Coffee Director, Fay, on our Limited Edition Ethiopian

Our latest Limited Edition, Ethiopia Sidamo Damo, has launched! Our Limited Edition series showcases coffees of extremely high quality, which display complex and interesting flavour profiles. This incredible Ethiopian microlot - the Sidamo Damo - fits this bill perfectly.

Processed anaerobically, this coffee’s flavour profile is intense and complex: sweet, juicy, and boozy with notes of tropical fruit, candied strawberries, fairy floss, rose, cherry liqueur and creamy milk chocolate.

Continue reading below for Coffee Director Fay's thoughts on our latest limited edition coffee release.

I was asked why I’m such a big fan of the Ethiopia Sidamo Damo and the answer is simple - this coffee exemplifies everything I love about high quality Ethiopian coffees and particularly, natural process cup profiles. It is clean, sweet, incredibly well balanced and bursting with tropical fruit, berry and milk chocolate notes…sprinkled with some rose petals, of course.

Sourcing and selecting our Ethiopian coffees for the coming year is always an exciting time. Everyone gathers in anticipation around the QC lab with their cupping spoon in hand, ready to taste.

We cupped the Sidamo Damo pre-shipment sample back in February and needless to say, eyebrows were raised, and jaws dropped when we tasted the anaerobic process fruit bomb. Deciding to secure this coffee was easy – we loved it and we knew you would too.

We worked with our green partner Langdon Coffee Merchants who sustainably sourced this coffee from exporter Daye Bensa Coffee, which was established in 2006 by Asefa and Mulugeta Dukamo. The two brothers grew up in the Sidama region, helping their parents cultivate their land for coffee as well as other garden crops.

When Asefa was a teenager, he became a coffee supplier to washing stations. He purchased coffee cherries from relatives, nearby villagers as well as his parents' garden and at the time, there were a limited number of washing stations in the area making business challenging for Asefa as he had to travel long distances to find buyers for his coffee.

It was during this time he dreamt of owning his own washing station so that he could help nearby coffee farmers by cutting down their travel time, transportation costs and ensure their coffee cherries were delivered as fresh as possible. Fast forward to 2021 and Daye Bensa is now one of the major exporting companies in Ethiopia, supporting 2500 farmers, running over washing stations, four dry mills and producing standout coffees - with a focus on traceability and consistency – Asefa’s vision and determination saw his dream realised.

If you like, you can read more about the story of Asefa and Mulugeta Dukamo here.

There are many reasons why I have a deep reverence for Ethiopian coffees – history, culture, deliciously complex cup profiles…more detail for another post perhaps and as I mentioned earlier the Ethiopia Sidamo Damo exemplifies all of the above plus more. It is an absolute delight and guaranteed to excite your Ethiopian coffee loving palate!