Roaster’s Report - Ethiopia Nano Challa

Source: Red Fox

Country: Ethiopia

Washing Station: Nano Challa

Elevation: 1900-2200m

Coffee variety: Ethiopia Landraces

Processing: Washed mechanically through delvas and then soaked for 12 hours. Dried on raised beds.

Cupping Score: 87

Coffee description: Historically one of the most coveted coffees in all of Western Ethiopia, Nano Challa membership did such an amazing job with production and processing over the last decade that the tremendous premiums they were receiving caused their membership to swell to a level that pushed their capacity as far as it could go. This year, they opened a new facility called Nano Genji a few miles away with brand new Penagos equipment along with dozens of drying beds to accommodate their growing membership. With 630 members between the two washing stations, they’re looking forward to continued growth and success—and we’re looking forward to even more, even better coffee this year and beyond.

Part of the larger Agaro region in Jimma, these coffees have always formed a core of the Red Fox menu. In fact, our relationship with Agaro extends back far before Red Fox was born. In 2009 when Aleco first traveled to meet the people behind the Nano Challa cooperatives, their coffees were flowing into the marketplace undifferentiated and undervalued. Once USAID’s Technoserve project, which focused on improving African coffee farmers’ lives by helping them get better prices for their coffee, established the Nano Challa washing station, Aleco saw the unique character of their coffee and invested in developing relationships with its producers, which have grown stronger to this day.

Nano Challa brings an intense, lively sweetness like candied ginger and a sparkling, champagne-like finish, a testament to the work put into these coffees during growing, picking, processing, and beyond.

Green coffee transparency: 264lbs @ $4.95/lb, August 2022 (Commodity coffee price: $2.26/lb. Why is this important? Coffee pricing is complex and multifaceted, and sharing what we paid is an incomplete picture, but we believe in sharing the data we have available, hoping that will embolden others to do the same, with the ultimate goal of getting producers fairer pay for their excellent work.)

Length of Relationship: Red Fox, since 2021.

Get more: Buy here

If you want to learn more about how we would brew this coffee, click here for our brew guides.