Oct 02 2008
Ethiopian Organic DP Dale Yirga Alem
After experimenting with the Ethiopian Koratie dry and wet Processes and deciding that I like my coffee a little dirty as opposed to clean, I decided to give another Ethiopian Dry Processed coffee bean a try. This one hails from Dale Yirga Alem and it is certified Organic. Now, it would be nice and politically correct to say that organic coffee always tastes better than the stuff that has been chemically fertilized, but that is not really the case. I have tasted way too many great non-organic coffees as well as a few too many sub par organic ones to really jump on the everything organic bandwagon. Actually, when it comes to coffee, I tend to be a bit leery of the Organic label because of the several bad taste experiences that I have had.
So anyways, I decided to get the Ethiopian Organic DP-Dale Yirga Alem from Sweet Maria’s not because it was organic, but rather because it was an Ethiopian Dry Process. Speaking of dry process, since some of the dried pulp remains intact on the bean after the cleaning process, perhaps it is better if the cherries had not been sprayed with chemical fertilizers after all. Not that there is really any chance of chemical residue actually making through the entire cleaning and roasting process anyway, still it is nice to be extra safe.
So anyway anyways, I roasted this coffee a little on the light side, since label suggests “amazing ripe fruit, nectarine, plum and berry. Spicey accents and intense aromatics” if I did so. I mean with a description like that, I would be nuts not to roast it light.I got a nice city plus to full city roast out of it using the 23 minute setting of my little Nesco Roaster and making sure to remove the beans from the hot glass roasting chamber as soon as the cooling cycle stopped (thankfully I have callused hands which are hard to burn). I let this coffee sit for a few days before giving it a try.
Lo and behold, this coffee, is hands down, the best of the trio of coffees that I had recently purchased from Sweet Marias and I think it may even rank up there in my top twenty list. It does have a real intese ripe fruit accent to it, followed by a clean earthy bitter aftertaste that can only be described as “organic”. Hooray for the organics, I finally found one that has won me over.
