Danche Natural, Ethiopia - Espresso

About This Coffee

Danche Natural is the espresso of espressos. A velvety smooth and sweet coffee, with flavors of candy-like fruitiness, floral notes, and dark chocolate. Works like a dream with milk! This coffee comes from the heights - it is grown at 1950-2000m above sea level, at the Danche washing station in the Gedeb area, Gedeo zone, and behind it are about 400 smallholder farmers operating in the area who bring their coffee cherries to the Danche washing station. Usually, the growing altitude correlates with the quality, as the coffee cherries get a lot of light, but too much heat does not strain them. In this coffee, these have come true, as it is a very delicious and easy-to-enjoy coffee! The coffee is grown organically, but due to the roastery's lack of organic certification, it cannot be sold/marketed as such. The area has a rich soil that produces a large harvest. The coffee farms of the smallholder farmers in the area are about 1-2 hectares in size, with about 1800-2400 coffee trees per hectare. The trees produce about 3kg of coffee cherries per tree. After collecting their ripe coffee cherries, the farmers bring them to the Danche washing station, where the coffee is processed for sale. The coffee is sorted by hand and floated to remove bad, floating coffee cherries. After this, the coffee is dried whole for about 2-3 weeks. During drying, defective beans are removed from the coffee by hand. In natural processing, the coffee cherry is removed only after drying. The Danche washing station is owned by SNAP Coffee, which was founded in Addis Ababa in 2008. It is a company focused on high-quality specialty coffee that operates three washing stations in Chelelektu in the Gedeo area, as well as two partner stations in Uraga and Nensebo. SNAP has three main principles, which are: to produce consistent quality specialty coffee, to transfer knowledge/skills to the smallholder farmers they work with, and to promote waste recycling. In addition to these, they invest in the community by supporting schools and building roads.