Adorsi Washed
Bright and juicy with sugarcane sweetness. Orange, passionfruit and nectarine with black tea on the finish.
Adorsi is a beautiful washing station located near the village of Aricha in the heart of Yirgacheffe, one of the world’s most celebrated coffee-growing regions. Many in specialty coffee associate the town with some of the most floral and elegant coffees produced in Ethiopia; a testament to the quality of coffee cherry grown in the hills that surround it.
Adorsi is owned and operated by Testi Specialty Coffee, a family-run company founded by Faysel Abdosh. The washing station holds a special place in Testi’s story as it was the first washing station that Faysel acquired in Yirgacheffe, and today it is one of the most established washing stations the family own. There are many reasons why Faysel was first drawn to Adorsi. The site is in a prime position to receive coffee cherry from some of the best farmers in the region, whose farms sit at 1,900 – 2,000 meters above sea level. The washing station itself also sits at a high elevation, and this, combined with Aricha’s cool climate, allows coffee to dry slowly, and develop greater complexity and sweetness. The site also sits alongside the Wogida river which provides water for processing.
Beyond the breathtaking views it overlooks, what is most striking about Adorsi is the sense of community that Testi have built and fostered here since taking the reigns eight years ago. There is a beautiful house located at the heart of the washing station, where coffee is brewed and meals are shared during the harvest. On our most recent visit to Adorsi, we were welcomed by the most beautiful singing – but it was the laughter and animated chatter amongst the team that echoed across the hillside, and the visible pride and care that was being taken to process the coffee, that stuck with us long after we left.
Adorsi receives coffee cherries from smallholder farms in ten neighbouring villages (kebeles). These include three that informed Adorsi’s name: Aricha, Idido and Gersi. The coffees from each of these villages is processed seperately, to provide added traceability and preserve and showcase a unique taste of place. This particular lot comes from the village of Aricha.
Each outgrower that delivers to Adorsi receives payment on delivery of their cherry, including a premium above the annual market rate set by the Ethiopian government. Farmers who are registered with the washing station also receive a second premium payment three months later or after the lot has been sold, based on what they have delivered. This usually happens around June or July (coinciding with the Ethiopian winter), which is when they would be preparing for the next harvest.
During our last trip to Adorsi, we visited one of the small-scale outgrowers that delivers to the washing station: Nisusse Salo. Nisusse and his family live on a steep three-hectare farm. Like most of the region’s farmers, the Salos grow their coffee under a rich canopy of native trees like Birbira, Wanza, and Acacia which shade and produce important debris and ground cover that acts as a natural fertiliser and prevents erosion. Families like Nisusse’s tend to farm organically, on tiny plots of land. Coffee is their main cash crop and grows alongside food crops like false banana, corn, grain and bananas.
ABOUT THE GEDEO ZONE
Ethiopia is incredibly diverse and multi-cultured, as it is made up of 80 different nations where up to 90 distinct languages and dialects are spoken. The Gedeo zone is located in southwest Ethiopia, in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region, and is named after the Gedeo people. The zone is bordered on all sides by Oromia, except for its north, where it is bordered by Sidama. Along with Yirgacheffe, it also includes well-known coffee-growing woredas such as Kochere and Gedeb.
With average temperatures between 15 – 18oC and healthy annual rainfalls, the region is perfectly-suited to agriculture, which the Gedeo have a long history of. Their unique system of agroforestry was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023, as its intricate, multi-layered design integrates mature shade trees (predominantly of false banana) and coffee, alongside other shrubs and root plants in perfect ecological balance, while minimising erosion and soil depletion. Coffees grown and processed along this terrain showcase an extremely diverse range of flavour profiles, and are noted for their intensely fruit-forward, tea-like, floral and complex character. It is widely accepted that the coffee species Arabica originated in Ethiopia’s lush forests, which is why their particular growing conditions result in such exquisite coffees.
VARIETY
This coffee includes a large percentage of local landrace varieties Kurume and Wolisho, along with other JARC varieties.
