Ethiopia Banko Chelchele Lemongrass

Lemongrass, Sprite, Nectarine, Jasmine Pearl Tea

This time each year, roasters get a twinkle in their eye. And while it can certainly be off-putting to encounter legions of twinkly-eyed craftsmen, there's good cause for it.

It's Ethiopia season!

That's right, the new harvest from the heavyweight champ of coffee origins is officially landing, and what better way to kick it off than with a rare Lemongrass co-ferment from Yirgacheffe?

This lot comes from Chelchele in the Gedeb district of Ethiopia's Gedeo Zone (Ethiopia loves to make it as complicated as possible to announce provenance). It's an anaerobic natural that doesn't taste like an anaerobic natural. It's also a co-ferment that doesn't taste like a co-ferment. It's more like Ethiopia in technicolor.

Banko Chelchele handled processing for this lot. The method began with a whole-cherry, lemongrass-infused, ten-day fermentation stage. That week and a half put the sugars on steroids and created deep herbal complexity. Next came a twenty-day drying phase—on raised beds, of course—to bring the coffee to 11% moisture. For the grand finale, the Banko crew set the coffee to rest for several weeks to settle water activity.

This is one of the more refined co-ferments you'll run across. There's no Mike Tyson flavor punch, no cymbal-clash fruit note. Instead, it proves that soft co-ferments, handled with care, can be salt to steak—a flavor enhancer rather than a flavor commander. 

This coffee lands dry—dry as in the tannic essence of a jasmine tea. Lemongrass deserves credit for that dry feel. It's restrained and delicate and infinitely complex. It also feels very Ethiopian, the type of tea-like note that defines the origin's washed brews (kinda cool since this coffee isn't washed).

The lemongrass yields to a Sprite note, and the two become so closely matched that it's hard to tell where one begins and the other ends. There's a bit of blueberry backing things up, a touch of nectarine acidity. And finally, there's Jasmine Pearl Tea—the tannic vibe boomeranging its way back. That tea-like impression defines the finish, which lingers for days. Weeks. Maybe years. It's a fitting close to a brew that manages to be both boundary-pushing and traditional.