FUGLEN COFFEE HALO / ETHIOPIA

This year is our fifth procurement trip to Ethiopia since 2020. As usual, we went to Ethiopia at the end of February to select procurement plots. This is my first time purchasing Halo Washing Station coffee. I feel it is of high quality and the coffee is elegant and complex.
As you drink it, its expression changes little by little, with the aroma of white flowers like jasmine and the aftertaste of black tea behind the fruity taste. This is a wonderful coffee that gives you the floral aroma of Ethiopia.

I visited the dry grinding plant of an exporter called SNAP TRADING, which exports Danche, this time Halo, twice, once last year and once this year. Since it is a dry grinding process, there is a lot of dust and noise, but on both visits, the workplace was kept very clean, giving me the impression that they are actively investing in sorting equipment. At first glance, it looks like a factory, but the sorting work here has a huge impact on the quality and shelf life of the coffee, so this is an important point.

Each department is assigned a manager. This time, like last year, Mr. Bahar, the head of the sorting department, took us to visit the factory. In order to maintain the high quality of coffee, high quality control needs to be maintained throughout the entire process, from planting to harvesting to refining, but from his enthusiastic explanation of the equipment and processes, I could feel that this team is able to maintain high quality. Strive to create high quality products.

Haro Washing Station is located in Haro Veriti, Gedeo region. The coffee is made from cherries from surrounding small farms and refined at the Halo washing station. Hello ( Halo is located at an altitude of 2100 meters, near the town of Walka in Gedeo. Haro is one of the largest coffee-producing areas in Gideo, with a total area of ​​coffee plantations of 1,240 hectares.

The washing station purchases cherries from approximately 170 small farmers in the surrounding area. The average size of these farms is 0.5 to 2 hectares, and the altitude ranges from 1925 meters to 2110 meters. Since the refinery is so close to the farm, any farmer can transport their cherries in 40 minutes.

Cherries are harvested and sorted by small farmers. Farmers sell their cherries directly at collection points or stations, depending on the location of the farm. When the cherries are shipped in, the refinery does additional sorting.

The cherries delivered to the station are immediately placed directly into a hopper connected to the pulper (a traditional Agarde disc pulper). The coffee flows from the hopper to the pulper, where the skin and pulp are removed. The machine is designed for grading high and low quality (first and second grade).

The coffee is then fermented in water-filled tanks for an average of 72 hours, but usually 48 to 100 hours. The coffee is graded again in the tank to highlight the lower quality (less dense) cherries. The less dense cherries are removed and the denser, higher quality beans are sorted into premium batches.

Parchment (the thin skin of the coffee beans) is soaked in clean water and dried on raised beds for about 8 to 20 days. Dry in layers of 2-8 cm depending on the climate, type of table used and stage of drying.