Washing Station: Yaye
The Yaye Washing Station, built in 2021, is dedicated to quality through
experimentation. The Odakko project is the culmination of their four years of study
and pre-harvest planning between Testi Coffees and Cafe Imports. The aim was to
create a traceable, single-variety offering using the most intentionally selected
cherry possible at the peak harvest to discover a one-of-one flavor profile. This
novel coffee is the product of 50 smallholders from neighboring villages of Yaye
and Chericho.Yaye Washing Station is equipped with immaculate washing facilities,
hundreds of raised beds, and numerous fermentation barrels, all ready to process
coffee from the hundreds of growers in the surrounding villages. Attention to detail
has put Yaye on the specialty coffee map. Along with its focus on quality, Testi
Coffee is also committed to serving the coffee-growing communities surrounding
their washing stations throughout the country. Testi emphasizes education, building
schools, and providing school supplies to the youth. The Odakko Project premium
goes toward this social program.Testi estimates that 40% of green defects are caused by contaminants or exposure to harmful fungi during processing, so
cleanliness is prioritized at every step. All Yaye staff wash their hands and all
equipment, including floater tanks, picking baskets, drying beds, and shade nets,
before coffee passes through. The coffee cherries themselves are washed with
potable water, rather than river water. Clean processing creates a clean cup.The
Odakko Project cherry was collected from producers at elevations ranging from
2150 to 2300 MASL within a 10-km radius of the washing station, who were all
identified as growing the 74518 variety. To manage the processing logistics, the
coffee was harvested over a four-day period. Each day’s yield was collected
between 3:00 and 7:00 PM to prevent uncontrolled fermentation. The cherries were
immediately transported to Yaye and immersed in water, where any floaters were
removed. The cleaned cherries were then poured onto the drying beds, 300 kilos
per bed, and sorted by hand to a strict tolerance of 95% full-ripe and 5% overripe to
balance sugar content and complexity.After sorting, the raised beds were covered
with a shade net to slow down the drying process. In fact, the drying beds used are
situated in an area of greater wind circulation and less direct sunlight compared to
the rest of the station’s drying beds. This extends the drying time to 28 days,
carefully reducing the seed’s moisture content to an optimal 12%, maximizing flavor
development, transformation, and preservation. Following the 28 days, the dried
cherries are removed from the raised beds and rested for six weeks before being
delivered in air-tight GrainPro bags to Testi’s mill in Addis Ababa. Every step is
deliberate, resulting in cups with notes of jammy red fruit balanced by dark
chocolate, red wine acidity, and mild sugary sweetness.
Process: Natural Special Prep
Grade 1 - Yaye - Special Prep - Odakko Project - Variety 74158
With the special prep (what the producers generally call “Premium” in Ethiopia) the cherries are collected from a limited
number of small-holder farmers. 90% of the cherries are perfectly picked, the right red color. 5% semi red and 5% overripe. All
of it is processed and stored it separately from the other lots. They generally produce a very small number of bags in this way
every year. In most instances, cherries used to produce these lots are collected from a day lot (picked in one day). Natural
coffees in Ethiopia are first sorted for ripeness and quality before being rinsed clean Then they are spread on raised drying
beds or tables, where they will be rotated constantly throughout the course of drying. Drying can take an average of 8–25
days, depending on the weather.
Variety: Variety 74158 Grade 1 - Yaye - Special Prep - Odakko Project - Variety 74158
Variety 74158 belongs to a group of selections from the Jimma Agricultural Research Center (JARC). The “74” prefix refers to the
year of selection (1974), and “158” is the accession number. This system was used to catalog and identify disease-resistant or
agronomically promising accessions collected from the wild or farmers’ fields.