Historically, Ethiopia has often leaned on traditional coffee production techniques: methods steeped in history but slow to evolve or change. While these time-honored processes have certainly produced incredible coffees, they can also cap the potential for groundbreaking flavor profiles. Enter Tamiru Tadesse and the ALO team, whose innovative approach is rewriting the narrative of Ethiopian coffee. Through forward-thinking methods, they’re pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, elevating Ethiopian coffee to an entirely new level.
At Alo, coffee production is personal. Most of their selections range from just sixty to five hundred pounds, what we call true "nanolots." Nearly all coffees are made to order, with the vast majority being pre-sold to elite coffee roasters across the globe. Knowing this, we secured our selections well ahead of harvest by working closely with Tamiru, ensuring we could bring these exceptional coffees exclusively to Wonderstate.
This selection uses a hybrid style of processing that lifts the clarity and fruit-forward character that Chilaka is known for. CHDFW, the internal codename for this lot, stands for Chilaka Dry Fermentation Washed Process. Instead of relying on a standard washed approach, Tamiru chose to ferment the coffee dry for seventy-two hours, with no water, before giving it a gentle wash. Removing water from the fermentation stage changes how the microbes interact with the fruit and seeds, which creates bigger fruit tones, more intensity, and a ripe, rounded sweetness.
The result is a coffee that feels both refined and structured in the classic Ethiopian sense, yet layered with fruit and exceptional sweetness. If you tend to enjoy natural coffees, this washed selection might surprise you by checking all the right boxes and offering more depth with every sip. Once again, Tamiru shows how small shifts in processing can open the door to something remarkable.
