ethiopian queen city harrar

Harrar is known as “the coffee of Kings”, grown in the original coffee country and dried naturally on the trees. This adds a wildness to the cup which is also spicy, fruity and flowery, quite complex. This coffee is versatile, with something good to offer across the entire roast spectrum.

This coffee is grown in the town and region of Harerge in eastern Ethiopia.  The Ethiopia Longberry is the country’s best known bean, and is considered the best high grown coffee in Ethiopia.  Most of the coffee is grown on small farms.  The region consists of two rain periods; the light rain season takes place between the months of January and February, with the heavy rain season coming later in the year between June and September.  The soil is 50% volcanic, 25% sedimentary and 25% of other raw materials. The coffee beans are harvested between the months of October and December.   The coffee is prepared using the unwashed method; the beans are dried on earth or concrete drying patios, sometimes in stages.  The coffee bean is medium to large in size that is long and pointed.  The bean has a green-gray color.  The coffee is shade grown, but only in stages, 50% of the coffee uses light shade, 33% uses medium shade, and 17% use a heavy shade.  The coffee has a fair to light acidity, with a heavy body and typical mocha flavor.  The coffee beans are ready for exporting between the months of February and May. 

The highlands of Harrar are remote, so remote, that most of the coffee is carried by donkeys down to collectors below in the valley as trucks could not go to the farmers.  The way of processing the coffee is an ancient method going back to the beginning of coffee consumption. Women crush the cherry in deep wooden pots by hand and the coffee is naturally sun dried on the ground.  The coffee trees are two hundred years old and some reach up to a height of 6 meters (20 feet).

This coffee has a complex flavor, winey or fruit-like in flavor, heavy body, fair to light acidity, with hints of wildness or earthiness. This bean has established itself as a staple among specialty coffees, as an espresso component, and as a stand-alone, varietals coffee.  Rich, syrupy, floral, blueberry,  and dark chocolate.

In the cup:

Fair to Medium acidity, medium body, flowery nose with a wild berry start finishing with hints of dark chocolate and an awesome blueberry-ness.

Roast Level: