I first visited Mondul Estate of Tanzania in 2010, and soon after had the privilege of meeting the co-op director, Edwin Agasso. Edwin has devoted his life to discerning specialty coffee, and this I have witnessed first-hand as we’ve cupped many coffees together in his lab. Edwin is one of the vital reasons Mondul Estate continues to improve each and every season. Edwin helps ensure Modul Estate continues to upgrade every step of the process from seed to cup. This was clear to me on my visits — from the seeds they plant, working conditions for the workers, standards of coffee control, and overall milling operations.
Travelling through Ethiopia you realize how difficult it is to track and trace the grading of coffee as it works through the system. For example, because coffee is mostly grown in garden-like farms, it can be very loose and random as to who is doing what. It can be hard to discover which coffees are from which farms. As with all coffee origins, it is vital to have relationships with the right people on the ground in order to secure the best coffees.
When I visited the Mondul Estate of Tanzania in 2010 it was being rehabilitated by the Burka Estates owners. I was so impressed by this renovation that Cravens became the first roaster to purchase their peaberry. Normally the fruit ("cherry") of the coffee plant contains two seeds ("beans") that develop with flattened facing sides, but sometimes only one of the two seeds is fertilized, and the single seed develops with nothing to flatten it. This oval (or pea-shaped) bean is known as peaberry. Typically around 5% of all coffee beans harvested have experienced this unique quality and are often considered a delicacy. Twelve plus years later, Cravens Coffee is still buying this special coffee.
Ethiopia is often considered the birthplace of coffee. It is thought that coffee was discovered in Ethiopia as long ago as the ninth century and still today coffee is central to it’s culture. One common Ethiopian saying is "Buna dabo naw". This literally means, "coffee is our bread". I lean toward purchasing Ethiopian coffees that are of the Ethiopian Heirloom, grown in rich reddish soil and finished in the sun-dried natural milling process. Coffee from Ethiopia is known for its bright fruit-like flavors.
My stay at this small Sumatra coffee farm in Bener Mariah allowed a close look at their coffee drying method. No matter how a coffee is processed, at some point, it will need to be dried. For washed coffees, drying takes place after the cherries have been depulped and their mucilage has been removed. Coffee is dried in two main ways. The first is by spreading beans out under the sun on raised beds or patios. The second is by using dedicated mechanical coffee dryers. Coffee must be dried from approximately 60% moisture content to 11-12% moisture content. Coffee is typically dried on large patios made of cement. At Bener Mariah the sun-dried patio drying imparts a herbal, smokey nuance...
