Coffee nerds and professionals the world over often have similar stories about how and why they found themselves first getting into specialty coffee. More often than not, the obsession begins with a cup of Ethiopian natural processed coffee that changes their view on what coffee is, or rather what it can be. This is no different for a lot of our team members here at Topeca and for years we have strived to source the very best Ethiopian coffees we can find. Though admittedly in the last several years, the classic “blueberry bomb” Ethiopian coffees have been elusive, if not impossible to find, our efforts to track down incredible offerings has not wavered. The face of coffee production in Ethiopia has been dynamic to say the least, in order to get a better understanding as to why, we recommend reading the essay, “March Forward, Dear Mother Ethiopia” by Christopher Feran. While it is perhaps not a complete and definitive diagnosis of why the flavor profiles of Ethiopian coffee have changed, it is an important document for those who would like to learn more about the subject.  Our efforts to find cost effective and well rounded Ethiopian natural coffee to share with our community have continued. While this year, we sampled over a score of offerings from different regions of coffee’s native country, we found ourselves returning to a grade one natural from the Kayon Mountain farm in Shakiso.

Within Ethiopia, the larger region of Oromia is further broken down into what is known as the Guji zone where hundreds of farms and family smallholdings grow coffee as a cash crop. The Kayon Mountain farm is a single estate farm that is located in the town of Shakiso, which is where this coffee is grown and processed for export. We have been sourcing from the Kayon Mountain farm for the last five years and have been pleased with the consistency they have achieved. While the Guji region is home to some of the most prolific specialty coffee the world over, Kayon Mountain has become a powerhouse in producing the sort of coffee we can rely on from crop to crop, year after year. As usual, we will be offering this coffee year round, but this is the best time to snag a bag since it is at peak freshness, having landed in the states less than a month ago.