Heleanna’s station in Yirgacheffe

Heleanna Georgalis of the Ethiopian exporter Moplaco buys cherry from smallholder farmers around Yirgacheffe and processes it at her own station. For this lot the cherries were dried whole on raised beds and sorted by hand throughout drying, so underripe or damaged cherries are removed before they can affect the flavour of the lot. Raised beds also let air move under the fruit, which helps it dry evenly.

What a natural does to a Yirgacheffe

Yirgacheffe is best known for washed coffees with floral, citrus and tea-like notes. In a natural, the bean dries inside the whole cherry for several weeks and takes on sweeter, fruitier flavours and more body. This lot keeps a bit of both: the fruit is clearly in front, and the region’s floral character is still there behind it.

About AVE Kafferosteri

AVE is the roastery of Emelie and Andrée Victorin; the name stands for Andrée Victorin Emelie. The couple opened a sourdough bakery on a farm outside Ullared in Halland in 2019 and started roasting coffee there in 2023. They roast every coffee light, in the Nordic Roast style, and adjust the profile for each green coffee rather than using one curve for everything. Their green coffee comes through an importer that buys directly from farms, washing stations and exporters it has worked with for years. The watercolour paintings on the bags are their own.

Brewing it

AVE’s own starting point is 30 g of freshly ground coffee to 500 g of water at 92 to 96 °C. With a natural like this, stay toward the lower end of that range and grind a little coarser if the cup starts to taste heavy. Weighing both coffee and water on a scale such as the BOOKOO Themis Ultra makes a good cup easy to repeat. AVE rests its coffees five to seven days after roasting before tasting them, so give the beans the same before the first brew.

Coffee details