After tons of travel I’m back (for a week, at least!), so let’s dive right into a coffee I’ve been anxious to get posted, an organic Ethiopian natural from my good friends at S&W Craft Roasting!
Purchase this coffee directly for $15.65/lb (yes, 16 ounces!)
S&W CRAFT ROASTING ETHIOPIA KEBEDE WAKO GEDEB GR.1 ORGANIC NATURAL YIRGACHEFFE
I have been sitting on this review forever, but travel and work have calmed down a little bit and I’m working through posting my backlog of reviews. Never fear, though, this one is still available from my friends at S&W, so if you like what you read, you can still buy a bag, or three! S&W Craft Roasting are Nick and Charlie, who live in the small (less than 550 people!) town of Coatesville, Indiana and are singlehandedly proving that you don’t need a big city, a hipster cafe, a fancy website or glitzy packaging to make great coffee. I’ve reviewed a ton of their coffee over the years and it’s consistently tasty and they sell it at prices that are always several dollars lower than other roasters. Most of their coffees come in under $16/lb, which is a steal. Over the last year, Nick and Charlie have been putting a ton of work back into their business, with a new roaster, optical bean sorter, destoner, etc, so the quality is only getting better, and there’s not that much room for them to improve in that regard!
This morning’s coffee is a natural Ethiopia, which S&W always does a great job roasting, in my experience. This may be the longest-named coffee ever, so let’s unpack what this Ethiopia Kebede Wako Gedeb Gr.1 Organic Natural Yirgacheffe is! This is a somewhat unusual lot of coffee in that it was grown on one farm, by Kebede Wako. More often than not, Ethiopian farmers have very small plots of land and they pool their coffees at mills owned by large cooperative societies, where things are combined, sorted, processed and sold as larger lots. Many of these mills are impressive, though, in their willingness and ability to separate lots by farm, too, and this is a growing trend in Africa, I think, as these microlots tend to sell for higher prices in many cases. Kebede’s farm is located in Gedeb, which is a region of Yirgacheffe, one of Ethiopia’s most famous coffee-growing areas, often considered the birthplace of coffee! This coffee is also certified organic and is a Grade 1 natural, which is the highest grade of natural coffee picked in Ethiopia. “Natural” means the coffee cherries are picked and sorted, then dried, whole, on raised beds where the sun breaks the cherries down like big raisins. This type of processing uses little water and imparts lots of fruity flavors, sweetness and body to the seeds inside, which when removed and roasted, we call coffee “beans.” Coffee grows at 1900-1950 meters above sea level at Kebede’s farm.
I’m using my
The aroma from this coffee is awesome. I’m getting honey, florals, a little ferment from the natural processing, which I love, and slight hints of blueberries. Taking a sip, this is a medium to medium-heavy bodied coffee with a creamy mouthfeel. There’s a lot going on in this complex coffee. That honey sweetness is here, up front and providing a sweet base for all these bright, fruity flavors. This is a berry-forward coffee, too, and I’m still picking up on a little blueberry here, as well as lots of blackberry and raspberry. There’s a bit of a tartness here and coupled with that creamy mouthfeel it reads as berries and cream, and it’s super delicious and inviting! A lot of florals are coming through, even as the cup cools. In the aftertaste, I’m picking up a very distinctively mango note with a hint of pineapple. There’s a hint of cocoa in the late sip and this coffee finishes sweet and clean. At warmer temps I was getting quite a bit of lemon acidity, but that seems to have mellowed as the cup cools. In the very long aftertaste, I get a nice classic iced tea flavor happening in my mouth, but I don’t really get much in the way of tea in the actual flavor while I’m drinking this coffee. This is a FANTASTIC coffee and at this price, it’s INSANE! If I was placing an order with S&W today I would be buying this without a question, as well as the Finca Los Pedregales from Colombia I reviewed somewhat recently, and I just noticed they have a natural from the Dominican Republic. I’ve never tasted coffee from the DR, so I would be all over that just for the experience! This is one of the best naturals I’ve had all year!