Ethiopia Konga (Washed)

12oz Raspberry, cherry, dark chocolate Region: Konga, Yirgacheffe, Gedeb, Gedeo Producer: Takele Mammo Denbi Coop: Takele Mammo Denbi Varietal: Indigenous heirloom cultivars Process: Washed The creation of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) in 2008 significantly limited farm-level traceability. In a noble effort to reduce nepotism and fraudulent marketing by bad actors in the chain (both of which directly hurt farmers’ chances in the market), the Exchange instituted a nationalized system of purely empirical quality analysis. This was achieved by anonymizing coffee deliveries to government-run sensory analysis hubs throughout the country. In these labs, samples would be cupped and the entire lot would then be profiled by region and grade only, for internal auction to exporters. Where all of this backfired was in relationship markets: longtime microlot buyers could risk losing access to very established producer partnerships as their coffees were blinded in the Exchange; and, enterpr