Ziedonis | Ethiopia, Yirgacheffe, Washed

In collaboration with “Ziedoņa muzejs” and “Ziedoņa klase”, we have made coffee to express and honour Latvian poet  Imants Ziedonis. 

We present you – Blooming! (in Latvian – Ziedonis)

This coffee is all about the beginnings! 

In nature, Blooming is the one that wakes up everything in the spring. It’s the sign of a new season for each flower and tree. With a warm touch Blooming opens everything up, signing that it’s time to wake up for a new crop.  

It’s hard to imagine a more suitable origin that resonates with Blooming than Ethiopia. Origin of beginnings, where humans and coffee have started their journey. 

Ethiopia’s cup profile is filled with Blooming from the beginning till the end of the cycle. From flowers to fruits, this Ethiopian crop blooms in your coffee cup with its aroma and flavours.

Ziedonis – the one that blooms everybody. With his words, he warms our souls making us bloom in our smiles. And with his ideas, he awakens our mind for a bloom of a new thought. 

A poet has a question for you! Are you ready to answer it?: Are you ready to bloom?

Ethiopia

Ethiopia is like the first flower buds of spring, evoking anticipation and joy while filling the air with bright, aromatic notes. 

As the birthplace of coffee, this origin offers a broad spectrum of flavours and aromas, ranging from citric notes to sweet stone fruits and juicy tropical fruits, all combining with floral, spicy, and tea-like nuances in a single cup. Ethiopia is renowned for its regions, each boasting specific taste profiles. For example, Sidamo coffees exhibit a tea-like profile, while Guji combines ripe fruit sweetness with jasmine notes and a hint of funkiness. 

However, the exceptional cup quality is not solely attributed to the region’s specificity. It results from the hard work of smallholder farmers who diligently cultivate and process coffee. These farmers seamlessly blend long-standing traditions with newfound knowledge each season. 

Region – Yirgacheffe

In this case, coffee comes from the Yirgacheffe region, which comes directly from the Ethiopian language tree, meaning – water village. It is well-known for its complex cup profile, ranging from a serene tea-like experience to the presence of fresh fruits and berries in the cup, sometimes accompanied by a winy aftertaste. The complexity of this region’s coffee can be attributed to its soil, altitude, and climate, which slow the ripening process of cherries, allowing for a more intricate taste profile to develop. Despite its current recognition, Yirgacheffe was once classified under the Gedeo zone as a woreda (district) and blended with other regions. 

Processing 

Coffee cherries are harvested and delivered to the farm’s washing station, where they are hand-sorted to remove unripe and defective cherries. Subsequently, the cherries undergo mechanical pulping, and the beans are washed immediately in specially-made baths filled with clean water. The beans are then dried on African beds under shade and transferred to a dry mill to separate the beans from the husk. Finally, they are packed into 60kg bags.