Banko Gotiti is a small coffee-growing community in Gedeb, at the southern end of Ethiopia’s Gedeo Zone. While coffees from this part of the country are commonly sold under the better-known name Yirgacheffe, Gedeb has developed a reputation of its own for exceptionally floral, high-elevation coffees with remarkable clarity and intensity.

This lot was produced by approximately 763 smallholder farmers living around Banko Gotiti. Like much of southern Ethiopia, coffee here is grown on small garden plots alongside food crops and native shade trees. High elevations, consistent rainfall, and the region’s fertile red-brown soils create ideal conditions for coffee to mature slowly, contributing to the aromatic and complex character for which Gedeb is known.

After harvest, ripe cherries are delivered to the Banko Gotiti washing station, where they are sorted, depulped, washed, and dried as parchment on raised African beds. Drying takes approximately 12–15 days. During that time, the coffee is regularly turned to encourage even drying and covered during the hottest part of the day, overnight, and whenever rain threatens. This slow, carefully managed process helps preserve the clean, transparent character that distinguishes the best washed coffees from the region.

In the cup, Banko Gotiti is classic Gedeb: intensely floral and tea-like, with jasmine and bergamot aromatics followed by bright lemon citrus, ripe stone fruit, and honey-like sweetness. The body is silky and delicate, with crisp acidity and a clean, lingering black-tea finish.

It’s an elegant expression of what makes washed coffees from southern Ethiopia so distinctive—floral, vibrant, sweet, and remarkably clear.