You might have noticed (and lamented) the fact that our roast of this season’s Ethiopian Ardi coffee ran out last week. This exceptionally fruity coffee is a heartbreaker and a tastemaker – seriously delicious stuff. We were enjoying it daily on espresso and the morning it ran out was a dark one, but our roaster cheered us up with the thought that before we know it, Ardi will be back.
Ethiopian coffee has a long harvest season – coffee is picked from late October to early March. In the case of Ardi, the dried seeds from harvest are stored in their parchment shell for at least 60 days, then exported to the U.S. in the early spring. Fresh imports of green beans continue arriving into the early fall (iced Ardi all summer, anyone?).
For coffee cherries, harvest timing depends on the climate and altitude. Coffees at lower altitudes ripen earliest in the year, so peak harvest times slowly move up the mountain, with higher up coffees getting picked towards the end of the season. Ardi is a very high altitude coffee, so sometimes it keeps us waiting a little longer than other imports from lower altitudes.
Good things come to those who wait. We’re out of Ardi for now, but don’t fret: we’re expecting the new crop in May or June. For a similar taste to Ardi in the meantime, check out our new Nyampinga – produced by a women’s coffee cooperative in Rwanda.
