Banko Gotiti is part of the greater Gedeb district, which is known for its gifted processing climate and exquisite naturals. This special experimental natural lot was created by Tracon Trading, an independent exporter with select processing sites throughout Gedeb. Starting with the best quality cherry, the coffee was co-fermented with ample amounts of fresh passion fruit in an oxygen-reduced environment, in order to exaggerate the fruit flavors and acids inherent to the coffee. Gedeb and Its Coffee The district of Gedeb takes up the south-eastern corner of Ethiopia’s Gedeo Zone—a narrow section of plateau dense with savvy farmers whose coffee is known as “Yirgacheffe”, after the zone’s most famous district. Gedeb, however, is a terroir, history, and community all its own that merits unique designation in our eyes. Coffees from this community, much closer to Guji Zone than the rest of Yirgacheffe, are often the most explosive cup profiles we see from anywhere in Ethiopia. Naturals tend to have perfume-like volatiles, and fully washed lots are often sparklingly clean and fruit candy-like in structure. The city of Gedeb is a is a bustling outpost that links commerce between the Guji and Gedeo Zones, with an expansive network of processing stations who buy cherry from across zone borders. These processors (and we would agree) would argue their coffee profiles are not exactly Yirgacheffe, but something of their own. The communities surrounding Gedeb reach some of the highest growing elevations for coffee in the world and are a truly enchanting part of the long drive into Guji. Banko Gotiti is a large agricultural area East of Gedeb and includes union cooperative members that are cooperative-affiliated, as well independent washing stations of various types, many of which, like this one, are simply named “Banko Gotiti” after the community itself. Banko Gotiti Station and Processing The Banko Gotiti washing station is owned and operated by Tracon Coffee, an independent exporter who manages 6 stations total in Gedeo zone. A few hundred individual smallholders contribute to Banko Gotiti, each averaging 1.6 hectares of coffee which typically shares the land with enset—a fruit-less relative of the banana tree whose pulp is scraped and packed into cakes, fermented underground, and then toasted as kocho, a staple starch in the area. Most naturals in Ethiopia are sorted or washed upon delivery and then moved directly to raised beds to dry in the sun and circulating air. This “passion fruit natural” lot, however, involves multiple additional steps in an attempt to impact the final cup character. Beginning with only the ripest fresh picked cherry, the team at Banko Gotiti carefully hand-sorts the cherry for uniform ripeness and quality. Then, the cherry is layered into a large fermentation tank along with freshly cut passion fruit. The tank is sealed to limit oxygen intake, creating an anaerobic environment in which the fruit’s own internal sugars will drive the fermentation, rather than environmental yeasts and oxygen. This stage lasts 3-4 days, after which the fermented whole cherry is separated from the passion fruit and dried on raised beds in a single layer. During drying, the cherry is rotated continuously, taking 23 days to fully dry. Finally, the fully dried cherry pods are stored indoors in a cool environment for multiple weeks to stabilize moisture content and water activity. Once ready to travel, the dried pods are hulled locally and transported to Addis Ababa for final milling and export.
