CROWN JEWEL ETHIOPIA ORGANIC RFA GUJI KAYON MOUNTAIN WASHED

Taste

Taste Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano 

It feels so luxurious to release multiple processing methods from the same producer. In a way it feels like we get to showcase their portfolio and the range of quality they can undertake in their operation. This washed coffee from the Kayon Mountain team has an ice cream Sunday-like quality that will transport you back to your childhood. 

Vanilla, melted chocolate fudge, banana and the left-over juice from the maraschino cherry – a nostalgic and delicious experience. The body is thick and decedent, which might be slightly surprising to some coming from this region. Top notes of sour cherry and hibiscus cut through the body with crisp acidity. Combinations like these are what Ethiopia coffee buyers dream of.  

Other honorable mentions from the brew analysis include snickers, spiced pear and hazelnut. Coincidentally all really great ice cream toppings? I’m not making this up!! We think you’ll love this ice cream Sunday deluxe. Clean, sweet and sure to be a crowd-pleaser.  

Source

Source Analysis by Charlie Habegger 

There are few entrances to Guji–a distant and heavily forested swath of land stretching southeast through the lower corner of the massive Oromia region–and none of these routes are short, or for the queasy, in any way. Guji is heavy with primary forest thanks to the Guji tribe, a part of Ethiopia’s vast and diverse Oromo nation, who have for generations organized and legislated to reduce mining and logging outfits in their area, in a struggle to conserve the land’s sacred canopy.  

Compared to other coffee-heavy regions, large parts of Guji feel like prehistoric backwoods. Coffee farms in many parts of Guji begin at 2000 meters in elevation and tend to climb from there. The highland farming communities in this part of the country can be at turns Edenic in their natural purity, and startlingly remote.  

Near the town of Taro in the Odo Shakiso district is Kayon Mountain, founded by Ismael Hassen, a native of Kercha district who was born and raised surrounded by Guji’s coffee culture. Kayon Mountain is a massive coffee estate with 500 planted hectares (well over 1000 acres) of select Ethiopian arabica cultivars. The coffee genetics were originally isolated and bred by the Jimma Agricultural Research Center, whose coffee agenda includes studying and distributing select indigenous cultivars of Ethiopian coffee to help domestic farms renew and remain disease-resistant as they evolve. 74110 and 74112 are some of the Center’s oldest, and are both descendants of heirloom varieties of coffee isolated from the Illubabor Zone, an historic coffee region in the West of Ethiopia—also a part of the Oromia Region.    

Kayon Mountain is a standout, in many ways, among the broader landscape of Ethiopian coffee. To begin with, estates this large are rare in a country defined by its smallholder systems: there are over four million coffee farmers in Ethiopia and the average cultivation is a few hundred trees each. Next, Kayon Mountain exports its own coffee—a rare standing for farms of any size in Ethiopia—and as a result can bypass the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange auction entirely. Third, the estate was founded in 2012, when the Guji Zone government began carefully approving land grants to groups with ambitious organic farming plans that included the preservation of primary forest among their areas. So not only is the estate extremely young by Ethiopian standards, but there is also an environmental mandate built into their grant.   

The Kayon Mountain team has increased production over the past seven harvests and is currently applying for an additional land grand to further expand their operation. In addition to their own planted land, the farm buys and processes cherry from 12 other local, larger farms which are also organic and Rainforest Alliance certified.  

Throughout the harvest the estate is picking from 9am-5pm and begins pulping at 7pm, after which the pulped seeds undergo a 3-part density sort and ferment by individual density class, underwater, taking between 24-36 hours depending on the climate. The decomposed mucilage is then rinsed and the clean parchment is soaked another 24 hours in fresh water before transportation to the raised beds where it will be hand-turned over the course of 2-3 weeks. The washed coffees are jasmine-like with a soft and sweet herbaceous quality, and often juicy in structure.   

Ethiopia’s Guji zone in many ways feels like the next generation of Ethiopian coffee. We see the marketplace itself evolving constantly in this country–the very exciting new wave of direct exports for one, the rise of private washing stations and boutique domestic buyers for another, and the foundation of modernized, large estates with quality and social justice equally at the forefront, setting management examples for producers worldwide. Guji itself however, as a place, a people, and a coffee, is like a newly emerged origin altogether. The forest-heavy zone with a conservationist spirit and uniquely candy-like coffees is getting its break now, and the world is better for it. 

