Ethiopia Gedeb Slow Dry

This coffee comes from Gedeb, a woreda (district) of 300,000 people within the Gedeo Zone in Yirgacheffe, in the south of Ethiopia.

The best cherries are bought from nearby farmers and brought to the Lalesa washing station for processing. Coffee is initially floated to remove quakers, then placed on drying beds for 20-25 days, under a special greenhouse roof. Once processed and dried, the coffee is stored at Moplaco in Gerji, Addis Ababa. From there, it is transported to Djibouti via train for export.

Ephtah Specialty Coffee handles the collection, processing, and export. A woman-owned business, Ephtah Specialty Coffee is dedicated to social and environmental projects. The company provides initial payments to farmers upon receipt of their coffee and supports them with quality premiums, second payments, and assistance with school fees.

The Ephtah site in Gedeb is the largest drying and washing site in the region, further underscoring the company's commitment to quality and capacity in coffee production. Future investment plans include building a water tank for flotation, increasing the number of drying beds, and cultivating additional crops on the land to support local markets.

The slow dry process takes 20-25 days compared to regular natural coffees which dry for around 10 days.

Usually the coffee would be dried in the sun on raised beds and covered in the midday heat for a couple of hours. With the slow dry method, the coffee is dried under a covered roof similar to a greenhouse. This slows down the drying and extends the fermentation, which happens inside the cherry once it is picked off the tree and begins to dry.

The goal of the slow dry process is that you get fruitier profiles from the extended fermentation, but it requires more care and attention—and space, as the coffee has to be spread more thinly.

Ethiopia is widely regarded as the birthplace of coffee, and continues to be one of the most sought-after origins for speciality coffee. Legend has it that a 9th century goatherder named Kaldi discovered coffee when he noticed his goats dancing after eating the berries.

Although it was harvested from the wild for centuries and consumed within the country, coffee was probably first exported from Ethiopia in the 17th century. However, competition from Yemen, Java, and eventually the Americans meant it didn’t become a world coffee power until much later.

In 1974 the Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed by a coup and for nearly thirty years Ethiopia was ruled by a socialist military junta which established large-scale collective farms that were required to sell coffee to the government at low prices. After the junta’s overthrow in 1991 the industry began to liberalise and gain access to international markets.

In 2008 the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange was created with the aim of centralising trade and protecting both growers and buyers from the vagaries of the commodity markets. Coffees delivered to the exchange are sorted by region, cup profile, and quality and then auctioned. This has led to more consistent coffees—and more reliable payment for farmers—but coffees bought through the exchange lack traceability, and over the past few years the rules have loosened to allow more coffee to be traded directly.

Coffee remains hugely important to the Ethiopian economy, with upwards of 15 million people relying on the crop for their livelihood. There are three main categories of coffee production: forest coffee, where wild-growing trees are harvested in their natural environment; garden coffee, involving smallholder-style cultivation around a homestead; and plantation coffee which entails large-scale, intensive production. Garden coffee makes up the vast majority of Ethiopian coffee production.

Did you know?

• Ethiopia’s fame as the birthplace of coffee has never been categorically proven, and both South Sudan and Yemen can lay claim through genetic testing and storytelling to the title.
• The Ethiopian government has trademarked specific regional names such as Yirgacheffe, Harrar, and Sidamo in order to protect their place in the coffee market and hopefully achieve higher prices.
• At least half of the coffee produced in Ethiopia is consumed within the country, with coffee ceremonies playing an important role in the country’s culture.

Our speciality coffees are 100% traceable and ethically sourced. We work direct with farmers, or through trusted partners, to bring you the best coffee from around the world.

Sourced in partnership with: Falcon Coffees
Producer relationship length: Since 2024