LAS ETÍOPES, Ethiopian Varieties

We've known Simon Brown for many years and have travelled with him in various producing countries during his time as head of sourcing for a large importer. For the past few years, he's been based in Peru, where he has settled, made a home, and started a family.

In 2019, Simon purchased Las Etíopes, a seven hectare farm situated in the village of El Porvenir in Jaén, Cajamarca. The farm sits at an altitude of 1,900 masl and reaches 2,050 masl at its peak. In early 2020, the first trees were planted—Ethiopian heirloom varieties, Gesha, Wush Wush, and Sidra.

In 2021, Simon and his partner Merlith Cruz expanded the farm by buying an additional three hectares of land between 1,750 and 1,900 masl. They planted this area with Bourbon, Catuai, Caturra, Catimor, and a small amount of Pacamara. These local varieties, combined with the high altitudes, organic matter-rich soils, and humid climate, produce coffees with a pronounced acidity and great body.

Las Etíopes specializes in exotic varieties and impeccable processing. In 2022—their first season producing enough coffee to export—a farm blend of their varieties earned 19th place in the Cup of Excellence! They also process cherries purchased from neighbouring farms, known as out-growers.

This dynamic couple have also set up an exporting company called Chacra. In Peru this means a small farm or agricultural field, originating from the Quechua word "chakra" which signifies a small plot of arable land used to produce food for nearby residents.

Apart from several well-known exotic varieties, Simon and Merlith planted Las Etíopes with Ethiopian heirloom varieties originating from Yirgacheffe and Guji. There are around five lines: some ripen yellow or pink; some are compact; and others are taller, somewhat similar to Bourbon or Gesha. This year is only the second year these trees have yielded enough cherry to produce an exportable lot.

Until 2025, almost all production from Las Etíopes was processed using conventional fermentation methods, dry fermenting in tiled tanks, and this remains the farm’s primary approach. In 2025, however, some production was processed in stainless steel tanks with added natural inoculants. To support these new techniques, a processing lab was built to house the stainless steel tanks, food-grade plastic bioreactor barrels, and microscope and lab equipment needed to isolate and monitor yeast and bacteria growth prior to inoculation.

This lot was fermented with a natural mosto, made by fermenting a batch of Geisha in sealed tanks with a solution of simple syrup and hops. The hops are used for their natural antimicrobial properties, which encourage the proliferation of yeasts rather than bacteria. The pulped coffee is then left to ferment for 5 to 7 days, with pH and brix readings taken regularly to monitor fermentation and yeast growth. Once the batch reaches a point where the yeast are sufficiently vigorous, the liquid is strained off and the coffee removed. This liquid is the mosto, which can be used to inoculate production batches of coffee, and maintained much like a sourdough starter with regular feedings of sugar syrup, keeping a close eye on the pH to ensure the acidity doesn’t drop too much.

Freshly picked coffee is first rinsed and floated in fresh, cold spring water which both removes lower quality beans and cleans the cherry and reduce its microbial load. The rinsed cherries are depulped and placed in stainless steel tanks, where they are fermented for a period of 72 hours with the mosto under the natural pressure generated from fermentation. Once the fermentation is complete, the coffee is taken out of the tank and the liquid preserved for future batches, after being refreshed with more sugar syrup. The fermented coffee is washed once in spring water and
moved over to the drying beds for slow drying. At Las Etíopes, the coffee is dried in a covered drying tent where it dries slowly for 15 to 20 days, depending on the weather conditions, until it reaches 11% moisture.

In botanical terms, heirloom varieties are plants passed down through generations, often within families, known for their historical significance and cultural heritage. In Ethiopia, "heirloom" is often used as a catch-all term for any variety native to the country. Estimates suggest there are between 10,000 and 15,000 heirloom varieties in Ethiopia today, most of which have not been formally genetically identified.

While many heirloom varieties originate as wild plants, some have been selected for their desirable qualities and cultivated on coffee farms across the country.

Heirloom varieties typically fall into two categories: JARC varieties and regional landraces. JARC varieties are developed and researched by the Jimma Agricultural Research Centre for desirable characteristics, such as greater disease resistance or increased yield. In contrast, regional landraces are varieties that have evolved naturally over generations, adapting to their specific environments.

he washed process was designed to minimise the risk of off-flavours caused by uncontrolled fermentation during the natural process. Cherries are typically sorted using a flotation tank, where under-ripe or defective fruits float to the top and can be removed. The remaining cherries are then pulped and left in a tank to ferment until the sticky fruit mucilage is soft enough to be washed off the parchment, a paper-like layer surrounding the seed.

The design and cleanliness of the tanks used for fermentation are crucial, and the type, degree and speed of microbial activity depends on various factors. These include the amount of fruit remaining, the presence of bacteria and yeasts, whether the tank is filled with water, and the environmental conditions.

Once the mucilage has sufficiently degraded, it's washed away with water. The remaining parchment coffee, as it's commonly called, is then dried until it reaches a safe moisture content. The bacteria rich and sugary water used in the process must be treated carefully, as it can cause algae blooms if it enters streams and rivers.

In situations where large amounts of coffee are processed in bulk, such as in Ethiopia, some operations have found it economical to use a mechanical de-mucilager. This device removes all the fruit from the parchment with minimal water, bypassing the fermentation stage entirely. However, some believe this leads to a reduction in cup quality, as many flavour precursors are created through fermentation.