Source Analysis by Chris Kornman and Joshua Wismans
Sourcing coffee from Ethiopia, perhaps more so than anywhere else in the world, is a collaborative effort. With something like 95% of the coffee trees cultivated in the country under the husbandry of smallholder farmers, it literally takes a village to raise enough coffee cherry to export. The washing station (even in the case of minimal intervention naturals) is the local hub for most specialty coffee in the country. While farming families may dry coffee cherries on their patios or lawns to be roasted and enjoyed at home, export grade specialty coffee almost always requires centralized infrastructure.
In this case, that infrastructure—including logistics and farmer support strategies—is provided by Tracon Coffee, a 30+ year veteran organization of the coffee industry, and our trusted supply partner. Tracon’s interests extend from farm and washing station ownership and management to running a dedicated cupping lab and a 30,000 square foot coffee processing facility that allows them to mill and finish coffee for export on-demand.
This year, in addition to our usual business of classic washed and natural coffees, we asked if Tracon had anything special in the works, and you better believe they delivered, sending us four of the most exciting coffees we’ve tasted this season.
We haven’t featured a ton of anaerobic coffees from Ethiopia in our Crown Jewel program. This is because it’s such a shame when those inherent flavors that make Ethiopian (and in the case Guji coffees) so special get lost in such a process-oriented style. However, the two we’ve received from Tracon this year do exactly what you’d hope they would. With this 3-day anaerobic natural from Hambela, all those floral and fruit flavors get put into the kaleidoscope of fermentation and arrive in your cup as a coffee that pops off with both funk and freshness, still recognizable as the birthplace of coffee.
From Royal’s vantage point, there are at least three distinct locations and teams responsible for the decision making and sourcing strategy.
The first is Haile Andualem and the team in Addis. The cupping lab there is our first look at quality, and our first point of contact with suppliers like Tracon Coffee, the processor and exporter of this lot. Not only is the lab a quality filter, but it’s also a means of communication and a physical representation of the trust that is requisite in a complex trade relationship. Haile is our first contact, our inveterate initiator of relationships and, in this case, our gateway to extraordinary coffees.
The second is our trading team, specifically Caitlin McCarthy-García, Peter Radosevich, and Max Nicholas-Fulmer, who manage the bulk of our Ethiopian selections. In this case, Caitlin did the work of container-building, solicitation of samples, and general guidance and council through the process of selection and approval.
The last, for Crown Jewels, is of course the team here at The Crown. We’re a collective, and decisions are usually semi-democratic, weighing various preferences while maintaining a high level of quality and considerations for menu variety, relationship loyalty, and more. For the 2024-25 sourcing season, Josh Wismans, our Tasting Room manager, took the lead on Ethiopia approvals.
The Tracon coffees we’ve secured this year, two honey processed selections and two low-oxygen naturals, are some of our favorites. This coffee is an ode to the complexity of coffee sourcing, a celebration of collaboration, and a delicious reminder of possibilities—both traditional and experimental—still latent in the fields of one of the world’s most important producers of coffee, first in our hearts for its history and culture, its gift to the world.
