Ethiopia Dooddisi Natural

Ture Waji has become a pretty big name in the world of Ethiopian coffee, gaining well-earned notoriety for producing some of the country's best naturals for the last several harvests. Ture and his family - primarily cousins Eegata and Fedhesa - own and operate Sookoo Coffee. Sookoo means gold in the Guji region's Afaan Oromo language, and Sookoo Coffee focuses exclusively on naturals - no washed coffees, just coffee dried in its fruit. And that focus pays off.

Raro Nansebo is Sookoo's second station, and last year we were lucky enough to roast a phenomenal first harvest. After making a name for themselves with the Odo Shakisso station a bit further west in Guji, Sookoo expanded into the Guji Uraga area, building the Raro Nensebo station and working with smallholder farmers in the surrounding area. This past year, Ture and the team at Raro Nansebo took the extra step of separating coffees from individual communities, and after tasting through several of these community-specific lots, this coffee from farmers in Dooddisi village won us over. We tasted and chose Dooddisi blind (without looking at the name and tasting it alongside a bunch of other coffees), but after the fact, we certainly enjoy the possibility of Lebowski references.

Big fruit is the big draw in most naturals, and the florality we love in washed Ethiopias often gets masked by the berries. In the best cases though - like this gem from Dooddisi and Raro Nansebo - floral aromatics get to join the fruit punch. It’s just, like, our opinion, man, but we think Dooddisi’s a pretty darn good coffee to round out the 2021 harvest.