Why does the Guji Shakiso micro-region produce 90+ coffee?
Shakisso sits southeast of Yirgacheffe in Ethiopia's Guji Zone, at altitudes above 1,800 meters. Its fertile black soil, known as Vertisol, and wide day-night temperature swings give the area strong terroir for specialty coffee. Guji was made an independent production region by the ECX in 2010, and Shakisso became its standout micro-region, linked to high-scoring lots such as Nekisse.
Ethiopia's naming follows Region, Zone, woreda, and kebele, so traceability reaches down to smallholder level. Farmers pick ripe red cherries and deliver them to processing plants, where fruit dries on raised African beds and moisture is lowered to around 11 percent. That combination of terroir and careful processing is the source of famed coffee like the 90+ lots buyers watch each season.
As the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia's production region classification system is like a precise pyramid, nested layer by layer from Region to kebele. Southeast of Yirgacheffe lies a micro-region with an altitude exceeding 1,800 meters—Shakisso. Thanks to its fertile black soil and significant day-night temperature difference, it produces coffee flavors that astonish international specialty buyers. In 2010, Guji was made an independent production region by the ECX, and Shakisso is precisely the most dazzling star on this land. From 90+'s legendary bean Nekisse to Level Up's Flower Language, behind these repeatedly high-scoring coffees, what terroir logic and processing techniques are hidden? Front Street Coffee will take you deep into Guji to unveil the unique charm and market value of Shakisso coffee.
Ethiopia's administrative hierarchy consists of four levels, from high to low: Region, Zone, woreda, and kebele. The naming of green coffee beans mostly follows this administrative division logic. The Guji-Shakisso launched by Front Street this time is located southeast of the well-known Yirgacheffe region. Administratively, it belongs to Oromia Region→Guji Zone→Shakisso woreda, and is a regional-origin green coffee bean.
After Yirgacheffe gained fame, it gradually became familiar to the public and was subsequently separated from its original production region. Guji, with its outstanding geographical location and excellent cup flavor performance, was independently designated as a separate production region by the ECX as early as 2010.
Shakisso (sometimes also transliterated as Shakiso) is one of the most eye-catching micro-regions in the Guji production area. Its geographical location is exactly southeast of Yirgacheffe, with an average altitude exceeding 1,800 meters. The area has fertile black soil (Vertisol), and the day-night temperature difference is very pronounced, providing exceptional terroir conditions for producing high-quality specialty coffee.
Local coffee production is almost entirely in the form of individual smallholders. Each harvest season, farmers pick fully ripe red cherries from around their homes and send them to processing plants. During processing, the coffee fruit is placed on well-ventilated African raised beds to control temperature and fermentation degree. After removing the pulp, the moisture content is reduced to the range of 11.5% to 12%. After all post-processing and resting operations are completed, the coffee is exported through the ECX Ethiopia Commodity Exchange bidding system. Local exporters or international buyers compete to find their preferred green coffee beans according to this system.
In recent years, the most closely watched production region in Ethiopia is undoubtedly Yirgacheffe. Guji-Shakisso is less well-known compared to Yirgacheffe, but under the trend of a sharp overall price increase for Yirgacheffe in 2015, international specialty buyers began to turn to other neighboring production regions, such as Sidamo, Limu, Jimma, etc. Many production areas and producers with potential have been discovered one after another. For example, Limu Gera and Jimma Agaro Yukro previously launched by Front Street are all specialty beans of outstanding quality.
The coffee from Guji-Shakisso is actually quite unique, and the coffee it produces frequently attracts market attention. Ninty Plus's legendary bean Nekisse, launched at the end of 2009, originally meant "Nectar from Shakisso," and both its source production area and name are taken from Shakisso. Another Level Up release, Flower Language (Derar Ela), also from the Shakisso production area, repeatedly won praise from industry professionals last year and achieved an excellent score of 95 points from Coffee Review in April 2014.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
