Bekele Belaychow

About This Coffee

FREEZER SALE UPDATE (11/26): From Christopher: Perhaps as a consequence of resting—dense, high-grown, wet processed Ethiopians often benefit from a period of rest—or the removal of a mere 0.17% of coffee through optical sorting (bright orange quakers only), Bekele's coffee has grown only more vibrant, structured and articulated. We followed the original roast profile established May 20; the cup is floral-forward with notes of jasmine, apricot and pink peppercorn. An uncommon coffee—a smallholder washed coffee from the Southern highlands of Ethiopia from Bekele Belaychow, processed using a hand-pulper and a protocol devised by Christopher Feran—ripe with stonefruit, citrus acidity and gushing with floral complexity. From Christopher: "6 years after export liberalization, it's still rare to find single-producer, smallholder washed coffees from Southern Ethiopia. Large-scale, privately-owned washing stations dot Sidama, Guji and Yirgacheffe and process lots using cherry collected from hundreds or thousands of farmers each; without access to smaller-scale mills, smallholder-exporters nearly exclusively produce cherry-dried naturals.  "In December 2023, through my work with Crop to Cup, we bought Bekele, now a perennial supplier of Crop to Cup—as well as Basha Bekele and Mate Matiwos, two other smallholders in Bensa—hand pulpers manufactured by GEM Coffee Equipment, a company owned by the coffee producer whose estate served as our proving grounds for yeast fermentation in Ethiopia in 2018. Because washed coffees in Ethiopia must legally be exported, we guaranteed the purchase of any lot processed using the pulper. "This coffee, processed using a protocol I wrote, is a small piece of the resulting lot—the first single-producer, smallholder washed coffee I've ever tasted from Ethiopia, and one that showcases the dazzling potential of these coffees. It is exclusive to just Aviary and one other roaster in the world and presents in the cup with notes of nectarine, pink peppercorn, honeysuckle and bergamot with bright, structured acidity and a black raspberry finish." Read the blog post to put this coffee into context. This is a coffee with limited availability (~30kg) and is only available in 200g boxes.