Ethiopia Shale - specialty coffee

Shale comes from the Worka area of Yirgacheffe, where coffee is grown on small family farms, often alongside other crops and beneath trees that provide natural shade. The farms sit at an impressive 2,300–2,350 metres above sea level, where cooler temperatures slow down cherry ripening and give the coffee more time to develop its distinctive character.

Most farms are smaller than one hectare, so this is not the story of a single producer. Instead, Shale brings together the harvests of around 1,500 local smallholder farmers, who cultivate traditional Ethiopian coffee varieties commonly referred to as Heirloom.

After being hand-picked at peak ripeness, the coffee cherries are delivered to the Shale washing station, where harvests from surrounding smallholder farms are brought together into larger lots. Here, the coffee undergoes a washed process: the cherries are depulped, the beans are fermented and thoroughly washed, then spread out on raised drying beds to dry slowly and evenly.

Each stage is carefully managed to preserve the coffee’s clarity and natural character. Shale is therefore the result of many small harvests coming together in one place – and of the work of an entire coffee-growing community in this part of Yirgacheffe.