Get ready for an authentic burst of fruit that will brighten your day just as reliably as the morning sun. This naturally processed Ethiopian Mikiyas Bogale from the Amsterdam wizards at Friedhats Roasters is the perfect example of just how fun and irresistibly sweet specialty coffee can be. From the very first sip, you’ll be swept away by the intense and juicy flavor of ripe watermelon, which is immediately followed by exotic mango. The overall experience is rounded out by a deep sweetness reminiscent of good old-fashioned homemade apricot jam. The coffee has an exceptionally full body and a lively yet balanced acidity that you’ll enjoy in every cup.
Behind this exceptional micro-lot is farmer Mikiyas Bogale, who grows his coffee in the renowned Gedeo zone of the Yirgacheffe region—an area considered the cradle of the finest Ethiopian coffees. Coffee trees here grow at a staggering altitude of between 2,000 and 2,200 meters above sea level, where cooler nights cause the cherries to ripen much more slowly. This gives the plants plenty of time to concentrate higher levels of sugars and aromatic compounds in the beans. Mikiyas enforces exceptionally strict harvesting standards, handpicking only perfectly ripe, deep-red cherries. In terms of variety, this is a traditional blend of local wild cultivars, collectively referred to as “heirloom,” which are unique to the Ethiopian landscape and give the coffees their unmistakable floral and fruity character.
The resulting flavor profile is then brought to perfection through classic natural processing. After careful sorting, the whole coffee cherries are spread out on so-called African beds, where they are slowly dried in direct sunlight while being turned regularly. It is during this process, when the beans remain in prolonged contact with the sweet cherry pulp, that natural fermentation occurs. This gives the coffee its fuller, fruitier body, the deep sweetness of jam, and the unmistakable juiciness of melon and mango—qualities you’ll fall in love with from the very first sip.