Both coffees this year come from the renowned Worka Chelbessa Washing Station. As well as being a washing station, Worka Chelbessa is also one of the area’s largest and most vibrant kebeles, long celebrated for producing coffees with astonishing clarity and fruit complexity. Here, heirloom Ethiopian varieties, the very genetic backbone of Arabica coffee as we know it, have been nurtured for generations, passed between farmers as living heritage rather than commercial seed. Small, garden-like farms steward the history and flavors of Ethiopia that remain just as brilliant today as hundreds of years ago.
At the Chelbessa Washing Station, over 480 smallholder farmers deliver ripe cherry grown on tiny family plots, where coffee trees are often intercropped with false-banana, maize, and towering shade canopies. SNAP’s team oversees meticulous selection and processing, ensuring every lot reflects the region’s pedigree: lifted aromatics, crystalline acidity, and an elegant sweetness that lingers.
This lot brings together two distinct expressions of Worka’s terroir. The natural-process component, dried whole on raised African beds and turned frequently in the sun, concentrates flavors into rich layers of ripe berries and tropical fruit. The washed portion highlights the classic signatures of Yirgacheffe: black tea structure, stone fruit brightness, gentle floral tones, and a clean, citrus-tinged finish. Combined, the profile is both generous and refined: a stunning representation of place, craft, and community.
Behind it all is care and labor that’s often unseen: farmers sorting by hand, station workers managing delicate drying stages, and a shared commitment to quality that shows up unmistakably in the cup. This is coffee as cultural memory, agricultural precision, and pure sensory joy.
