Melkalati Trading PLC is an Ethiopian-owned company named after a river that runs through the village of Tore Badiya, near Kochere, about 400km south of Addis Ababa. Established in 2018, it sources coffee from growers in the Guji and Gedeo areas, processing them in its facilities and selling them to exporters.
This coffee has been processed in the village of Tore Badiya, using Heirloom cherries harvested by farmers in the surroundings. It is clean and humble, with heaps of floral and stone-fruit flavours.
PROCESSING DETAILS
Hand-picked coffee cherries are taken directly from forests to coffee processing sites for sorting out underripe, overripe and insect/pest-damaged cherries. Only the best red cherries remain for pulping using a locally-made washed coffee processing machine called Agard.
Immediately after pulping, coffee is soaked under water for 48 hours (this is also called wet or washed fermentation); during this period, water is changed every 24 hours. The fermentation is completed after confirming that the mucilage is completely removed, and washing the parchment with clean water. Lastly in the fermentation stage, the clean parchment is transferred to a soaking tank where it stays underwater for 2-4 hours.
The drying stage begins with transferring the cherries to a space where operators stir them by hand, under shade, for 2-4 hours in the morning. Then, they are transferred onto raised drying beds where for 10 days until the beans’ moisture level reaches 10-10.5%.
To maintain uniform drying among beans, the parchment coffee is set under the sun for 2 hours in the morning between 8:00 and 10:00 AM. To prevent the coffee from the hottest hours of the day, the parchment coffee is covered with nylon mesh and plastic between 11:00AM and 3:00 PM. In the afternoon, the parchment coffee is uncovered for another two hours between 3:00 PM-5:00 PM. This is a routine practice carried out throughout the main parchment coffee drying period.
All images and information about this coffee and producers have been kindly shared by its importer, Condesa CoLab, and edited by us, Sample Coffee (unless linked to or credited otherwise).
Our new recommended brewing window for peak flavour is within days ~10-50 post-roast date.
We’ve recently changed into a Loring Kestrel S35 coffee roaster, which uses a different roasting technology from our previous one. Aside from reaching more nuanced and transparent flavours, we’ve noticed a change in our beans’ aging behaviour. Brewing between days ~10-50 post-roast seems to bring out the best of each coffee, but it may taste fine if you do it earlier or even a few days later. Test, try and adjust to find what works for you!
PS. Please note our packaging still shows our old recommendation. This will change in our next printed batch!
Need any brewing tips?
Head to our brew guides and find your favourite filter method—or head straight to our single origin espresso recipe. If you have further questions, send us an email. We’re always keen to help.
