Coffee Process
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CEO NOTES
The spread of organised coffee cultivation in Ethiopia - as related by lsrael Degefa.
Coffee spread to the highland areas of Sidamo where the trees are newer. In my home area, the trees can be 65-85 years old. Trees this mature no longer produce good, flavoursome coffee but farmers have been resistant to replanting due to the perceived interruption in their income. On a side note, in response to this issue Kerchanshe now runs a range of ...
Kercha District
Washing Stations
- Kercha Rare
Branch Profile
Kercha District
Location - Kercha Processing Site Altitude - 1,700-2,100 masl
Kercha woreda belongs to the Oromia region of Ethiopia.
Site decription
Part of the Borena Zone, Kercha was bordered on the south by the Dawa River which separates it from Arero, on the southwest by Yabelo, on the west by the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region and Gelana Abaya, the northeast by Uraga, and on the east by Odo Shakiso.
Production
Kercha has attained self-sufficiency in agriculture with coffee being a major crop. Many farmers in this area are debilitated by the lack of access to the market, with the majority of the zone being a full day’s drive from the nearest trading centres. The cherries are often ruined in transit, or commodified and blended into lower grades because of the difficult geography, and one way or another rarely gets a fair showing in the market. Realising the opportunity Israel Degfa established the Kercha processing site under Kerchanshe PLC in 2016. Under the processing site, the farms are certified by RA/UTZ, organic and fair-trade standards.
Processing
The processing is done in 2 ways; Natural And Washed Coffee Processing.
Kercha processing site has own dry mill and has a capacity to produce per 15 Bags/hour Cherries are hand-sorted from unripe and overripe cherries before they go into floatation tanks, where the cherries are covered with water. Any cherries that float are removed. Whole, ripe cherries are then dried in the sunshine on raised African drying beds, which are laid out on hessian cloth for about 15–18 days depending on the weather conditions. The cherries are covered with plastic or shade nets during the midday heat and at night. The natural process means that the beans are left to dry in the cherry after it is picked. This is a tricky process to do well, as the beans need to be turned over for a consistent and even drying. If some cherries are not dried it will give a moldy flavour to the cup as well as over fermented flavours. But when it is done well, it gives a sweet cup and a bigger body. In the case of kercha the natural process is what enhances the blueberry mousse character in the coffee.
Kercha Processing Site has its own wet mill and has a capacity to produce 30Bags/hour. Each day, red cherry collected from farmers are carefully hand-picked coffee cherries are delivered to the kercha wet mill and are hand-sorted prior to processing to remove unripe, overripe, or damaged fruit, in order to enhance the quality and sweetness of the cup.The coffee cherries are then pulped to remove the fruit and skin, and then graded by weight; heavier beans are superior quality and deliver a sweeter cup. After grading, the parchment-covered coffee is fermented in tanks of clean water for 36–72 hours to remove the mucilage (sticky covering) by allowing it to ferment and detach from the coffee. The coffee is then re-washed and graded again by density in washing channels and soaked in clean water. Then to it passes through three drying stages. Skin drying for 3 hours, slow drying for 3 days under plastic shade and final drying for 10–15 days on African drying beds based Environmental condition.