Deri Kocha (Ethiopia)

Monastery x Hobbledehoy Coffee – Deri Kocha (Ethiopia)

The first Monastery x Hobbledehoy collaboration is a sweet Ethiopian bean ideal for espresso or filter methods. You will need a grinder. Learn more below.

Description

Monastery Coffee are a local team based alongside us here in Adelaide. A small batch, specialty coffee roaster, their strong ethos ensures quality and a genuinely interesting roast, while respecting all people involved at every stage from growing to production.

From the roaster Adam Marley / Monastery…
When we first sat down with Erin and Tom to discuss this project (among other things including Icelandic strongmen) they told me they wanted a coffee that suited them, their music, Hobbledehoy – a coffee that felt right – a coffee that like them, their music and Hobbledehoy was slightly left of centre. This is that coffee. What’s more, not only is this coffee slightly left of centre – unique and interesting, it is also some of the highest quality in the world – just like Erin, Tom and their music – just like Hobbledehoy.

This beautiful coffee is grown in the Oromia region of Ethiopia, one of the country’s largest areas. The farm is located in Shakisso Woreda, Guji Zone, which is in the Southern part of Oromia, bordering the Gedeo Zone (which contains the equally famous Yirgacheffe Woreda). The coffee comes from around 500 small-holders who hand-pick the cherries, and is grown at an altitude of around 1,800 – 2,000 metres above sea level. These small-holders then sell the freshly picked cherries to farm managers. Guji coffee is subjected to natural processing, which means the fully ripe coffee cherries are hand-picked, then sun-dried on African drying beds without any pulping or washing. Once the coffee has reached the optimum moisture level, the coffee is then rested. As a final step, the coffee is pulped, graded, sorted by hand and bagged-up, ready for export.

When roasting this coffee I attempt to do what we do for all the coffees that cross our door – which is do nothing but liberate and highlight the potential locked away in the seed by the meticulous work of the producers. However, that ‘nothing’ isn’t easy to achieve. In the end this coffee is fun to roast; some coffees are capricious, some are forgiving, some are excitable, in the end this coffee is simply fun.

The flavour? Firstly, let’s rework that to: The Experience. Do you like blueberries? What about watermelon? Now how about when they explode out of your coffee cup, bouncing around the room as a heady, intoxicating aroma that makes you go and check it was definitely just coffee beans you ground a minute earlier. Enough on the nose, in the mouth this coffee is sweet. Like, really really sweet. Balancing acidity reminiscent of Granny Smith apples is supported by a strong body and warm notes of brown sugar and chocolate. It might sound overly complex – convoluted, but it isn’t – it’s simple and delicious in its seduction. Just enjoy.