Landrace Natural Shoondhisa | Ethiopia

Ethiopia — Sookoo Coffee Shoondhisa Gibirinna 74110 & Serto 74112 (Natural)

Tastes Like — 🫐 Blueberry • 💜 Lilac • 🥭 Mango

DETAILS

• Producer: Ture Waji, Sookoo Coffee (~35 smallholders)
• Kebele: Shoondhisa
• Region: Guji, Ethiopia
• Varietal: Gibirinna 74110 & Serto 74112
• Process: Natural
• Elevation: 2,000–2,150 masl

INTRO Shoondhisa is a community lot from approximately 35 smallholder farmers in the Shoondhisa kebele of Guji, collected and processed through Sookoo Coffee under Ture Waji. Blueberry leads the cup, supported by lilac-like aromatics and the sweetness of ripe mango — juicy and rounded, moving from a distinctly floral opening into concentrated berry and tropical fruit, with a clean, perfumed finish. In the cup: blueberry, lilac, and mango.

THE PRODUCER Before helping establish Sookoo Coffee in 2018, Ture Waji worked in quality and management roles at Mormora Estate and Guji Highlands Coffee Company. Sookoo separates its community lots according to the specific kebele where cherries were grown, providing more precise traceability than a broadly regional Ethiopian lot — this one drawn from farms between 2,000 and 2,150 masl in Shoondhisa.

Gibirinna 74110 and Serto 74112 are two specifically catalogued Ethiopian Arabica selections, both tracing to coffee populations collected in the Metu-Bishari forests of western Ethiopia and selected by the Jimma Agricultural Research Center in 1974, with resistance to coffee berry disease as an important selection criterion. Though often grouped under the broad "heirloom" label, identifying 74110 and 74112 individually provides greater varietal precision.

THE PROCESS For this Natural, ripe cherries are dried whole, with the fruit remaining around the seed throughout drying. Sookoo's natural lots are spread in thin layers on raised beds and turned frequently, helping cherries lose moisture evenly and reducing the risk of uncontrolled fermentation or inconsistent drying.

Keeping the fruit intact during drying is the defining step — it's what produces the rounder texture and concentrated blueberry and mango sweetness in this cup, while the frequent turning keeps the lilac-like aromatics clearly defined rather than muddied.

THE CUP Juicy and rounded — blueberry leads, supported by lilac-like aromatics and ripe mango sweetness. A distinctly floral opening moves into concentrated berry and tropical fruit, finishing clean and perfumed.

Flavour Notes 🫐 Blueberry 💜 Lilac 🥭 Mango