We first came across this coffee all the way back in 2016 after being introduced by the importers that we worked with in Ethiopia at the time. We have been buying from Ana Sora consistently ever since and it's safe to say that this is one of our most popular coffees – when it goes out of season we're flooded with emails asking when it's going to come back... well, happy days are here again! We see a lot of consistency from this coffee and year-on-year it always delivers with those clean blueberry/floral flavours and a little bit of seasonal variation. It's our sixth year of roasting this coffee and Ana Sora is now the Ethiopian farm that we buy the most volume from as, for good reason!

Ana Sora is a private farm owned by second-generation coffee farmer Israel Degfa. He grew up immersed in various aspects of the coffee industry as his father was a mill manager and his mum sold coffee to commuters in the local bus station. Because he grew up in a coffee-producing area, he shows great respect for the farmers, both as business partners and as people.

The estate is located in the Guji Zone in the South of Ethiopia, due East of the town of Yirgacheffe. Broadly speaking there are 5 primary coffee producing regions in Ethiopia; Sidamo, Limu, Yirgacheffe (a subsection of Sidamo), Harrar, and Djima – each presenting characteristic flavour profiles. Guji coffees have historically been sold as Sidamo coffees, but today they are thought of as separate and are being more properly marketed as such. The local area is known for coffees with bright acidity and juicy, fruity flavours, often with a tea-like body. It is unusual to find private farms of 250 hectares in Ethiopia, the norm being smallholder gardens of less than 2 hectares each.

Coffee growing is popular locally, and Israel also sources coffee from the surrounding area. Each washing station has around 1000-2000 members, each with one of the small home coffee plots typical of Ethiopia, producing very small quantities. The area is populated by smallholder farmers who speak Oromife and are of Oromo ethnicity. In his role as CEO of producing and exporting company Kerchanshe, Israel believes in helping these farmers through education in husbandry, and also through financial assistance. Their passion for fine coffee is coupled with consistent reinvestment not only in improved infrastructure, technology and processes, but Kerchanshe also invests 10% of its annual profits into social responsibility programs such as building schools and providing clean water to the communities it serves. Israel has already built schools in Adola and Kercha and is currently constructing schools in Gelana Gesha and Kilenso Mokonesa.

The farm used to only produce Naturally processed coffee, however, in 2018 the farmers decided to build a washing station capable of producing washed coffee using the river as their water source. Since then, Ana Sora has produced both Washed and Natural lots. Israel generally pays a higher price for good quality cherries. After sorting, the cherries go into floatation. For Natural lots, the whole, ripe cherries are then dried in the sunshine on raised African drying beds for between 15-18 days depending on the weather. During the midday heat, the drying beds are covered with plastic or shade nets to protect the cherries from intense sunlight, then again at night to protect against humidity. This effort and attention to detail mean that the cherries dry evenly, yielding a high-quality coffee and a really clean Natural flavour profile.

This kicks off with a burst of sweet orange, with a delicate floral edge running behind it. We love this coffee each year for the blueberry it brings though, and that takes over from the orange, backed up by dark chocolate notes. The fresh blueberry hit fills out and lingers into the aftertaste, dragging you back for more.

Country: Ethiopia
Province: Guji Zone
Farm: Ana Sora
Owners: Israel Degfa
Variety: Indigenous Wild Varietals

Ethiopia Ana Sora Natural

We’re obsessed with coffee and the range of flavours that speciality coffee can offer. We travel the world in search of the best coffee on the planet, from some of the most outstanding coffee producers so that we can share those flavours with you and make remarkable coffee more available, sustainable and consistently delicious. At Hasbean, we roast coffee to order from our roastery just outside the county town of Stafford, provide wholesale coffee supply across the UK, deliver the freshest beans to your door, supply coffee brewing equipment and accessories and have an extensive range of coffee subscriptions so you get your brew just right - every time.

Ethiopia Ana Sora Natural

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Ethiopia Ana Sora Natural

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