Goshen Coffee Company Banko Gotiti

Goshen Banko Gotiti

It’s a sad day… I’ve come to the last of my samples from Goshen Coffee Company, a roaster focusing on organic and fair trade coffee located northeast (on the Illinois side) of St. Louis. Today I’m looking at a favorite within Goshen’s Secret Stash (special coffees, with a focus on naturals), their Banko Gotiti. You can buy this coffee directly from Goshen Coffee Company for $13/8oz bag.

This is a natural process coffee, like most of Goshen’s Secret Stash series. Banko Gotiti is a farm cooperative formed in 2012 that has about 300 members. The cooperative has a reputation for excellent cherry selection, which is important when producing natural coffees as it is the critical step toward a quality product. These farms are located in the Gedeo Zone, which is where you’ll find Yigacheffe and other important coffee co-ops like Worka. The varietals are a mix of Ethiopian heirlooms and the altitude for these farms is in the 1600-2300masl range. Goshen offers descriptors of, “red currant, cherry, dark chocolate” for this coffee.

I prepared my cups using my usual 1:15 Gino pourover and getting around a 4:30 total brew time, including a 30 second bloom. The dry fragrance on the grounds is pure strawberry candy, super sweet and redolent with ripe fruit. The aroma during brewing took on a more “tropical” tone, floral and fruity with a bit of ferment, like that alcohol-y aroma you get from a pineapple that is just past its prime (but in a good way). In the cup the aroma is intense, sweet and full of strawberries, again. The first sip reminded me of Frankenberry cereal, with a powerful, almost synthetic strawberry flavor that certainly mellowed as my palate attenuated.

As the cup cooled it stayed really sweet with predominantly strawberry-like flavors and hints of black pepper in some sips. The mouthfeel is medium with a dry finish that sweetened up some (but never became cloying), as the coffee cooled. The aftertaste reminded me of chocolate with cherries.

As far as complexity, I found this coffee to be a bit of a one-trick pony, but that one trick is damn tasty and very well done, so that’s not a criticism! I didn’t pick up much acidity in this coffee, but if there’d been some lemon or lime citrus acidity to brighten up the cup a little it would’ve been a super coffee! All that being said, this Banko Gotiti is super drinkable and is a great example of the natural Ethiopian crops for this year. This was a great way to round out my Goshen Coffee Company sample tasting. Next time I’m having a hankering for a solid natural coffee it’s good to know that I can turn to Goshen and pick pretty much anything off their Secret Stash list and it’ll be a great coffee!