AvailableSpecialty
Ethiopia · Yirgacheffe
- Species
- Arabica
- Process
- Fully washed
- Grade
- Grade 2
- Screen
- 15+
- Crop
- 2025/26
- Quantity
- 120 bags
Jasmine · Bergamot · Lemon
Specialty
Ethiopia Specialty Coffee
Washed lots: jasmine, bergamot, citrus, tea-like body. Naturals: blueberry, strawberry, tropical fruit, heavier sweetness. Regional character is pronounced and consistent enough to specify by name.
Specialty profile
- Traceability unit
- Washing station, within woreda and kebele
- Processing
- Fully washed, Natural (sun-dried), Honey and anaerobic (limited)
- Altitude
- 1,500–2,300 m
- Harvest
- October–January, varying by region and altitude
- Export window
- December–August, with the freshest arrivals January–April
- Packaging
- 60 kg jute; specialty lots frequently in GrainPro or vacuum packs
Overwhelmingly smallholder and garden-coffee based, with thousands of indigenous landrace populations alongside released JARC selections. Washing stations aggregate cherry from surrounding kebeles, which sets the practical unit of traceability.
What a specialty offer from this origin includes
Lot identity at the level shown above, the process detail the station records, moisture and water activity with the measurement methods stated, a screen analysis, a defect count, tasting notes, and a cupping score where the lot has been cupped — with the protocol named. We do not publish estimated scores.
Grades
Specialty grade designations
Grades used for Ethiopia specialty separations. They describe preparation and size — the cup is confirmed on the sample.
| Grade | What it encodes | Screen |
|---|---|---|
| Ethiopia Grade 1 | The tightest raw-defect class in the national classification, combined with a cup evaluation. Applied to both washed and natural preparations. | — |
| Ethiopia Grade 2 | A slightly wider defect allowance than Grade 1 while remaining an export specialty class. Very widely traded for washed Yirgacheffe and Sidama. | — |
| Ethiopia Grade 3 | Most often seen on naturals, where the classification tolerates more raw defects than the washed equivalent at the same number. | — |
| Q1 and Q2 specialty classification | Cup-score bands applied to specialty parcels in the exchange system, used alongside the numeric grade. | — |
Geography
Where specialty lots come from
Growing areas within Ethiopia, with the altitude and harvest timing that shape the separations available from each.
| Region | Altitude | Harvest | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yirgacheffe | 1,750–2,200 m | October–January | A district inside the Gedeo zone whose name has become a quality designation in its own right. Washed lots are the reference point for floral, citric Ethiopian coffee. |
| Sidama (Sidamo) | 1,500–2,200 m | October–January | A large and internally varied zone. Bensa, Chire and Nensebo behave very differently from lower-lying areas, so station-level identity matters more than the regional name. |
| Guji | 1,700–2,300 m | October–January | Separated administratively from Sidama and now traded under its own name. Hambela, Shakiso and Uraga produce some of the most intense naturals in the country. |
| Limu | 1,400–2,000 m | October–January | Western Oromia. Historically a plantation and cooperative area, producing balanced, winey washed coffee with moderate acidity. |
| Harrar | 1,400–2,100 m | October–February | Eastern highlands, dry-processed by tradition and necessity. Longberry and shortberry separations, with a heavy, wine-and-blueberry profile when well dried. |
| Djimma (Jimma) | 1,400–1,900 m | October–January | The largest-volume Ethiopian area and the backbone of commercial Ethiopian supply. Grade 4 and 5 naturals from here feed blends worldwide. |
| Kaffa & Bench Maji | 1,400–2,000 m | October–January | South-western forest coffee zones, including semi-forest and forest production systems with very high genetic diversity. |
Availability
Ethiopia specialty lots
- LimitedSpecialty
Ethiopia · Guji
- Species
- Arabica
- Process
- Natural
- Grade
- Grade 1
- Screen
- 14+
- Crop
- 2025/26
- Quantity
- 90 bags
Blueberry · Strawberry · Dark chocolate
Keep reading
More on Ethiopia
- Ethiopia Green CoffeeEthiopian green coffee: regional designations, the Grade 1–5 classification, washed and natural preparations, washing station traceability and export via Djibouti.
- Ethiopia Coffee Crop CalendarFlowering, harvest, processing, milling and export windows for Ethiopia.
- Specialty Coffee ScoringHow specialty coffee is assessed: descriptive versus affective evaluation, defect thresholds, and what "specialty" actually means commercially.
- Coffee CuppingHow professional coffee cupping works: sample roasting, grind, ratio, water, the break, and the controls that make one table’s results comparable with another’s.
- Green Coffee Sample EvaluationHow to evaluate a green coffee sample: sample types, physical analysis, sample roasting, cupping, record-keeping and what to do when a sample disappoints.
- Coffee TraceabilityHow coffee traceability actually works from plot to container: the levels of separation available, where identity is lost, and what records support each level.