The Story
The Konga washing station sits at 2,000 meters in Yirgacheffe's Gedeo zone, one of the most storied coffee growing areas in the world. More than 400 smallholder farmers from the communities of Koke, Konga, Udessaa, and Birbirsa Kala deliver cherries here each harvest. This is our second year offering this coffee, and it has earned its place on the menu.
The Red Honey process here is deliberate at every step. Only cherries reading above 20° Brix are selected, ensuring a minimum threshold of ripeness and sugar development before anything else happens. From there, cherry floats and sorts, rests for a day in open air, then spends another day in anaerobic tanks before being depulped. The coffee then dries slowly on shaded raised beds for up to two weeks. The station is operated by SNAP Specialty Coffee, an Addis Ababa based company founded in 2008 by Mr. Negusse that works with washing stations across Sidama, Yirgacheffe, and Guji and provides training to over 6,000 farmers in nursery management, processing technique, and soil and water conservation.
Yirgacheffe sits within the larger Gedeo zone of southern Ethiopia, a densely farmed highland landscape where coffee, enset, and food crops grow together in some of the most biodiverse agroforestry systems in the country. The farms here have been producing coffee for generations, and the varieties reflect that depth.
The lot is grown from Kudhume and Dega, heirloom Ethiopian landrace varieties selected over generations for their performance in these specific highland conditions. Both are known for the floral and fruit-forward character that defines great Yirgacheffe, and the Red Honey process brings an added layer of sweetness and body without obscuring the clarity the region is known for.
For our second year with this coffee the jammy fruit and juicy body are really what shines, with notes of strawberry, raspberry, and caramel.
