Birbirsa Co-Op

CONTINENT: Africa
COUNTRY: Ethiopia
REGION: Jimma
VARIETAL: Mixed Heirlooms
FARM: Birbirsa Co-Op
FARMER: 80 local farmers
PROCESS: Natural
ALTITUDE: 2100 masl

Chelbesa Danche

CONTINENT: Africa
COUNTRY: Ethiopia
REGION: Yirgacheffe
VARIETAL: Mixed Heirlooms
FARM: Anserma Co-Op
FARMER: 500 local farmers
PROCESS: Washed
ALTITUDE: 1900-2200 masl

Birbirsa Co-Op

A great all-around coffee, this works well as both espresso and other manual brew methods. The deep chocolate flavors balance well in milk based drinks and allow the acidity and flavor to cut through the milk, leaving an overall delicious milk-based espresso experience.

Our recommended espresso recipe is 18.2g of coffee and 40-44ml total espresso weight out in 37-43 seconds. That is with 8 seconds of pre-infusion then standard 9 bars of pressure.

For pourovers, we highly recommend grinding slightly coarser than you may normally with our coffees and brewing in smaller batches. These types of coffees tend to produce a lot more fines than others, so it can clog the brewing process significantly slowing it down. We recommend brewing with only 12g of this coffee and 205ml of water. Do a 30 second bloom with about 40-50ml of water, wetting out all the dry grounds as quickly and evenly as possible. Then pour the remainder of the water to 205ml, finish with a little swirl and tap - visit our Youtube channel to see our method.

Chelbesa Danche

This coffee is a little more clean, with slightly less “body” or chocolate notes than the natural processed Birbirsa coffee. With this in mind, our top pick for brewing is a manual brew method with a paper filter like a V60. The washed coffee shouldn’t produce as many fines as the natural, but could still benefit from smaller brews and a slightly coarser grind. We recommend anywhere from 12-15g of coffee and 205-255ml of water (basically a 17:1 water to coffee ratio). A 30 second bloom, 40-60ml of wetting all the dry grounds as quickly as possible, then pour the remaining water, swirl and tap.

While this may have slightly less body than the natural it can still make an amazing espresso, especially one served without milk. You may have to grind slightly finer and slow the shot down more than the Birbirsa. We recommend 18.2g in and 40-44ml of brew out in 40-50 seconds, 8 second pre-infusion at line pressure, then 9 bars for the rest of the brew.

Birbirsa Co-Op

The Birbirsa Cooperative is located in Beshasha Badiya, Jimma, not far from a few other cooperatives we buy from. It’s on the smaller size in comparison, both in terms of physical size and membership numbers, with 80 local farmers making up its base. Beshasha town has very good altitude, registering at just under 2100 meters above sea level. It is conveniently situated along the side of one of the main dirt roads that runs through town, affording good access for moving coffee on and off the site. They only produce dry process coffees at this time, which is fine by us. They focus on doing one thing, and they do it very well!

Chelbesa Danche

Danche is the name of the small hamlet within Chelbesa town where this wet mill and coffee originate, within District Gedeb. This is one of the largest coffee producing areas in Gedeb, boasting semi-forested shade canopy in many parts, and altitudes ranging from 1900 to a staggering 2200 meters above sea level. The washing station Chelbesa is relatively new, having only been built in 2019. It is part of a group of stations run by SNAP Specialty Coffee, Chelbesa being one of their most recent ventures. The wet mill is outfitted with ceramic fermentation tanks, which are supposed to retain heat and speed up fermentation to some degree. Ceramic is also easier to clean than cement since it is a less porous material. They currently buy coffee from nearly 500 farmers in Chelbesa village. Also of note, the site is certified organic, though this lot was not purchased with certification.

Birbirsa Co-Op

Traditionally coffees are processed (usually washed or natural) based on what is available in the part of the world where the coffee is harvested and sold. Many times coffees that are processed naturally are done so because the producers don’t have access to clean water and must use these techniques to dry the coffee to sell and get paid. The Birbirsa mill is a great example of that. It is extremely small, and clean running water is limited this time of the year, so all of their efforts go to dry processing methods.

This means that after harvesting, the coffee cherries are kept intact and dried in the sun on raised beds and/or patios, being rotated regularly. This lends a lot more body and fruit characteristics to be passed along to the coffee. It also has much more potential for defects if not done properly.

Chelbesa Danche

This washed lot is just sublime. The Chelbesa wet mill is a slightly larger mill than the Birbirsa mill, with a little more access to clean water for processing. Washed coffee processing is a bit different from the natural process. After the cherries are harvested they are depulped, meaning the seeds (coffee beans), are removed from the cherries. There is still a sticky substance known as mucilage on the seeds that needs to be removed, so the seeds are placed in a tank or tub with water to ferment and break down the mucilage. After the mucilage is removed the seeds are dried on raised beds and/or patios until the proper moisture level is reached.

Washed coffees are generally known to be cleaner and more delicate. Many believe them to be the truest representation of the seed. We will let you guys be the judge of that though!