Ethiopia — Faysel Abdosh Hambella Mixed Heirloom (Honey)

Tastes Like — 🍑 Apricot • 🍑 Yellow Peach • 🍯 Honey • 🌸 White Floral

DETAILS

• Producer: Faysel Abdosh
• Region: Hambella, Guji, Ethiopia
• Varietal: Mixed Heirloom
• Process: Honey (35-Day Drying)
• Altitude: 2,100–2,350 MASL
• Size: 200g

INTRO

A coffee that immediately stood out on the cupping table during Mazelab's Ethiopia visit — Faysel Abdosh's honey lot from Hambella in Guji, with a warm sweetness, soft fruit depth, and clean, elegant structure that made it impossible to overlook. Soaked, depulped, and dried slowly for 35 days with the mucilage kept on the bean, this is a soft, layered, and sweet honey coffee that is very easy to fall in love with. In the cup: apricot, yellow peach, honey, and white floral.

THE PRODUCER

Faysel Abdosh farms in Hambella, within the Guji zone of southern Ethiopia — a region celebrated for its rich biodiversity of heirloom varieties and the depth of sweetness its high-altitude microclimates can produce. At 2,100–2,350 MASL, slow cherry maturation concentrates sugars and builds the rounded, gentle complexity that defines the best Guji honey lots. The careful cherry selection at harvest is central to the quality of this lot — only the finest, most evenly ripened cherries are chosen before the extended drying process begins.

Mixed Heirloom reflects Ethiopia's extraordinary genetic diversity — with DNA testing confirming over 60 distinct varieties growing across the country, most Ethiopian lots are blends of many co-existing heirloom cultivars, each contributing its own layer of complexity to the final cup.

THE PROCESS

The Honey process at Hambella involves:

🍒 Hand-picking — Cherries carefully selected at peak ripeness 💧 Soaking — Cherries soaked before depulping to prepare the fruit for processing 🔧 Depulping — Outer skin removed while the mucilage layer is retained on the bean ☀️ Slow drying — Dried slowly over 35 days with mucilage intact, allowing sugars to integrate gradually into the bean

The 35-day slow drying with mucilage retained is the defining step — by extending the drying period and keeping the sticky fruit layer on the bean throughout, the natural sugars are given time to develop fully and evenly, producing the rounded sweetness, gentle body, and expressive fruit character that define this lot.

THE CUP

A beautiful Ethiopian honey from one of Guji's most rewarding producers — apricot and yellow peach sweetness wrapped in a warm honey richness, with a delicate white floral lift throughout. Soft, layered, and sweet — a coffee that is genuinely easy to fall in love with.

Flavour Notes

🍑 Apricot 🍑 Yellow Peach 🍯 Honey 🌸 White Floral