Yirgacheffe Coffee Region Chelelektu Cultivation Conditions Regional Story Flavor Characteristics

Yirgacheffe is home to numerous washing stations that process cherries from nearby smallholders, and the coffee they turn out is often stunning, like a secluded orchid deep in the mountains. Chelelektu is one of them.

The Chelelektu washing station sits on a hillside ringed by jungle, easy to miss unless you are looking for it. Local farmers bring their cherries here for processing. Their coffee grows at very high altitudes, between 1,700 and 2,100 meters. The mucilage on the cherries undergoes traditional fermentation, then the coffee is washed in channels with clean spring water. From there the beans go onto African raised beds for natural drying, and finally defective beans are sorted out by hand.

Chelelektu's flavor profile is widely regarded as the classic Yirgacheffe style and represents some of the finest coffee grown on the African continent.

Geographic Location

Chelelektu is a village in the Kochere sub-region, one of the most renowned areas within greater Yirgacheffe, and it is in fact a rather large village. As international purchasing agents describe it: "Chelelektu lies about 18 kilometers in a straight line southwest of Yirgacheffe. Starting from Yirgacheffe at around 1,800 meters and heading south, the elevation keeps rising. At a three-way intersection, the right fork leads toward Chelelektu, while the left, to the southeast, takes you to Gedeb and Worka."

Because Chelelektu is a large settlement, many coffee lots carry its name. This particular coffee comes from the Mestawot Asefa washing station, north of the town center. The natural processing at Chelelektu's washing stations is generally regarded as among the most meticulous in all of Yirgacheffe. The thickness of the cherry piles on the drying racks is carefully controlled, and different breathable materials are used as the base layer of the drying beds at different stages. During drying, defective and underripe beans are hand-sorted intensively. What is especially notable is that Chelelektu's stations use movable drying racks that can be repositioned according to sunlight and weather, adjusting the natural drying schedule. Fifteen to 21 days of continuous, careful attention yield consistently high-quality dried cherries with a beautiful, even color.

The Kochere Region

Before digging into Chelelektu, it helps to understand the Kochere region; the trade often uses the romanization "Kochere."

Under the ECX (Ethiopian Commodity Exchange) regional classification system, Kochere is one of Yirgacheffe's four sub-regions, alongside Yirgacheffe, Wenago, Gelena Abaya and Kochere. Administratively, Kochere covers two Woredas: Kochere Woreda itself and Gedeb Woreda. Together, Kochere and Gedeb form the two main pillars of the southern part of greater Yirgacheffe, west and east respectively. Because Gedeb was historically split off from Kochere Woreda, it is no surprise that the two share a classification. Sometimes Gedeb is treated as its own micro-region, and within it Worka Kebele has been gaining prominence and is gradually being recognized in its own right.

The largest town, village or settlement in Kochere today is Chelelektu, about 18 kilometers in a straight line southwest of Yirgacheffe town. Heading south from Yirgacheffe town, the elevation climbs steadily; at the intersection where you would turn left toward the Oromia Region's Guji zone, the altitude reaches 2,450 meters. On a clear day the ascent continues, and though the road is bumpy, it is quite exhilarating.

Chelelektu is a large settlement, hardly smaller than Yirgacheffe town itself. Many coffee lots bear the Chelelektu name, since processing plants near the town may all be called Chelelektu. There are in fact two processing plants in Chelelektu town, but this year we did not find any lots from them that we particularly liked. The one introduced here is the Mestawot Asefa plant, located somewhat farther north of the town center, even beyond the Beloya processing plant.

Visit and Processing Experience

At our first cupping session in the capital this year, the team was deeply impressed by the flavors from this plant and put it on the must-visit list. We left our Yirgacheffe hotel early, around 7 AM, visited two processing plants first, then headed toward Chelelektu. Yirgacheffe town sits at about 1,800 meters, and heading south the elevation trends upward, reaching 2,450 meters at the intersection where you would turn left toward the Oromia Region's Guji zone. On a clear day the climb continues, and though the road is bumpy, it is quite exhilarating.

The terrain of the Chelelektu washing station is somewhat like the Aricha and Idido sites we have written about before, spanning both slopes of a stream valley. The entrance, on the west side, sits on higher ground, and the land falls away as you move forward. After crossing the small stream, the drying beds rise again along the slope.

The natural processing at Chelelektu is meticulous and refined, which is exactly why it stood out during the capital's cupping session. The thickness of the cherry piles on the drying racks is carefully controlled, different breathable materials serve as the base layer of the drying beds at different stages, and defective and underripe beans are hand-sorted intensively throughout drying. The station also uses movable drying racks that can be moved with the sunlight and weather to fine-tune the natural drying schedule. The reward for 15 to 21 days of continuous, careful attention is the beautifully uniform color of the dried cherries, and that is what lands in the cup here: high-altitude, crisp jasmine florals with a passionate, rich blend of fruit juice and wine-like aromas, a captivating natural Yirgacheffe.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

For a natural Yirgacheffe in this style, FrontStreet's Natural Red Cherry is a close companion. It is processed as a full red-cherry natural, meaning only fully ripe sound fruit is picked, sorted once at the mill, then laid on raised beds in the sun and turned every 2-3 hours in the first days to avoid uneven heat and over-fermentation. After three to five weeks of drying, the fruit is machine-scraped off depending on the weather and temperature, and the beans move to storage. Drying the coffee with the fruit still attached gives it both classic Yirgacheffe character and the tropical fruit aroma of a natural: citrus-like acidity, a berry-juice body, honeyed sweetness and a creamy smoothness.

If you would rather stay on the clean, washed side of Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet's Gudingding Cooperative is a good choice. It comes from the Gudingding washing station in the Woka area at Yirgacheffe's southeastern edge, processed in the most traditional washed way, and the cup is clean and bright with none of the traditional bitter note, a fresh citrus and lemon acidity and jasmine aroma. A V60 suits either coffee: use water at 90-91°C, 15g of coffee and a 1:15 ratio, with a grind around 10 on an EK43s, a caster-sugar texture with 80% passing a No. 20 sieve.