Heirloom coffee
"Heirloom" is what a label says when a coffee is one of the thousands of indigenous Ethiopian arabica populations that botany has not finished cataloguing.
A washing station receives cherry from hundreds of smallholders whose trees may be genetically unrelated, so the lot is honestly described by what it is not: a single named variety. The word carries no quality claim and no flavour promise — it is a placeholder for botany nobody has finished doing.
A handful of Ethiopian selections have been formally identified and distributed by the Jimma Agricultural Research Centre; 74110 and 74112 are the ones you will see named on a bag. Everything else stays heirloom.
In practice the label tells you two useful things: the coffee is Ethiopian, and the producer is a smallholder rather than an estate. Everything else about how it will taste comes from the processing and the altitude.
- Coffees in the catalogue
- 31
- Grown in
- Ethiopia
- Common notes
- lemon, floral, jasmine, blueberry and strawberry
- Price range
- $17.00 – $30.00
31 Heirloom coffees in the catalogue
- Ethiopia Dur Feres — Prodigal Coffee. blueberry, jam and sweet. $30.00 / 250 g.
- Ethiopia Natural — Big Shoulders Coffee. ripe strawberry, cherry, plum and dark chocolate. $26.00 / 340 g.
- Ethiopia Uraga Gogogu — Oddly Correct. pear, hibiscus and dried mango. $30.00 / 340 g.
- Ethiopia Yebesele Natural — Goshen Coffee Roasters. ripe berry, juicy and citrus zest. $22.00 / 340 g.
- Ethiopia Kurimi — Intelligentsia Coffee. lemon, bergamot and florals. $25.00 / 340 g.
- Ethiopia Worka Sakaro Natural — Pilcrow Coffee. stonefruit, clementine and rose water. $20.00 / 340 g.
- Ethiopia Guji Natural — Five Watt Coffee. strawberry, cocoa nib and jammy. $23.00 / 340 g.
- Buku Sayisa — Sey Coffee. lemon, jasmine and white grape. $26.00 / 250 g.
- Wild Child — Thou Mayest Coffee Roasters. lemon, florals and light chocolate. $20.00 / 340 g.
- Ethiopia / Ardi — Repetition Coffee. raspberry, rooibos and ginger. $17.00 / 284 g.
- Ethiopia Worka Sakaro — Coma Coffee Roasters. semi-sweet chocolate, florals and cherry. $20.00 / 340 g.
- Ethiopia Natural — The Roasterie. lemon, brown sugar and baking spice. $20.00 / 340 g.
- Ethiopia Yirgacheffe — UP Coffee Roasters. lemon, jasmine and honey. $22.00 / 340 g.
- Ethiopian Guji Washed — Revocup Coffee Roasters. floral, raspberry and lime. $18.00 / 340 g.
- Duromina — Counter Culture Coffee. sweet tea, apricot and honeysuckle. $27.00 / 340 g.
- Ethiopia Yirgacheffe — Anodyne Coffee Roasting Co. blackberry, milk chocolate, lemongrass and black tea. $21.50 / 340 g.
- Ethiopia Habtamu Fikadu — Heart Coffee Roasters. strawberry, cocoa and tropical. $22.00 / 340 g.
- Mustefa Abakeno Washed — Black & White Coffee Roasters. floral, citrus and black tea. $24.00 / 340 g.
- Danche — Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters. jasmine, peach rings and honey. $24.00 / 340 g.
- Ethiopia — Fiddleheads Coffee Roasters. blueberry jam, caramel, strawberry and apricot. $20.90 / 340 g.
- Arbegona — La Cabra. blueberry, cacao and floral. $26.00 / 250 g.
- Ethiopia Bombe — Spyhouse Coffee Roasters. oolong tea, nectarine, lemon zest and delicate. $25.00 / 284 g.
- Bucktown Brew — Ipsento Coffee Roasters. fresh pear, lime, jasmine and caramel. $28.00 / 340 g.
- Ethiopia Hambela — Wesley Andrews. blueberry, rose and tropical. $24.00 / 340 g.
- Ethiopia Hirut Birhanu — Colectivo Coffee Roasters. green tea, nectarine and jasmine. $21.00 / 340 g.
- Ethiopia Banko Gotiti — Dogwood Coffee Co. jasmine, stone fruit and lemon. $25.00 / 340 g.
- Kilenso — Coava Coffee Roasters. key lime, lavender and custard. $23.00 / 340 g.
- Ethiopian Amaro Gayo — Revocup Coffee Roasters. mocha, tropical fruit, banana and chocolate. $20.00 / 340 g.
- Worka Chelbessa — George Howell Coffee. peach, cherry blossom, honey and jasmine. $26.00 / 340 g.
- Ethiopia Reko — Ruby Coffee Roasters. peach, lemon and florals. $21.50 / 340 g.
- Ethiopia Sidama — Backstory Coffee Roasters. bergamot, peach and black tea. $22.00 / 340 g.