TASTING NOTES

Coffee tasting notes for Batu Kobo, Ethiopia: pomegranate, peach, dark chocolate, almond, pineapple, clove, chamomile

COFFEE BACKGROUND

The Blueprint Coffee Boutique Series is a selection of offerings highlighting noteworthy partners around the globe. The Boutique Series features special varieties, unique processing methods, prestigious origin farms, and partnerships creating impacts on sustainability in the coffee industry. It’s a one-of-a-kind flavor experience our team has selected to showcase all the things we love most about coffee.

Batu Kobo is a kebele, or village, in the Nensebo district of southern Ethiopia. Smallholders bring their coffees to the drying station there for natural processing.

At the station, workers float and sort the coffee cherries before drying them on raised beds constructed of bamboo. The cherries dry for at least 10 days under shade, and then another 10 days in full sun. After cooling in the warehouse for 48 hours, a truck transports the cherries to the village of Nansebo. There, workers hull them, remove the parchment, and finally hand-sort and grade them. The final product, exportable green coffee, then moves to exporter partner Moplaco’s warehouse in Addis. From there they ship it to buyers like us.

Deforestation and overplanting of eucalyptus trees have depleted soil in Ethiopia, creating pervasive problems for farmers. Eucalyptus is non-native to Ethiopia. Since its introduction there around 1900, the fast-growing tree has been pushing out native vegetation. Additionally, it dehydrates the soil , depletes its nutrients, and leaves it susceptible to erosion.

Moplaco’s CEO Heleanna Georgalis educates farmers about the long term consequences of over-planting eucalyptus. She also promotes a sustainable alternative: Enset, or the “false banana” tree.

Enset is native to Ethiopia. It grows quickly and in all seasons. The tree resists drought and farmers put every part of it to use. The “false banana” fruits it produces are inedible, but the roots and stems of the tree are fermented to make bula porridge and kocho bread. Farmers also use fibers from the leaves and trunks to make rope and jute bags in which to export coffee.

Enset trees especially benefit coffee farms. Coffee seedlings planted near the base of enset trees share in the enset’s water in a symbiotic relationship. The “false banana” tree nurses and shades the coffee seedling as it grows. Additionally, the enset tree’s root network traps moisture and micro-nutrients in the soil, improving soil health wherever it’s planted.