A Nice Cuppa

My Ethiopian Ghimbi from Sweet Maria’s, nice and dark, is at it’s prime today. I’m sipping a straight shot, something I’m not quite used to yet. Many minutes in, there is still a nice roof of crema. Hints of chocolate and molasses fill my senses. My mouth tingles with excitement. It’s almost effervescent. Truly, it would be a shame to compromise this cup with milk. I am definitely pleased.

I roasted 2 batches of these Ethiopian beans, one at 7 minutes and the other at 5. Today, I’m drinking the 7 minute roast which seems just about perfect. These beans kicked off a lot of chaff, but overall roasting was standard. They didn’t give off too much smoke, just a nice aroma.

Like many beans from the region, these are dry processed. I knew that there were different methods for roasting, but hadn’t known much about the various methods for processing the beans before they arrive at my doorstep. Dry processing is a natural processing technique in which the cherries (did you know that coffee beans were called cherries when they are fresh off the tree? I didn’t!) are simply laid out in thin layers and placed in the sun to dry. Once completely dry, from 10 days to two weeks, the pulp is removed and the bean is the result. Dry processing is common in areas where equipment is scarce.

Wet processing, a more common processing form, immerses the fruit in water and the pulp is removed through pressure. “Bad” beans float to the top and can be removed which yields a more predictable cup. Dry processed beans will vary more from batch to batch, so it may not be the bean for you. The batch I had was certainly delicious, but some cups can reportedly be funky.

Photos in this post were taken by me (Lara Ferroni) and are under a Common Creative license.