The Ayla washing station

Ayla sits in the kebele, or village, of Bombe in the Bensa district of Sidama. It was founded in 2010 and is now run by the family-owned exporter Testi Coffee. Smallholders deliver their cherries every day during the harvest, from small plots where coffee grows alongside food crops in the shade of native trees. The station uses water from the nearby Bonora river and keeps each kebele’s coffee separate, so this lot comes from Bombe alone.

A careful natural

In a natural, the coffee dries inside the whole cherry for several weeks, which gives the fruit-forward cup Sidama naturals are known for. The risk is uneven drying and over-fermented, boozy flavours. Floating the cherries first removes the light, underdeveloped ones, and turning them by hand on raised beds keeps the drying slow and even. That is why this lot tastes clean and juicy rather than heavy.

The two varieties, 74110 and 74158, were selected from Ethiopian landrace coffee by the Jimma Agricultural Research Centre, partly for their resistance to coffee berry disease. Both are now common across southern Ethiopia.

About Guido Coffee

Guido is a specialty roastery, coffee shop and barista school in Bucharest, Romania. They test and choose a roast profile for each origin and recommend a resting period after roasting for every coffee. The range comes in three collections: Core for chocolatey, low acidity coffees, Explore for fruitier and more floral lots like this one, and Vision for rare and experimental small batches.

Brewing it

On filter, the raspberry acidity is bright and the honey rounds off the finish. As espresso, the cherry tart side gets more weight and the cup turns sweeter. Grinding right before you brew keeps the raspberry at its brightest, and a compact battery-powered grinder like the Femobook A4Z makes that easy at home or on the road.

Coffee details