Crown Jewel Ethiopia Organic Banko Chelchele Hambela Natural

taste

Taste Analysis by Colin Cahill

This bright, fruity, impeccable natural coffee is a superlative example of its origin. Packed with juicy stone fruit flavors, and round, soft floral notes, it is a reflection of both a unique terroir and the immense labor that goes into ensuring consistent, clean processing. While it is an obvious choice for a pour over offering, this is also a lovely coffee to feature as a batch brew or to play with as a floral, peachy espresso.

source

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 university scholarships and sponsorship for a state-of-the-art elementary school with more than 700 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 has an expanding Out-grower program designed to provide technical assistance, share modern farming equipment, and provide certification programs for more than 5,000 local farmers who are paid premiums for their cherry and second payments after coffee is sold. Quality and certification premiums have also helped METAD build roads and community centers. METAD 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.

green

Green Analysis by Chris Kornman

All the components are in place for this lot of coffee from Chelchele in terms of exceptional green metrics. Extraordinarily high density is paired with moderate-to-low moisture figures and the anticipated small screen sizes common in Ethiopia’s southern coffees. The size distribution is quite tight, which should make roasting a little more predictable in terms of consistent heat absorption throughout the lot. Meticulous processing has clearly paid off.

While there are certainly true heirloom coffees grown in much of Ethiopia, it’s also true that a relatively small number of highly controlled cultivars — both lab-crafted hybrids and selected landraces — are often the main components of specialty coffees throughout the nation. The selections have not been denoted here for us, but it’s fair to assume they are similar stock to the greater southern coffee regions, hearty and well adapted for cultivation in this, one of the world’s most coveted terroirs. 

diedrich ir-5

Diedrich IR-5 Analysis by Doris Garrido

As we are in the Ethiopian season, now comes the time to roast natural process coffees. This can be not only intense and fun, but also a learning experience for me.

This Chelchele was my second roast of the day, which means that the drum on the Diedrich was a little cooler and I wanted to give this coffee a little push of heat at the beginning. I chose to charge at 392F and 100% gas. My approach was to get a fast dehydration phase; this would give me a chance to extend the amount of time spend in the yellowing and have time to get a good development phase.

One thing to notice in this Ethiopia Chelchele is that it has high density. Because of that I thought that it would take the heat well. But is also a natural coffee with low moisture content. That reads to me like I have to focus mostly before and during first crack. The chances of a flying coffee were very high.

I have to say that for now I’m trying to interpret how natural process coffees react to heat by reading all the variables I have, and to do my best to understand how it’s going to move. Each phase of roasting can make enormous changes in the body, sweetness, and acidity and there’s many variables to keep in mind.

I managed to get my Maillard phase at 42.45% using my charge plan, and by using the air flow at 100%. I lowered my gas to 45% before color change and kept it there till the first crack.

And here’s where the fun began! I got a loud first crack: the coffee was releasing all the moisture. I lowered my air flow in the middle of the Maillard (and I was probably nervous that I forgot to mark it on Cropster). Around 370F I opened it again. My temperature was getting higher, Chelchele wanted to fly so badly, at this point my first reaction was to lower my air again to 50% which I regret. Those final seconds are filled with a lot of adrenaline and I didn’t make the best decisions. If I can go back, I would lower my gas but leave my air flow open. With all that energy of this coffee popping I dropped Chelchele at 400.2F with 1 min 21 seconds of post crack development.

Cupping the next day I got a bright juicy cup with some notes of citrus blossom, hibiscus, kiwi and pomegranate. What I think of this coffee is that it is a noble bean, producers have done a great job, well selected and processed, you can see it by just looking at the green, and of course by tasting the final cup as in any way you wanted to brew it.

quest m3s

Quest M3s Analysis by Evan Gilman

Unless otherwise noted, I follow a set standard of operations for all my Quest roasts. Generally, I’ll allow the machine to warm up for 15 minutes until my environmental temperature reading is at least 250F, weigh out 200g batch size, and begin roasting when I’ve reached my desired charge temperature.  Read my initial post here and my updated post here.

Many familiar names from Ethiopia are beginning to roll in, and it’s great to see the Banko Chelchele again. Fruit-dried coffees tend to come last in the line of arrivals from Ethiopia, and perhaps we truly are saving the best for last..

Super high density, low moisture numbers, and small screen size mean that a heavy initial push will definitely be needed to get this coffee going, but that once it’s going, it will continue to cook without much goading. This happened to be my first roast of the day, so in my estimation it needed even more of a push, and I charged the coffee at 391F. What’s more, I used one of my older techniques and opened the back of the roaster to stop the flow of air almost entirely up until turning point. At 240F / 3:15, once the coffee was moving at a nice clip, I introduced fan speed to 3 on the dial. My only other adjustments were to drop heat application to 7.5A at 290F / 4:45, max out fan speed at 310F / 5:25, and reduce heat again to 5A just before crack at 380F / 8:45. A nice, even reduction of delta was the result.

I do feel like this coffee would have been a touch brighter if I had spent more time proportionally in Maillard, but there was still a ton of clear fruit in this cup. Consider starting with full heat application. Freshly ground and brewed, this coffee was a watermelon screamer. As it cooled, syrupy tropical fruit notes (jackfruit, ripe mango) emerged, and at room temperature I was enjoying clean mean nectarine flavors and a finish of vanilla powder and chocolate croissant. The Chelchele seems almost like a confection, albeit one that I won’t feel the least bit guilty about indulging in at 6:30 in the morning.

This coffee comes recommended for any brew method. I can’t imagine it tasting less than stellar when dialed in on espresso, filter drip, or French press. Quaff away, and enjoy your dessert.

brew

Brew Analysis by Colin Cahill

We have been spoiled by the excellent Ethiopian coffees coming into our lab and tasting room, and this natural process coffee was a treat to brew up! I pulled out the Saint Anthony Industries C70 cone brewer—a favorite of mine with naturals because it generally yields a super clean, softer brew perfect for highlighting complex fruit flavors and florals—and the Bee House brewer to see what happens when there is a bit more of a focus on body and balance. Neither of the brews disappointed us!

Starting out on the C70, I decided to start with a slightly coarser grind. Despite the thorough filtering with Saint Anthony’s Perfect Paper filters, the larger grind size, and a reasonably quick brew time for the C70, we received a brew with a total dissolved solids rate and extraction percentage that put it squarely in the middle of the SCA’s “ideal zone”. This brew was sweet and fruity with a tea-like body. The dominant flavors were peach, berries, and kiwi, and there were lingering, aromatic notes of earl grey and lavender.

Moving to the Bee House, with a Melitta filter—quite a bit thinner than the SAI perfect paper filters—we received a brew with a greater total TDS and extraction percentage, shifting into the “strong” and “over-extracted” zones according to SCA standards. This brew had a brighter, lemon acidity, clear notes of stone fruit, and aromatic notes of fresh basil and lavender. This brew was sweet and had a more syrupy body, with more pronounced herbal notes and less complex fruit flavors. While quite drinkable, I preferred the complexity of the fruit and floral notes on the brew from the C70. And for those who like a richer brew, we suggest you try this one out on a flatbed brewer.