Yirga Ch'efe", as the natives pronounce it) sits at over 6,000 feet elevation in a semi-tropical side valley branching off the eastern escarpment of the Great Rift Valley. Generations of village farmers have specialized in growing coffee in the forests covering the surrounding hills, and consider growing and drinking coffee an integral part of the village's social life.
With abundant fresh water provided by 60" of annual rainfall, coffees grown in the Sidamo region utilize the washed-process during milling, improving their consistency and quality. Unlike the dry-processed Harrar coffees of arid eastern Ethiopia, coffees such as our Ethiopian Yirgacheffe from the Sidamo region are refined and elegant.
