Nine days in a barrel in Ethiopia.

When you see “9-day anaerobic fermentation,” you usually think Colombia. Maybe a high-end Costa Rican micro-lot. Somewhere in Latin America where producers have been pushing fermentation boundaries for years.

You don’t usually think Ethiopia.

Most Ethiopian naturals, even the good ones, ferment for 24-72 hours. Dry in the sun. Done. Beautiful, floral, classic. The coffee that made you fall in love with naturals in the first place.

This one spent nine full days sealed in barrels before anyone even thought about drying it.

If you’ve tried extended fermentation Colombians and wondered why this doesn’t happen more in Ethiopia, here’s your answer: it does now. Just rarely.

This is one of those rare times.

What's in the cup 🍹🥭

Passionfruit hits first. Then mango. Then you notice the cherry blossom florals dancing around the edges. The chocolate comes through mid-palate, grounding all that fruit. The finish is sticky tamarind and toffee, sweet, lasting, the kind that makes you immediately want another sip.

This is a conversation-starter coffee. Your guests will have opinions. Some will love it immediately. Others will need a second cup to understand what’s happening. By cup three, everyone gets why 9-day fermentation in Ethiopia is awesome. 

Details and Process 

• Origin: Gedeb, Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia
• Producer: Ephtah Specialty Coffee (Lalesa site)
• Variety: Heirloom Ethiopian
• Process: Anaerobic Natural (9-day barrel fermentation)
• Altitude: 2,200 masl

The process:

• 9-day anaerobic fermentation in sealed barrels
• 13-18 days sun-drying on raised beds
• 2 months temperature-controlled storage before milling
• Total time from cherry to green bean: nearly 3 months

Most Ethiopian naturals takes two weeks, maybe three total.

Why this is unusual:

Ethiopia basically invented natural process coffee. Hundreds of years of tradition, proven methods, reliable results. Extended anaerobic fermentation requires infrastructure, investment, and willingness to risk entire batches. It's the kind of experimentation you see in Colombia, where specialty buyers are hunting for wild fermentation profiles and willing to pay for them.

Ephtah looked at that approach and decided to try it in Yirgacheffe. Nine days in sealed barrels, no oxygen, controlled environment. Then dried for over two weeks on raised beds. Then stored for two months before milling.

The whole thing is pretty calculated for a region where most producers stick to what works.

How we're roasting it 

How we're roasting it:

Light+ to preserve all that tropical fruit intensity while letting the chocolate and toffee develop. Too dark and you lose the passionfruit. Too light and it tastes unfinished. We've tested this multiple times to find the roast that shows what 9-day barrel fermentation does to Ethiopian heirloom varieties.

Brewing notes:

It's great on conical and flat bed filter brewers

For water, try normal 93°C , standard pour technique. It's easy to over extract, so be careful with not too hot or too many pours. 

Brewing on the batch brewer, we'd recommend 60 g coffee / liter. 

For a 1-cup recipe, we'd recommend starting with 

15g coffee / 250g water 

⏱ 0:00-0:10 - 50g water

⏱ 0:30-0:40 - 50g water

⏱ 1:00-1:130 - 150g water

Total brew time: 2 minutes and 30 seconds

About the farm 

Lalesa site, Gedeb - 2,200 masl

This coffee comes from Ephtah's Lalesa site at 2,200 meters above sea level. That altitude matters, coffee develops slower up there, concentrating sugars and complexity. The temperature swings between day and night are bigger. Everything about high-altitude coffee is more intense.

The site is 3.5 hectares of their own land with 350 drying beds. Ephtah bought the land in 2023, built the infrastructure by September, and immediately started running fermentation experiments that most Ethiopian producers don't attempt.

The coffee grows under shade trees, primarily Ensete (false banana tree). The shade slows cherry development even more, which at this altitude means you're getting fruit that took its time getting ripe. Slower ripening = more concentrated flavors = better raw material for extended fermentation.

Why Ephtah can do this:

Most Ethiopian producers can't risk 9-day barrel fermentation. One contamination and you've lost an entire batch. Ephtah owns their land, built their own processing infrastructure, and has the resources to experiment. They can afford to try what Colombia does.

That's why this coffee exists and why these experimental lots are small. They might run similar experiments next harvest, or they might try something completely different. Extended fermentation lots don't repeat predictably, each harvest is its own thing.

About the Rarity

We have 16kg left. That's it.

This specific lot, this harvest, this 9-day fermentation, this wild fruit result—when it's gone, it's gone. Ephtah might do something similar next harvest. Or they might experiment with different fermentation times. Or try completely different processing methods. These experimental lots don't repeat predictably.

Extended fermentation in Ethiopia is rare enough that every lot is basically a one-time event.