Yirgacheffe Coffee Region

Yirgacheffe is a district in the Gedeo highlands at around 1,800 to 2,200 metres whose coffees are among the most recognisable in the world: washed, floral, citric and tea-like, distinct enough that the name functions as a style as much as an origin. The trees are heirloom varieties grown in smallholder gardens under shade rather than on plantations, and cherries are delivered to washing stations where they are pulped, fermented in tanks, washed in channels and dried on raised beds, which is the process visitors come to see. Harvest runs roughly from October into December and the stations work at capacity then, with drying beds covered in cherries turning from red to parchment. Visits need arranging through a station or exporter rather than turning up.

What you actually see

• Washing stations - pulping, fermentation tanks and washing channels.
• Raised drying beds - parchment coffee turned by hand in the sun.
• Smallholder gardens - coffee grown under shade among enset and trees.
• Harvest labour - cherry picking and delivery through the season.

When to go

October to December for harvest and processing, which is the only time the stations are working. Outside that the region is green and quiet but there is nothing to watch. Roads are best in the dry months.

Honest expectations

Station visits must be arranged in advance; smallholders and stations are businesses, not attractions. Prices paid to farmers are a fair and uncomfortable topic. Roads in the hills are rough. There is little tourist accommodation in the district itself.

Nearby

Dilla lies north; the Gedeo cultural landscape surrounds the region.