Terroir Coffee Ademe Bedane Ethiopia Sidamo
I’ve just finished a bag of Ethiopian coffee from Terroir Coffee, the roasting company founded and owned by George Howell, one of the pioneers of the specialty coffee industry. Terroir Coffee was the first roasting company to really spark my imagination, back a little over a year ago when I first began reading and learning about coffee. Since then, it’s probably been a year since I tried one of their coffees, and so it was fun to get back in touch with their coffees.
What has always interested me about Terroir is the earnestness with which they promote specialty coffee and the farmers that grow it. All of their coffees are identified by the farm/coop that produced the coffee, and on their website most of the coffees that are listed include information about the growers, the region, and specifics about the varietal, geography, and harvesting of the coffee. Alongside this their website has a solid lineup of informational articles about coffee in general. Of particular note is George Howell’s “The Long Road To Coffee Quality”, a series of articles that he has been writing and publishing in the company’s weekly newsletter.
The company’s mission is clearly inspired by equal parts education and evangelism, and after looking at Howell’s coffee-industry history this is no surprise. After discovering high-quality coffee in northern California in the 1970’s, Howell moved to Boston and started the Coffee Connection, a series of coffee shops throughout New England. At the time (this is pre-Starbucks) the product that Coffee Connection was offering was wholly unique, and the company gradually became pretty successful. In fact, I remember a Coffee Connection in the town I went to college in, and distinctly remember that the coffee it served was easily the best in town.
In the mid-1990’s Howell sold the Coffee Connection to the green giant, Starbucks. Part of the sale included a no-complete clause that Howell had to abide by for several years, and so his role in the specialty-coffee industry changed at this point. He worked as a consultant to coffee growers and governments, and established the Cup of Excellence, a series of annual award competitions for coffee industries in Latin America, South America, and Africa.
And then in 2004, after the no-compete clause had expired and Cup of Excellence was finding success, he founded Terroir Coffee with the mission of recognizing the “fundamental role and identity [of coffee growers] in the production of high quality coffees”. Today, the company offers coffees from 10 different countries, each identified with a specific producer.
Last Spring and Summer I tried a number of their coffees, and enjoyed them all to some extent. But the reality is that I wasn’t ready for these coffees. They were all generally light-to-medium roasts, and given that most of the coffees I drank at that time were dark roasts, I wasn’t prepared for the bright acidity that was such a feature of the Terroir coffees. It really wasn’t until I began drinking coffees such as this consistently that I got the hang of them and could both relate to and enjoy what was in the cup.
And so when I recently ran out of coffee at home, it seemed like the perfect time to give Terroir Coffee a chance once again. Luckily, a coffee shop near our house is supplied by Terroir and sells some of their coffees in 12oz. bags. So, while the coffee is not the freshest (this bag was roasted in late March), I at least know that it’s been taken care of since having been roasted.
Ademe Bedane is a privately-owned washing station in the Sidamo region of Ethiopia, adjacent to the more famous Yirgacheffe region. The washing station buys coffee cherries from the local farmers and processes them using the washed method. The cherries, which were harvested in December and January, are all grown between 5000-6000 feet above sea level and are made up of a number of local varieties.
The nose has light scents of red fruits layered over a deep base of creamy milk chocolate. The palate is intriguingly earthy, with almonds, walnuts, and maple syrup. As the coffee cooled the palate became more expressive, with melons and berries coming into the mix. The texture is very soft and velvety, with lightly prickling acidity. The finish has a distinctly nutty acidity and an intriguing grapey sweet note crops up, almost cognac-like.
This coffee certainly confirmed my past experiences with Terroir in that it was delicate and complex, and definitely took some time to get to know. I was probably halfway through the bag before I really felt like I was able to fully enjoy the coffee. But it was fun wrapping my head, and taste buds, around this coffee. I’d like to go back and taste other coffees from Terroir, especially now that I am firmly in the grip of an African-coffee extravaganza*. Next time I will definitely order direct, just to ensure that I’m getting a chance to try them at their freshest best.
*Stay tuned, three bags of coffee from Stumptown just arrived on my doorstep, two from Rwandan and one from Burundi. I can’t wait!
Related Posts:
No comments yet.