Coffee Description
A beautiful cup showcasing classic Gedeo zone profile, with vanilla and bergamot flavors paired with fresh berries and sweet florals. Articulate, almost soda-like, it features bright acidity and caramelized body reminiscent of fresh summer flowers turning into fall spices and brown sugar.
Roast Level from the Roaster
Refers to the roast level in comparison with other coffees from the roaster
Light
Variety
Process
Washed
Elevation
1950 masl
Region
Gedeo Zone, Yirgacheffe
About Smallholder producers of Ethiopia
This coffee, which was a must-have for Onyx after tasting it on the cupping table at origin, comes courtesy of 700 farmers sold their fruit to a cooperative mill owned by METAD, owners of the famed Hambela farm.
METAD is a third-generation family owned business that began after WWII when the first Ethiopian woman pilot, Muluemebet Emiru, was given land by Emperor Haile Selassie. Wild coffee grew there, and together Muluemebet and her husband set about to transform the land into a coffee legacy that now includes a washing station and dry mill. These days it is managed by her grandson, Aman Adinew. With 28 permanent employees and 700 seasonal workers of whom more than 70% are women. Together with the coffees more than 700 growers outside the estate, the community is strengthened by educational opportunities--university, scholarships, and sponsoring at the grade school, as well as healthcare for employees. Muluemebet would be proud.
Gedeo Zone, Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia
Onyx Coffee Lab
Lest the myth perpetuate that specialty coffee does not come from Arkansas, Onyx Coffee Lab is blowing that particular urban legend out of the water while creating a few of their own. Husband-wife owners Jon and Andrea Allen have rapidly taken the coffee world by storm with their combination of art and science.
The magic starts with sourcing, with countless small sample batches from coffee importers and with direct visits to farms around the world. "I know direct trade means a lot of different things to different people, but for us if we don’t put money in the producers hands we won’t call it direct trade," says Jon. Once found, the coffees are carefully roasted in twenty-pound or smaller batches, then shared with the three Onyx cafés and over 150 wholesale customers in thirty states.
Clearly Onyx Coffee Lab knows what they're doing: this northwest Arkansas matrix of coffee know-how routinely cleans house at the U.S. Coffee Championships; Andrea Allen placed first in the 2020 Barista Championship, while Elika Liftee placed first in the 2020 Brewers Cup Championship, and they both went on to the 2021 World Coffee Championships to place in 2nd place for Barista and 3rd place for Brewers Cup. Onyx has been chosen by Architectural Digest as Arkansas' most beautiful coffee shop, garnered multiple Good Food Awards, and been described as the "Best bags of coffee you can buy online" in GQ.