Green

Green Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano 

Ismael Hassen and the team at Kayon Mountain bring us another incredible lot with great specs and a brilliant flavor profile. Higher than average density is expected from the region and the free settled and Sinar readings match up to this. Moisture content and water activity are in the ideal range, and with proper storage conditions, prevent premature aging.  

Indigenous heirloom cultivars include those that are native to the country and can still be found wild in some regions. There are many guesses about where Ethiopian Arabica landraces came from, likely on the Boma plateau, but this is not 100% confirmed. Heirloom cultivars from Ethiopia are thought to be floral, citrusy, clean — the cream of the crop. There are upwards of 10,000 heirloom cultivars in Ethiopia today.

Diedrich

Diedrich IR5 Analysis by Doris Garrido  

Guji Zone coffee will always bring excitement to the roasting lab, due to its potential florals and berry fruitiness. The washed processing method simplifies my roasting decision, as I prefer fast drying for this particular cultivar and origin. 

For this roast I spent just over 4 minutes drying, starting with a charge temperature of 456F and 100% gas power, running for 3 minutes and 29 seconds. Ideally, I would shorten the drying phase to allocate more time for caramelization. However, as it was my first roast of the day, I believed I had sufficient charge energy, but I didn’t, and I was about to shorten yellowing. I tried to manage this by reducing the gas to 45%, or at least I tried… 

Sometimes, Diedrich can be temperamental, and on that day the gauge needle fluctuated unpredictably on me. Despite my efforts to calm it down no arguments worked, so I gave up and reduced the temperature to the lowest setting. In roasting time, those seconds are crucial, and by the time I conceded, I needed to slow down the process to avoid losing more time in the Maillard phase. I increase the airflow to 100% from yellowing until the end of the roast looking to reduce the rate of change. 

While I typically use as much airflow as possible for Ethiopia coffees, after tasting Isabella Ikawa’s roast of the same coffee, I suggest that using less airflow might better highlight the complexity due the conduction energy during caramelization. And here we have a great source of sweetness to work with. At the end I achieved 2 minutes and 19 seconds on yellowing and 1 minute and 25 seconds on post development. On the table, the aroma revealed the floral notes I love. The taste, while not as floral as on the dry, was satisfying with raspberry, dark fruits like elderberry, with some butterscotch, dried fruits, caramel, orange jam, and tootsie roll, with a zesty finish that I thoroughly enjoyed. A very clean coffee, great representation of this region. 

Aillio

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.  

As we near the end of Ethiopia arrivals, we’re finding coffees that just have it all. Of course there’s the world-renowned acidity and floral notes, but there’s also texture, sweetness, and body that are just as worthy of notice. This washed lot from Kayon Mountain is not only Organic and RFA certified, it’s also what the kids so eloquently refer to as a “banger.” I’m getting old. 

I’ve been in the pattern of doing faster roasts for these bright and clean Ethiopian coffees. That was the case here, where I charged at 482F with P9 power and F1 fan. I kept up this high heat application until turning point, then ramped down to P8 and waited a bit to engage fan to F2. At yellowing, I reduced heat further to P7 and awaited the point where the rate of change ceased to decline on its own, then increased fan to F3. I then changed to F4 just before first crack started, and ramped down heat further to P6 to finish off the roast. All in all, a steadily decreasing heat application and steadily increasing fan speed all the way to the end of the roast. In general, this was a little lower airflow than I usually use, as I took Doris’ advice for this roast.  

Accordingly, this was a pretty fast roast. I finished at 397F / 7:50, and the coffee was smelling intoxicatingly floral right out of the roaster. I didn’t get a ton of floral in the cup, however, which leaned toward fresh fruits like ripe raspberry, limey top notes, and sweet salted caramel once the cup cooled. This coffee just kept improving as it cooled, becoming almost like some sort of confection. The body (as could be expected) also improved on cooling into a buttery smooth and eminently chuggable cup. One dares ask, can you actually chug butter? In this case, the answer is an emphatic yes.  

I don’t think it particularly matters how you prepare this coffee, it’s going to be enjoyable. Filter, espresso, cold brew, as an ice cream constituent… You’re going to have an excellent time of it. Through their elegance, coffees like this remind us how privileged we are to be in their presence.  

