Umble Reserve - Worka Sakaro

Listen up, Umble Nation, because this Umble Reserve comes with a story worth slowing down for. Our Reserve series is where we share some of the most interesting coffees we find around the world. Think guest chef, limited engagement—when it’s gone, it’s gone.

This time, we’re headed to Gedeb, Ethiopia, for a coffee from the Worka Sakaro washing station. We’re tasting raspberries, sweet cream, and hibiscus: a little berry brightness, a soft sweetness, and a floral finish that gives you a reason to take another sip.

THE STORY BEHIND THE COFFEE

Worka Sakaro brings together coffee from around 400 small farms growing on steep mountain slopes, roughly 2,000–2,200 meters above sea level. A washing station is where those farmers’ harvests come together for processing—the work that turns freshly picked coffee cherries into coffee ready for roasting.

And that work matters. Careful cherry selection, attention during processing, and patient drying help preserve what those farmers worked all season to grow. Behind the name on this bag is a whole community’s harvest.

A LITTLE COFFEE SCIENCE…

One fun thing about this particular coffee is that it is an anaerobic natural processed coffee. What does that mean? We're glad you asked! Here’s the short version: the whole coffee cherries spends 3–7 days fermenting in special bags flushed with carbon dioxide and nitrogen, limiting oxygen. The team monitors the fermentation, then moves the cherries to raised beds to finish drying for roughly three weeks. That anaerobic fermentation process adds a massive layer of extra sweetness to the coffee, making it rich without being boozy.

Think of it as an extra chapter between picking the fruit and roasting the beans. For this lot, that chapter involves a lot of attention—and gives us something pretty interesting to explore in the cup.

TASTING NOTES EXPLAINED…

Tasting notes come from the fragrance of the dry grounds, the aroma of the wet grounds and brewed coffee, and the taste itself. They’re descriptions of what the coffee reminds us of—not added ingredients.

We’re tasting Raspberries, Sweet Cream, Hibiscus.

• Raspberries: That sweet-tart berry character, like a ripe raspberry with a little zing. We also got strawberries but thought it was more raspberry than strawberry.
• Sweet cream: A gentle, rounded sweetness that softens the brighter notes. No cream required.
• Hibiscus: A floral note with a little tartness, like the character you might recognize in hibiscus tea.

See what you find. Your raspberry might be someone else’s blueberry, and that’s part of the fun.

INSIDER TRICK: Let your cup cool until it’s comfortably sippable, then taste it again a few minutes later. The sweetness, fruit, and floral notes can become easier to pick out as the temperature drops.

We want this coffee to be your FUEL FOR THE STORIES WORTH TELLING. Brew a cup, give it a little time, and tell us what you taste.

And if you’re curious about everything that happens between Farm and First Sip, check out our Coffee 101 podcast. We’ll help you sound suspiciously knowledgeable at your next get-together.