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Introduction to Chelelektu

Yirgacheffe has numerous washing stations that process cherries from nearby small coffee farmers, and the coffee produced often surprises people, like an orchid in a deep valley. Chelelektu is one of them.

The Chelelektu washing station is located on a hillside, surrounded by jungle. If you're not paying attention, you won't even notice it's there. Surrounding farmers bring their coffee cherries for processing. Their coffee is grown at very high altitudes, between 1700-2100 meters. The mucilage attached to the fruit is fermented in the traditional way, then placed in flowing channels to be washed with clean spring water. Afterward, it's sun-dried on African raised beds, and finally, defective beans are manually sorted.

Chelelektu's flavor profile is widely considered to be the classic Yirgacheffe taste, representing one of the finest coffees produced on the African continent.

Geographical Location of Chelelektu

In terms of administrative divisions, Chelelektu is a village in the most renowned sub-region of Yirgacheffe, Kochere, and it's quite a large village. According to international purchasing personnel: "Chelelektu is located approximately 18 kilometers in a straight line southwest of Yirgacheffe. Starting from Yirgacheffe at around 1800 meters above sea level and heading south, the elevation continuously rises. Upon reaching a three-way intersection, turning right leads toward Chelelektu, while turning left toward the southeast will take you to Gedeb and Worka."

Since Chelelektu is a large settlement, there are quite a few batches named after it. This coffee bean comes from the Mestawot Asefa processing station, located north of the city center. Generally speaking, the natural processing method at Chelelektu processing stations is quite meticulous and refined throughout the entire Yirgacheffe region. The thickness of coffee cherries stacked on drying racks is properly controlled, and materials with different breathability are used as the base layer of the drying racks according to different drying stages. During the drying process, defective and unripe beans are intensively sorted by hand. Most notably, Chelelektu processing stations use movable drying racks that can be moved according to sunlight and weather conditions to adjust the sun-drying schedule. With careful attention throughout the 15 to 21-day post-processing period, they naturally produce dried cherries with stable quality and appealing color.

The Kochere Production Region

Before discussing Chelelektu, it seems necessary to first talk about the Kochere production region (incorrectly transliterated as "Keqier" by some domestic operators in China).

Under the ECX production region classification system*, Kochere is one of the four sub-regions of Yirgacheffe (namely Yirgacheffe, Wenago, Gelena Abaya, and Kochere). In terms of administrative areas, the Kochere production region covers two Woredas - the Kochere Woreda itself and Gedeb**. Kochere and Gedeb form the two main pillars at the southern end of the greater Yirgacheffe region, one to the west and one to the east. However, Gedeb was historically an independent Woreda that separated from Kochere, so it's not surprising that they are classified in the same production region. Sometimes, we treat Gedeb as an independent micro-region. It's worth noting that Worka Kebele in the Gedeb Woreda has been increasingly prominent and is gradually being referred to independently.

Chelelektu Settlement

The largest town/village or settlement in today's Kochere production region is Chelelektu, located approximately 18 kilometers in a straight line southwest of Yirgacheffe town. Starting from Yirgacheffe town and heading south, the elevation continuously rises. Upon reaching a three-way intersection, turning right leads toward Chelelektu, while turning left toward the southeast will take you to Gedeb and Worka.

Chelelektu is quite a large settlement, not much inferior to Yirgacheffe town. There are quite a few batches named after Chelelektu. Generally, processing stations near Chelelektu might be called Chelelektu. In fact, there are two processing stations in Chelelektu town itself, but this year we didn't find any batches we liked there. The one we've introduced is the Mestawot Asefa processing station, located slightly north of the town center, even farther than Beloya.

Visit to Chelelektu Processing Station

During the first cupping session in the capital this year, the author was deeply attracted by the flavor of this processing station and listed it as a must-visit. We left our hotel in Yirgacheffe at around seven in the morning, visited two processing stations, and then headed toward Chelelektu. The elevation of Yirgacheffe town is about 1800 meters, and heading south shows a trend of increasing elevation (at the intersection where you would turn left toward the Oromia Region Guji production area, the elevation even reaches 2450 meters). Under clear skies, we ascended continuously. Although the journey was bumpy, it was extremely enjoyable.

The terrain of the Chelelektu processing station is somewhat similar to the Aricha/Idido we've introduced before - it's on the slopes on both sides of a valley. The entrance (west side of the aerial photo) is at higher ground, with a downward path ahead. After crossing the small stream, the drying racks rise again along the slope.

The natural processing method at Chelelektu processing station is also meticulous and refined, which explains why it caught people's attention during the cupping session in the capital. The thickness of coffee cherries stacked on drying racks is properly controlled (Figure 4), materials with different breathability are used as the base layer of the drying racks according to different drying stages (Figure 5 and Figure 4), and defective and unripe beans are intensively sorted by hand during the drying process (Figure 6). Additionally, Chelelektu processing stations use movable drying racks (Figure 7) that can be moved according to sunlight and weather conditions to adjust the sun-drying operation. The result of 15 to 21 days of continuous careful attention is the charming, uniformly colored dried cherries shown in the photo (Figure 8) - which is what we have in our cup: a high-altitude, refreshing jasmine fragrance with passionate, rich composite fruit juice and wine notes, a captivating natural-processed Yirgacheffe!

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