This coffee comes from a single farmer in the Chelchele area, part of the Gedeb district in southern Gedeo Zone, where some of Ethiopia’s most complex and aromatic naturals come from year after year. Gedeb is a unique area dense with coffee growers and processors. The farmer, Wako Jigsu, was born and raised in Chelchele.
Gedeb's Significance and Coffee Profiles
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 municipality of Gedeb itself 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 one of the communities in eastern Gedeb and includes numerous local cooperatives, as well as independent processing stations of various types, like this one.
EDN Ethiopian Coffee
EDN Ethiopian Coffee is an independent processor and exporter of coffee with processing sites in Guji, southern Yirgacheffe, and Sidama. In addition to central processing sites, EDN also partners with promising individual growers whose output is not only excellent, but also large enough to be sold on its own in the international market. Wako Jigsu is one of these farmers, who EDN admires for having deep local roots, a love of sharing his knowledge with surrouding farmers, and a commitment to preserving traditional processing practices. In their own words, “for us, this is more than coffee; it is a shared journey built on trust, respect, and a commitment to making a lasting positive impact—from the farmer’s hands to the final cup”.
Processing at Wako Jigsu’s farm
Naturals at the farm begin with carefully hand-picked cherries. Harvested cherries are thoroughly sorted to remove any debris and ensure perfect ripeness prior to being moved to the raised screen beds to dry in the sun. Drying takes 2-4 weeks, during which time the cherries are rotated continuously, ensuring they dehydrate evenly and avoid the over-accumulation of either intense heat or settling humidity. Once fully dried, the cherry pods are moved to a cool, indoor storage environment to rest and condition—a process where moisture balances across the coffee and water activity stabilizes, to help lock in the coffee’s flavors for a long shelf life.
