The saying ‘au naturel’ comes to mind when sipping on Tightrope. The majority of this blend is made up of a naturally processed coffee from the Yirgacheffe region in Ethiopia (Gelena Abaya). This brings out the jammy fruitiness which appeals to a specific type of coffee lover.

Naturally processed coffees involve drying the coffee as a whole (pulpy cherry flesh and sticky mucilage included) instead of immediately removing it during the washed process. This means some ‘wilder’, less controlled fermentation happens and the result is often a heavy body, distinct jammy fruit and a thicker, more syrupy mouthfeel. It’s not an over statement to say that you can sometimes smell the fruity aromas when you merely open a bag of freshly roasted, naturally processed coffee.

To balance out the “funk”, we’ve added some of our freshest seasonal Brazil to the mix.

Our Gelena Abaya Yirgacheffe is the star of this blend and was an easy pick (no pun intended) to bring out the fruit. Ethiopia has long been the ‘go to’ place for high quality, controlled naturals and with the great number of heirloom varieties growing in their backyards, it’s no surprise they can achieve some amazing results. This coffee is creamy and heavy, dominated by complex jammy fruits.

The Brazil component of this blend comes from Alice Estate which is in Carmo de Minas, a micro region in the southern part of Minas Gerais. Farmers in this area are blessed with good conditions as well as higher altitudes compared to many other Brazilian farms. The speciality farmers of Carmo are used to being very successful in COE competitions, separating all of their lots by variety and holding their own region specific international annual coffee auction. This lot is single variety yellow bourbon and is also hand-picked, something that is less common in Brazil.

**Natural processed coffees are fermented as a whole cherry prior to final processing. The results are exaggerated fruit flavors that may be very different to what you are accustomed to, especially through milk drinks. So yes … that strawberry jam flavor is meant to be there!