Ethiopia Ardi

It is well known that Ethiopia is the birthplace of the Arabica coffee species, but it also shares the distinction as being the cradle of human evolution. Ardi is named after Ardipithecus Ramidus, believed to be the oldest hominid skeleton found dating back to 4.4 million years. Ardi has been developed by one of our long-time Ethiopian importers, Samuel Demisse of Keffa Coffee. This year’s offering is made up of coffees grown by a collective of farmers from Odo Shakiso Woreda (District), located in the Guji region in Southwest Ethiopia and processed at Biru Bekele station.

Having offered Ardi over several harvests, we have loved this coffee for its consistent high quality and elegant ripe fruit and floral expressions. 

Despite Natural Process being the oldest method of producing coffee, high quality naturals require a great deal of care and work to achieve their greatest potential. It starts with fruit selection: Keffa pays farmers to pick only cherries of optimum ripeness. From here, they are spread out in a thin layer onto raised tables with screens to be dried in the sun. The cherries are monitored and mixed constantly to ensure even drying. After about 12-15 days the cherries have a deep burnished red and raisin-like appearance. They are stored in a warehouse and rested for about 2 months before arriving at a dry mill where the fruit and husk layers are removed. Finally the green seeds are size graded and fed through a colour sorting machine to remove any remaining defects.