Ikawa

Ikawa Pro V3 Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano 

Our current Ikawa practice compares two sample roast profiles, originally designed for different densities of green coffee. The two roasts differ slightly in total length, charge temperature, and time spent between color change in first crack. You can learn more about the profiles here. 

I love it when we get the chance to release multiple types of processing from the same producer. The Kayon Mountain team has done it yet again with this washed lot. In the cup this coffee is extremely fudgy with top notes like dried fruit and cranberry. 

The low density roast of this coffee was mild, sweet and straightforward. Lots of milk chocolate and dried fruit in the cup. The high density roast had more raspberry, plum and greenish mango in the cup. Still had that dark chocolate goodness but with a higher acidity component.  

Doris and I recommend checking out the high density profile when testing out this coffee. Happy tasting!    

You can roast your own by linking to our profiles in the Ikawa Pro app here: 

• Roast 1: Low Density Sample Roast 
• Roast 2: High Density Sample Roast   

Brew

Brew Analysis by Katie Briggs 

Wow what a pleasure to get another delicious Ethiopian coffee here at Royal! This coffee is true to the Ethiopian reputation; floral, delicate and sweet. It will have you wanting to brew cup after cup, which I wouldn’t dissuade you from. In fact, I’m here to tell you which brews I loved the most so you can recreate them as much as your heart desires. At home or in the cafe, you’re definitely in for a treat.  

I started my brews off with a 19g dose on the flatbed Kalita Wave brewer at a grind of 9.5. I then did 50g of water for 40 seconds for the initial bloom. Then the last two doses of water up to 300g. I liked this brew! It was very reminiscent of black tea with lemon, we also got notes of jasmine and chamomile with a brown sugar sweetness.  

I liked the last brew a lot but wanted to see how it would do with a coarser grind. I did the same brew but at a grind of 10. I liked this brew a lot as well. Some of the same black tea and lemon notes, but with a bit more fruitiness this time. We got notes of orange marmalade and cherry, but still maintaining those floral notes of jasmine and honeysuckle. 

I wanted to see how this would perform on a V60 cone brewer for comparison to the flatbed. I did two brews on this device, one at a 10 grind and one at 11. I did the 10 grind first, and I will be honest it was my least favorite of all my brews. It still had some nice black tea and lemon notes, but we also got notes of watermelon rind and orange zest. A little bit of bitterness I am not fond of.  

The next V60 brew at 11 was much better. Seems that if you would prefer a cone brewer to coarsen your grind. This brew was very sweet and floral. We got notes of black tea with raspberry, rosemary and a caramel sweetness.  

All in all, this coffee was delicious! I would recommend a flatbed brewer for a more consistent brew, but if you wanted to use a cone brewer just coarsen up the grind a bit and enjoy a tasty cup! 

Espresso

Espresso Analysis by MJ Smith 

This coffee is truly something special. Not only is it packed full of rich and exciting tasting notes, but it also has a fair share of delightfully delicate flavors hiding in there. I honestly feel like I got a full tour of the flavor wheel while dialing in this coffee. I tried a whole bunch of different shots, but these two were my favorite… 

For our first recipe, we have a dose of 19g, a yield of 37.5g, and a time of 29 seconds. I swear, this recipe gave me a flashback to summer, with notes of limeade, hibiscus, salted caramel, and pomegranate molasses. Sweet and tangy, but still very balanced and drinkable.  

For the second recipe, we have a dose of 19.5g, a yield of 38.5g, and a pull time of 34 seconds. This shot was much more complex and had a little something that any genre of espresso drinker could enjoy. Heavy on the chocolatey sweetness, with just a hint of hazelnut, surrounded by a little bit of tang in the form of lemonade, orange, hibiscus, and strawberry. It even had some slightly peppery and umami hints to it. This was my favorite shot of the day, and I think, compared to the first recipe I listed, this one would pair much better with milk.  

As for my recommendations for this coffee, I would say that I definitely enjoyed it more with a medium to medium-high dose, an average yield, and a slightly slower pull time. Depending on what flavors you’re trying to extract, this coffee is very versatile and has a lot of dimensions. Overall, I think it makes for an exceptional espresso, and I highly recommend it. Hope you enjoy!