Guji Shakiso, Ethiopia | 150gm

This coffee comes from smallholder farmers in Shakiso, within Ethiopia’s Guji Zone of the Oromia region. Coffee in this area is typically cultivated on small family plots, often integrated into traditional semi-forested farming systems alongside other crops. Rather than coming from a single estate, this lot brings together coffee from multiple smallholders growing within the highlands surrounding Shakiso.

At 2000–2300 masl, the coffee is grown in one of Ethiopia’s highest-altitude coffee regions. The combination of elevation, cooler temperatures, and traditional shade-grown cultivation slows cherry maturation, giving the coffee more time to develop sugars, acids, and aromatic compounds. Guji’s distinct microclimate has also helped establish it as its own recognised coffee-growing region, separate from neighbouring Yirgacheffe.

This lot is composed of the 74110 and 74112 varieties, two Ethiopian selections developed by the Jimma Agricultural Research Center in the 1970s. Both were originally selected from coffee populations found in the Metu-Bishari forests of western Ethiopia, primarily for their resistance to coffee berry disease. Today, these cultivars are widely grown throughout Guji and are known for producing expressive, fruit-forward coffees at high elevations.

The coffee is processed using the natural method, where ripe cherries are carefully handpicked before being dried whole with the fruit intact. The cherries are sorted at intake and spread across raised drying beds, where they are turned regularly to encourage even drying and controlled fermentation. Keeping the fruit around the seed throughout the drying process allows the coffee to develop greater fruit intensity, sweetness, and body while retaining the clarity of the underlying varietal character.

In the cup, this coffee presents layers of blackberry and plum, followed by a deep cane-sugar sweetness. The combination of high elevation, Ethiopian cultivars, and natural processing creates a juicy and fruit-forward profile with a rounded sweetness and lingering finish.