Ethiopia Wote Konga Natural
Roast: Light
Region: Konga Kebele, Yirgacheffe Zone
Farm: Wote Konga Washing Station
Process: Natural
Altitude: 1,800m-2,200m
Variety: Heirloom (Grade 1)
Cup: Blueberry, Peanut Butter Cup, Honeysuckle
Cupping Notes
This coffee is going to be a Peregrine legend. In some ways, it actually already is. . .
Let me explain.
A number of years ago, when Stephen was originally gaining interest in specialty coffee, he had a coffee that opened his eyes a little wider. That coffee was a natural-processed coffee from Ethiopia called Wote Konga. It was bursting with blueberry notes.
That coffee left an indelible impression on Stephen. To him, it became the Ethiopian natural that all others must be compared to.
Earlier this year, Stephen inquired (on a whim) of our partners at Mercon Specialty about such a coffee. He described the big blueberry notes he tasted all those years ago. He even remembered the name: “Wote Konga.” Would you believe they were helping source that same exact coffee all these years later?
It feels like fate.
Jump into our new favorite coffee with us.
Blueberry. This is the attention getter. For lovers of natural coffees, blueberry is one of the most desirable and sought-after flavors that you can have. How does one exactly describe a blueberry? I don’t know if I can! There’s a beautiful combo of gentle acidity and sweetness at play. I most associate blueberry with the Blue’s Clues fruit snacks of my childhood. Ah…sweet memories.
Peanut Butter Cup. There is a wonderful combination at present. In addition to the sweetness of the blueberry, there is quite a bit of nuttiness. Perhaps the only thing that could top blueberry (for me personally) would be peanut butter. It’s here. Sweet milk chocolate with the ever-so-savory flavor of rich and salty peanut butter.
Honeysuckle. Stephen has fond memories of honeysuckle flowers from his upbringing in Texas. He very quickly identified the delicate floral notes in this cup to be that of honeysuckle. You will especially find this present in a pour over! This delicate note finishes the cup nicely.
Taste this coffee today, and see for yourself why we think it’s a legend.
Farming Notes
This coffee is actually from a place our customers are now familiar with. Again, we are pleased to offer an Ethiopian gem from Yirgacheffe.
Yirgacheffe (pronounced “YUR-GUH-CHEF”), again, is likely a name you know if you’ve been around specialty coffee for a while. It’s actually a region of Ethiopia so prolific for coffee that even most outside of specialty coffee (looking at you, second wavers) have probably heard of it.
This is all for good reason. Yirgacheffe coffee is in the upper echelon of coffees in the world. There was a time, admittedly, when it was all that some of us drank. Even in running this coffee briefly as a drip offering in the shop, customers’ faces lit up. It is as recognizable to some as Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee or Kona coffee from Hawaii.
Again, all for good reason. It is an origin of understood quality and taste characteristics.
For more on the coffee, I take from our partners at Mercon Specialty:
“Yirgacheffe is in Southern Ethiopia, South of the capital city of Addis Ababa and completely within the larger area of Sidamo. Despite its small size, Yirgacheffe is highly prized for the quality of the coffee produced there. Producers in the region often cultivate “coffee gardens,” with farms of 0.5-1.5 hectare and interplant their coffee with other cash crops like bananas. There are over 43,000 coffee producers in Yirgacheffe who cultivate around 62,000 hectares of land, much of which is over 2,000 meter above sea level.
Our supplier for this lot, YKM Coffee Trading, has three generations of coffee growers over 54 years, starting before any coffee processing machines were used in the country. Now they operate 3 washing stations and 6 sun-drying stations in Yirgacheffe, Guji, Gedeb, and Sidamo, and they are one of the largest exporters in Ethiopia.
Our Grade 1 Natural is grown between 1800-2200 meters above sea level and is processed at a the Konga sun-drying station from neighboring smallholder farms in the Konga village. Grade 1 is the highest quality offered in Ethiopia and as such only ripe cherries are selected, and they are meticulously sorted to reduce defect. This leads to a vibrant and complex cup with lots of florals, lemony acidity, ripe red fruits, black tea and a perfumey candy-like finish.”
We want to give a heartfelt thanks to Emily and the team at Mercon for their dedication to quality and ethical sourcing.