Jam Jar / Ethiopia

Varietal: Various Heirloom

Process: Natural

Farm: Small holders

Producer: Various farmers

Geography: South Guji zone, Anasora district, Ethiopia. Elevation: 2200 --2300 MASL

This year’s Jam Jar comes from the Anasora district in Ethiopia’s South Guji zone, where coffee grows at 2,200–2,300 metres above sea level. It’s a semi-forest coffee, grown under indigenous shade trees and intercropped with spices, tuber crops, and enset (false banana). The washing station that sources these lots was built specifically to buy only ripe red cherries from this high-elevation area, giving specialty buyers a distinctive cup from one of Ethiopia’s most prized growing regions. The coffee itself comes from many smallholder farmers, each tending heirloom varieties on their own land.

• At harvest, outgrower farmers selectively handpick only red cherries and deliver them to the station. The cherries rest for 10 hours at about 24°C to begin aerobic fermentation, then go onto African raised beds built from bamboo, mesh, and shade netting. They dry in the sun for three to four weeks, slowly fermenting inside the fruit, while producers turn them regularly to prevent mould and keep the drying even. That slow, careful natural process builds the jammy sweetness and depth this coffee is known for.