LCC Roastery

HK Coffee Roaster | Grocer | Workshop in Lantau

June 2, 2022

Ethiopia Sidama Bensa Asefa Qonqana

bright aromatic cup, with refined sugar sweetness, heady florals invoking jasmine pearl tea, and a tannic bittering/vibrant lemon note that lead to a mouth cleansing finish.

Qonqana is one of a handful of coffee stations run by the Daye Bensa group in Sidama’s mountainous Bensa highland growing region, near the town of Shantawene. Unlike their other coffee processing sites (Shantawene, Mirado, Bombe, etc), Qonqana station is outfitted with a Penagos water conserving depulper, which strips away most of the fruit from the seed using very little water. This means they can forgo the fermentation stage to remove the final mucilage layer, instead, soaking overnight in clean water and agitating away what little fruit is left the following morning. Asefa Dukamo is one of the leaders of Daye Bensa group.

Qonqana rests above the Qonqana river at 2000+ meters above sea level, which along with slowing coffee maturation and increasing bean density, the coffees beans from this high altitude region can also be quite small in size. The majority of the coffee is 15+, but we are spotting quite a few 14 screen beans in there too (maybe even 13?). The biggest concern here is that these smaller, lower density beans will roast faster than the largest coffee. While that can be true, we found no roast issues when sticking to a light, City-/City roast level.

Cupping Notes:

The light touch in the roaster really plays up the bright cup characteristics without sacrificing sweetness, and floral aromatics that we long for in Sidama coffees comes though nicely. I found the ground coffee showed a mild sweetness mostly, though I did pick up on fragrant sugars, and faint dried florals. Adding hot water brings out a touch of berry fruits, along with a crystalized sweetness of raw sugar, and now the profile is infused with perfumed, heady floral highlights. The floral notes impact the cup in a much bigger way, invoking pearl jasmine green tea. The green tea aspect is underscored by some tannic bittering in the aftertaste, that coupled with a lemon note, leaves behind a mouth cleansing sensation on the palate. I’m happy with the level of sweetness in light roasts too, and has the transparency of white sugar, or simple syrups. While not a fruit-forward cup by any stretch of the word, I do pick up on some mild fruit flavor notes as Qonqana cools off some, such as lychee jelly and fruit gum.