"Upon grinding, the dry aroma brings lemon custard, juicy white peach, bergamot, and soft white florals. On the palate, bright lemon custard cream leads, followed by white peach juice with a gentle lychee hint. In the mid cup, bergamot adds a clean citrus-tea lift, alongside delicate gardenia notes. The overall profile is smooth, sweet, and refined."

Benti Nenqa is a community lot built around smallholder families in Guji’s Hambela area, who deliver cherry to the central washing station in the Benti Nenka kebele. In this supply chain, the station is often referenced as a wet mill serving the village, and it consolidates fruit from hundreds of growers farming small plots. Support structures around the station emphasize farmer training and practical agronomy, with programs that distribute seedlings and guidance across the season.

Guji sits in southern Ethiopia, and Hambela Wamena is known for steep terrain, cool nights, and long ripening windows at high elevation. Benti Nenka coffees are typically produced between roughly 1,900 and 2,250 meters above sea level, a range that encourages dense seed structure and slower sugar development. Farms are usually intercropped with food crops, and production remains largely manual from picking through delivery. Many plots are effectively organic-by-default, relying on traditional management rather than intensive external inputs.

The variety set is classic Guji: Ethiopian heirloom and local landrace material alongside JARC selections commonly planted in the region. Rather than a single named cultivar, these lots express the genetic diversity that Ethiopia is known for, with plants adapted over time to local conditions and farmer preference. In practice, this mixed-variety composition is one reason washed Guji can show clarity while still carrying layered aromatic complexity.

Harvest generally runs from late in the year into the early months of the next, with picking staggered by elevation and ripeness. Cherries are selectively hand-harvested, delivered to collection points or directly to the station, and sorted to remove underripe or damaged fruit. The coffee is then pulped and fermented for about 24 hours, adjusted to ambient conditions, before being thoroughly washed. After washing, parchment is often density-separated in channels, sometimes soaked in clean water for 12–24 hours to fully remove remaining mucilage, then dried on raised beds under shade for roughly 10–14 days, with frequent turning, covering during peak heat, and protection overnight until it reaches stable moisture.

Variety : Heirloom
Altitude : 1,900–2,250 m
Process : Washed
Origin : Hambela