Source Analysis by Mayra Orellana-Powell
This coffee is sourced from METAD Agricultural Development PLC (METAD). METAD is a third generation family owned business with a rich history that began after World War II when the Ethiopian Emperor awarded Muluemebet Emiru, the first African female pilot and family matriarch, with land in the Guji and Sidama zones that has become the Hambela Coffee Estate.
METAD is managed by Aman Adinew who returned to Ethiopia after many years working abroad at the executive level for multiple fortune 500 companies because he wanted to make a difference for his family and community. Through Aman’s leadership, METAD has strengthened the local community with employment opportunities including a workforce that is over seventy percent women, educational opportunities including sponsorship for a state-of-the-art elementary school with more than four hundred students, and healthcare for employees.
METAD was also first to partner with Grounds for Health in Ethiopia to implement a successful cervical cancer screening program for women within the coffee growing communities. METAD provides technical assistance and shares modern farming equipment with other local farmers. METAD also has the first and only private state-of-the-art SCAA certified coffee quality control lab on the African continent used to train both domestic and international coffee professionals.
Aillio Bullet R1 IBTS Analysis by Evan Gilman
Unless otherwise noted, we use both the roast.world site and Artisan software to document our roasts on the Bullet. You can find our roast documentation below, by searching on roast.world, or by clicking on the Artisan links below.
Generally, we have good results starting our 500g roasts with 428F preheating, P6 power, F2 fan, and d6 drum speed. Take a look at our roast profiles below, as they are constantly changing!
Somehow, Ethiopian coffees just work in roasters. I try not to succumb to believing that inanimate objects have some predilection to behave one way or another, or to make sweeping generalizations, but then why are Ethiopian coffees just so nice to roast!? This particular mark was my absolute favorite Ethiopian coffee of last year, and I was really looking forward to roasting it this time around as well.
For this roast, I wanted to achieve balanced, juicy fruit acidity with deep sugars and cooked fruit notes. If there’s anything that reminds me of fall in the Pacific Northwest, it’s blackberry bars. Could I tease that note out of this coffee? Let’s find out.
I started with a high charge temperature of 455F, P8 power, and the usual F2 fan and d6 drum speed. I kept the parameters there until a bit after RoR peaked at 38F/min, a bit outside of my comfort zone. I then swept from P7 and F3 to P6 and F4 at yellowing, and maintained that trajectory until 6:15 / 360F where I increased fan speed to F5, then again to F6 at 8:10 / 380F, just before First Crack. To finish off the roast, I reduced power to P5, and increased fan to F7 to really pull any smoke from the drum. This coffee performed beautifully, following a downward trend in RoR the entire time, though I may use a lower charge temperature for future roasts.
In the cup, this coffee had oodles of sugar, thick strawberry compote sweetness (no blackberry, drats!), and an interesting freeze dried blueberry note that just kept increasing in intensity as the cup cooled. There was definitely a sweet spot when this coffee was still warm, as a touch of tobacco came through in the finish when the coffee had cooled to near room temperature. This coffee will be great for simply any preparation method, but I am fantasizing about a 1:1.5 ratio espresso, followed by a cappuccino with the same. Fresh Ethiopian coffee is here, and Chelbesa takes the cake again!