For many years, most Ethiopian coffees have been described as being a mix of cultivated and wild varieties, referred to as “heirloom varieties.” This is a term that is all-encompassing and used by many actors in the coffee industry to generally categorise Ethiopian coffee varieties that are from native forest origins. Whilst this describes many of the varieties found in Ethiopia, it does not fully acknowledge the varieties that are already locally recognised and cultivated, or those that have been specifically developed and widely distributed by the Jimma Agricultural Research Centre (JARC).
Gedeo is home to many landrace varieties that were originally selected from the forest and have been propagated successfully for decades. There are a six popular landrace varieties propagated through Gedeo, Guji and Sidama; these are Bedessa, Dega, Kurume, Mique, Sawe and Wolisho. There is little documentation on the history of these varieties, and it is hard to know if they represent a single plant or a larger “family” of varieties; however, it is widely accepted that they play a major role in the quality and floral flavour profile of the coffee from this region. While morphologically, these plants show differences (Kurume is known for producing smaller cherries than Wolisho, for example), most have been named after local, indigenous non-coffee trees. It is also likely some historical landrace names have potentially been applied to JARC selections that resemble them.
JARC varieties were developed using “mother trees” from Ethiopia’s coffee forests, and are now grown for disease and pest resistance, as well as exceptional cup profile. These were released by number, with the first two representing the year they were selected and catalogued (those whose names begin with ’74,’ for example, were released in 1974). The most widely propagated varieties were developed following a Coffee Berry Disease outbreak that struck Ethiopia in 1971. The selection process resulted in collections from 19 locations in southwestern Ethiopia, eventually finding 13 mother trees from the regions of Gera, Wush Wush, Washi and Metu-Bishari that showed great resistance and promise. The most widely propagated JARC varieties — like 74158, 74110 and 74112 — all descend from the forests of Metu-Bishari.
When farmers expand or renew their plots of land, they either prepare their own seedlings (from trees they are already growing) or receive them from JARC and their distribution partners, or from traders and exporters like Testi Specialty Coffee. By working directly with growers, Testi can ensure they only grow varieties that perform well on the local region’s soils, and that will eventually earn them better payment on delivery due to the quality of the fruit. Due to Ethiopia’s traditional growing practices, however, it is hard to guarantee whether a coffee lot is made up entirely of a single variety.
PROCESSING
This coffee was processed using the washed method, using clean water from the Wogida river. It is classified as Grade 1, the highest quality classification for Ethiopian coffees, indicating a great deal of effort has been put into the selection and grading during processing. Each day, carefully hand-picked coffee cherries were delivered to Adorsi washing station to be meticulously sorted by hand and in a floatation tank prior to processing to remove unripe, overripe, or damaged fruit, in order to enhance the quality and sweetness of the cup.
After sorting, the coffee cherries were then pulped within six to eight hours of harvesting, to remove the fruit and skin, and graded by weight; heavier beans are of superior quality and deliver a sweeter cup. After grading, the parchment-covered coffee was soaked in tanks of clean water for 36–48 hours to remove the mucilage (sticky fruit pulp) by allowing it to ferment and detach from the coffee.
The coffee was then re-washed and graded again by density in washing channels and soaked in clean water for 12 hours. While doing this, mill workers kept a close eye on the clarity of the water being used (and replaced it with fresh water as necessary), and checked the parchment manually to feel how much mucilage was left on the seeds. As the texture of the washed seeds changed, and millworkers notice slightly more traction, parchment was just about ready to be dried.
The coffee was then dried on raised drying beds and under a parabolic shade net for 5-7 days depending on weather conditions. Whilst drying, the coffee was carefully hand-sorted, and defects were removed. It was also turned regularly to ensure that it dried evenly and consistently. Once the coffee was dry and had reached its desired humidity, it was rested in parchment until it was ready for milling and export.
HOW THIS COFFEE WAS SOURCED
Since 2018, regulation changes within the Ethiopian coffee industry have allowed smallholder producers and coffee washing stations to export coffee directly to the international market, rather than through the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX), through a model called Vertical Integration. While the ECX has provided stability and opportunity for many Ethiopian coffee farmers, Vertical Integration allows for greater transparency and traceability as it enables a more streamlined coffee supply chain. Beyond this, producers who market and trade their coffee directly can access higher prices and more direct payments for their coffees. We buy all of our coffee through this model, working directly with our supply and export partners, Testi Specialty Coffee.
