Ethiopian Dhilgee Danche #4

Roaster’s Notes:


Washed Ethiopians have always been our signature coffee since we opened. Our washed Ethiopia selection, starting with Kelloo Haru and continuing with Duromina, continues with Dhilgee Danche with the 2023 harvest!

As Kafein Kültür, we were invited to the Nordic Approach Spring Cupping event last spring. In this event, we went to select pre-shipment samples of newly harvested coffees that had not arrived on the continent. I chose this coffee at the Spring Cupping event, like the other 2023 harvest Nordic Approach coffees that will be released.



Dhilgee Danche is a station coffee like most Ethiopian coffees. In other words, it is a production where farmers who do not have a processing station take their harvest to a large station and sell it, and the coffee is produced with the vision of the station. 

The name of the coffee is a combination of the names Dhilgee and Danche. While Danche is the name of the station where coffee is produced, Dhilgee means “bloody red” in the Oromo language. This name is given to these coffees to represent the coffees originating from the Danche station, which generally have red fruits, purple fruits and floral notes. 



Dhilgee Danche, like most Ethiopian coffees, is organically produced. However, it is not surprising that an Ethiopian coffee is organic. Due to the economic conditions of the country, farmers naturally chose organic farming and made improvements on it. Dhilgee Danche is the total production of 742 farmers working with Danche station.

Processing of Coffee:

At harvest time, ripe cherries are hand-picked and then sorted by hand. For pre-fermentation before the washing process, the skin of the cherry is removed in the dehusker and the seeds on the mucilage layer are left for fermentation.

Coffee is fermented under water in tanks for an average of 72 hours. However, any time period between 48 – 100 hours is within the norm. The coffee is re-sorted in the channels so that lower quality (lower density) cherries float. They are extracted, allowing denser, better quality beans to be separated into higher grade batches.

The parchment is soaked in clean water and dried on raised beds for approximately 8 – 20 days. Coffee is dried on raised beds in layers of 2-8 cm, depending on the climate, table type and drying stage.