Ethiopia Urabeast Black Honey إثيوبيا أورابيست عسليّة

The Urabeast location was founded in 2017, taking the name from ‘Uraga’ the area where the coffee is from, and ‘beast’ to reflect the energy and resilience of coffee.

100% organic, though not certified, as farmers simply don’t have the money to apply chemical fertilisers, pesticides, or herbicides. Primrose ensures that there are agricultural officers who work closely with each farmer to ensure the fertility of the farmland. In fact, soon the wet mill and surrounding farmers will also be RFA and UTZ certified.

Primrose pays more than the market price for a kilogram of red cherry, and those farmers that bring quality red cherry are paid a cash incentive, ensuring higher-than-average overall quality.

Coffee is selectively hand-picked before being delivered to the mill collection points, usually within 5 km of the producers’ homes. Great care is taken upon delivery to separate out any overripe, underripe or damaged beans before consolidating with other lots for the road to the wet mill.

This specific lot underwent the Black Honey process which begins with ripe cherries being carefully harvested and sorted to maintain quality. Once at the mill, the cherries are pulped to remove the external layer of fruit skin, leaving a thick layer of sticky mucilage on the bean. 80% of the mucilage is left on the bean for the Black Honey process. The coffee is then moved to a tank filled with water to undergo a fermentation for 48 – 72 hours. The coffee is cleaned once more and spread evenly on raised beds to dry in the open sun for 15 – 21 days. Once the desired moisture content is reached, the coffee is collected and sent to the dry mill. 

The dry mill is located in the capital city of Addis Ababa where the coffee is cleaned to remove foreign matter and prepared for hulling. Exterior parchment and silver skin are removed with the assistance of a huller and polisher. The coffee is then sent through a grader to separate coffee by screen size, and a gravity separator removes all broken coffee pieces to ensure quality.