Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Grade Zero Washed Aricha Kebele

A Royal Coffee exclusive, we’re so proud to offer a new category of washed Ethiopian coffee: Grade Zero. First launched in 2021, after several years of trial and error, “Grade Zero” is a custom dry-milling specification born from a collaboration between Royal Coffee and Aricha’s milling and exporting partner, BNT Industry & Trading PLC. The concept of the Grade Zero initiative is to design a near-perfect rendition of top micro-lots from southern Ethiopia, presenting a better-than-Grade-1 result, hence the Grade “Zero”. Once dried and rested, the parchment coffee is treated to extra sorting steps at the dry mill, including additional passes through the optical sorting machine and slower, more meticulous hand-sorting by the mill’s highly skilled team. These extra steps produce an exceptionally clean coffee. Royal started this program with a single washing station in Gedeb, and small volumes—only about 100 bags. These experimental microlots from a few years ago have grown into a steady, annual grade that we pay a premium for, and whose audience is rapidly growing. This lot is a full container of 30 kg vacuum-packed boxes. The Aricha washing station is an independent processing site named after the kebele, or municipality, in which it is found. The Aricha area is part of the larger Yirga Chefe (also spelled Yirgacheffe) area, one of 8 woredas, or districts, that together make up the dense and competitive highland zone of Gedeo. Gedeo itself, though a large and complex producing region for coffee, is often commercially referred to as “Yirgacheffe,” after the Yirga Chefe district whose famed coffee terroir brought notoriety to the entire zone. The Aricha station was originally constructed in 2009 and employs a processing staff of about 250 during harvest months. In addition to traditional fully washed coffees, the station also produces sun-dried naturals.