Why the Aricha coffee trees of Adorsi stand out
The natural group champion of this year's Ethiopia Taste of Harvest competition went to the Adorsi processing station with an Aricha lot scoring 91 points. Adorsi belongs to Testi Coffee, an exporter founded in 2009 by Faysel A. Yonis and run by the Yonis family. The lot comes from Yirgacheffe, where coffee trees grow between 1,700 and 2,100 meters.
Taste of Harvest is organized by the African Fine Coffees Association across seven member countries and works much like the Cup of Excellence. Cupping notes for the Aricha lot include grape juice, jackfruit, fermented wine aroma, citrus, and lemon, layered over the floral and fruity character that Yirgacheffe terroir gives its coffee trees. The Heirloom native variety adds further complexity.
Yirgacheffe, as the representative producing region of Ethiopian specialty coffee, saw the natural (sun-dried) group champion of this year's TOH harvest season cupping competition taken by the Adorsi processing station, whose Aricha lot stood out with a high score of 91 points. This article will introduce in detail the champion bean's origin background, processing station information, competition journey, and flavor characteristics. At the same time, Front Street Coffee will also guide you through the authority of the T.O.H competition, the concept of the Heirloom native variety, and the rich layers of grape juice, jackfruit, fermented wine aroma, citrus, and lemon that this bean displays in cupping—ideal for enthusiasts who love Ethiopian natural coffee to explore in depth.
Front Street Coffee - T.O.H Champion Bean Airuicha Introduction
The town of Yirgacheffe is located in Ethiopia, at an altitude between 1,700 and 2,100 meters, making it one of the highest coffee-producing regions in the world and a landmark name in Ethiopian specialty coffee. Lake Turkana, Lake Abaya, and Lake Chamo together deliver abundant moisture to this land. In the rift valley area centered on the Misty Valley, fog lingers year-round, the climate is mild as spring, gentle breezes blow constantly, and it is humid and cool; tens of thousands of coffee trees grow lushly here, creating the fascinating terroir of Yirgacheffe, where floral and fruity aromas intertwine in layered, ever-changing ways.
Adorsi Processing Station
The natural (sun-dried) group champion of this year's Ethiopian harvest season cupping competition was won by the Adorsi processing station.
The Adorsi processing station belongs to Testi Coffee, a coffee export company run by the Yonis family and founded in 2009 by Faysel A. Yonis.
Judging from the competition results, this champion lot scored 91 points, while last year Mudan scored 88 points in the same event, meaning Adorsi was a full 3 points higher this year.
T.O.H
Taste of Harvest (TOH), the "Harvest Season Flavor Cupping Competition," is organized by the African Fine Coffees Association (AFCA) among various African producing countries, and is similar in nature to the Cup of Excellence in Central and South America.
The competition currently covers seven member countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, and the Republic of the Congo. The competition is divided into two levels, regional contests and the all-Africa contest, and in the preliminary stage lots scoring below 80 points in cupping are eliminated first. TOH aims to select the highest-quality green beans from each producing region, with domestic and international judges conducting cupping and scoring according to the standards of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA). This lot won the championship with this year's highest score of 88.58 points.
This bean belongs to a local native variety. Friends who often drink Ethiopian coffee have probably heard the variety name "Heirloom native variety," and the vast majority of Ethiopian varieties are given this name. The reason is that Ethiopia has an extremely large number of varieties; it is like a natural gene treasury of Arabica. On the one hand, the varieties are so numerous that identification and classification are very difficult, and on the other hand, the Ethiopian government, for protection considerations, is unwilling to disclose specific information about these varieties, so they are collectively referred to as "Heirloom native variety."
Cupping flavors: grape juice, jackfruit, fermented wine aroma, citrus, lemon
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
