Ethiopia Benti Nenka

Altitude: 1900-2100 meters

Varietals: Heirloom Ethiopian

Process:
Depulped and fermented underwater for 36-48 hours, dried on raised beds.

Harvest: November - January 2025

Region: Gedeb Woreda, Gedeo Zone

In Ethiopia, farm sizes are exceptionally small. Most families tend just a few hundred trees in garden-like plots beneath a canopy of native forest. Yet despite their scale, these family-managed, organic farms consistently yield coffees that carry the ancestral character of this land. These farms primarily cultivate varieties such as 74150 and other Ethiopian landraces, which bring the immediately recognizable floral and tea-like qualities we have come to love.

Several hundred of these smallholder farmers deliver ripe cherries to the Benti Nenka washing station, with farms positioned between 1,900 and 2,100 meters. There, coffees are hand-sorted, de-pulped, and fermented in water for 36 to 48 hours before being dried slowly and carefully to optimal moisture. The process is simple and intentional, designed to honor the taste of the place rather than reshape it.

High in the Guji Highlands sits Hambella, a woreda that is drawing global attention for the singularity of coffees grown among its forested, garden-like farms. Cultivated beneath a canopy of native trees, Hambella coffees are only now beginning to be recognized for their distinct identity. For years, these coffees were blended with other Guji lots to create large Sidamo profiles, losing their sense of place and individual voice. Today, through our partners at SNAP PLC, Wonderstate is able to work with single-community microlots like Benti Nenka that clearly express the character of Hambella in the cup.

Though located near well known washing stations such as Halo Hartume, Danche, and Chelbessa, Benti Nenka offers a profile all its own. Alongside the stone fruit, citrus, and florality found in many Ethiopian coffees, Hambella brings deeper juiciness, greater resonance, and a more layered sweetness. What emerges is a pure expression of Hambella and Benti Nenka, a coffee that is juicy, weighty, and profoundly sweet. It lingers long after the last sip, carrying with it the stillness, depth, and wonder of this singular landscape.

Each year, Ethiopian coffees surprise us: they continue to deliver flavors and profiles that sing with elegance and complexity. This year, we focused on refining our purchases to once again highlight the terroir of various producing zones, each expressing its unique voice in the cup. From the Benti Nenka washing station, we find a cup defined by profound aromatics of jasmine and black tea, layered with dense peach tea sweetness, velvety honey and tropical tones, and a finishing resonance of dried apricot and honeydew melon. It’s a coffee that recalls the magic of Ethiopia’s forested villages where small garden farms, chemical free cultivation, and heirloom varieties converge to create something truly singular.