Biloya

SMALLHOLDER FARMS
YIRGACHEFFE, ETHIOPIA

Blueberry, Sangria, Violet

Mention “Yirgacheffe” to any coffee professional, and you’ll see instant admiration for this coffee-benchmarking region. Yirgacheffe coffees need little introduction — the washed coffees are famously intricate and jasmine-like, while sundried versions offer rich, sweet intensity. Anaerobic processing amplifies these qualities, creating a spectacularly unique and flavorful coffee.

Biloya, a Tracon Coffee site, is one of six in Gedeo, with a main dry mill in Addis Ababa. In this anaerobic natural process, ripe cherries are hand-sorted, fermented in oxygen-free tanks for 24 hours to enhance sugars, then dried for three weeks until they reach 11.5% moisture. After resting, the beans are hulled and sent to Addis Ababa for milling and export.

Biloya takes that coffee professional’s warm, fond feeling and turns it up to 11. It’s bold, even loud, but stops just short of being over the top. Big flavors are found here with tart blueberry in acidity and sweetness, a balance of fruity sweetness, tartness, and tannins in Sangria form, and floral and slight sweetness of violet.