George Howell: Borboya, Ethiopia

By Chris August 26, 2013


You might have seen this bag on the counter for a week or so. Sorry the post is just now coming out.

This is the second time we’ve featured George Howell. I need to do a better job and get them in our rotation more often. George Howell is obsessed with lightly-roasted coffees. He thinks they allow the flavor of the bean to come through, not just the roast taste.

Terroir is part of their branded label name, but you’re starting to hear that term a lot when describing a coffee. It’s a broad term that describes the region, soil, and climate that that particular coffee has grown up in. Terroir affects the way the bean grows and tastes.

The beans are really small. Something you often see from Ethiopian coffees. If you come to a Clover location, ask them to see them side by side with the Panamanian coffee from Barrington roasters. They are half the size. It has to do with the terroir.

Some coffee farmers in Ethiopia bring their coffee cherries to a wash station called Borboya where they are fermented in the sun and then washed in concrete channels with wooden racks. They are then dried on wooden racks in the sun.  That’s how this coffee is being produced.  It makes a nice round cup of coffee.  As it cools down, you pick up some light acidity, and some sweet citrus notes start to come through. We’ll have this by the cup and by the bag at all our restaurants this week.

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