Ethiopia Banko Taratu - Double Fermentation Washed Yirgacheffe - Wholesale

We Taste - Jasmine, peach frosting, orange cake

The community of coffee gardeners who live around Banko Taratu grow some of the highest elevation coffee in all the world. Cooler evenings and long fruit maturation windows reveal themselves through elegant florals and a complex brightness. The heirloom shrubs dotting the rich soil bring people together for the cultivation, harvest, and processing in a way that is central to their tradition, heritage, and livelihoods. Farmers handpick ripe coffee cherries for sweetness, representing generations of care, investment, and education.

Banko Taratu washing station collects, sorts, and processes meticulously, ensuring that the quality delivered from the land and farmer are sustained. For their Double Fermentation Washed process, the outer skin of the coffee cherry is removed, then the sticky, honey-like mucilage is fermented off. The pectin-covered parchment is then washed again, then slowly dried on raised beds. In our estimation, Banko Taratu's process is on the lower side of fermentation, leaving the terroir and heirloom varietal characteristics more intact. The sweet, round quality with a hint of tropical fruit introduced by the mild fermentation is nonetheless noticeable and appreciated in the cup.

Light roasting preserves what is unique about this distinctive process from the birthplace of coffee. At two to three weeks off-roast, expect a bouquet of jasmine alongside malic, citrus, and fermented fruit to open up into a sugary, juicy, and ultimately elegant cup.

Cup Profile

This washed Ethiopia from Banko Taratu has a clear, high-toned profile built around honeysuckle aromatics, mandarin-like citrus, and ripe peach sweetness. The double fermentation washed process supports a clean structure while adding layered fruit expression, a silky texture, and a bright, refined finish.

About Banko Taratu

Banko Taratu is located in the Gedeb District of Ethiopia’s Gedeo Zone, within the broader Yirgacheffe coffee-growing area. The coffee is grown at 1,900–2,300 meters above sea level, an elevation range that supports slower cherry maturation and contributes to the clarity, floral character, and structured acidity commonly associated with high-grown washed coffees from this region.

This lot is built from cherries sourced from more than 500 family-owned farms in Banko Taratu. Coffee farming is a primary livelihood for the community, with ripe cherries handpicked during harvest and delivered for centralized processing. The processing site is supported by a team of 130 employees, with cherries sorted, fermented, washed, dried on raised beds, and later dry-milled in the Kaliti area of Addis Ababa before export preparation. 

Variety

74110 and 74112 are Ethiopian JARC selections commonly grouped with locally selected Ethiopian varieties. Both were selected from Ethiopia’s native coffee genetic material, with emphasis on coffee berry disease resistance, yield potential, and suitability to specific growing environments. In the cup, these varieties are often valued for the kind of floral, citrus, and stone-fruit clarity that works especially well in high-elevation washed lots, though the final profile is shaped just as much by terroir, harvest selection, fermentation, and drying.

Processing

This coffee is processed as a double fermentation washed lot. After ripe cherries are handpicked, they are pulped to remove the outer skin, leaving the parchment coffee coated in mucilage. The coffee then undergoes a first fermentation stage of roughly 48–72 hours, followed by washing and a second fermentation stage of approximately 12–24 hours.

After fermentation, the coffee is dried on raised beds for 12–15 days. Compared with a standard washed process, the added fermentation stage can create more layered aromatics and fruit expression while preserving the cleaner structure, brightness, and transparency expected from washed Ethiopian coffees.

Roast: Light - Rest 2-3 weeks prior to brewing for best results.
Process: Double Fermentation Washed
Varieties: Heirloom Ethiopian: 74110, 74112
Elevation: 1,900 -2,300 masl
Location: Yirgacheffe; Banko Taratu, Gedeb woreda, Gedeo Zone
Producer / Washing Station: Banko Taratu
Farmers: Local smallholders, 500 farmers
Exporter: EDN Ethiopian Coffee Export PLC
Grades / Certifications: Grade 1 - No chemical fertilizers or pesticides used.
Harvest: Nov. 2025 - Jan. 2026

Brew Guides
Espresso: 1:3.0 in 26-28 sec.
Filter: 1:17.2