From source to sip
The story behind your next cup.
In the high red-clay hills of Ethiopia's Gedeo Zone, the Dumerso mill draws cherries from roughly 700 smallholders farming the slopes around Yirgacheffe. This is that same celebrated origin, with the caffeine gently removed and the character left intact.
Yirgacheffe is the name that built Ethiopia's reputation as the birthplace of arabica. Within it, the Gedeo Zone sits on iron-rich red soil at the kind of altitude that slows cherry maturation and concentrates sweetness, with farms climbing toward 2,100 meters. The Dumerso mill operates near the town of Yirga Chefe, gathering ripe cherry from around 700 neighboring smallholders who tend old indigenous heirloom varieties that grow almost wild across these hills.
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The Coffee Story
The SourceYirgacheffe's Quiet Benchmark
Yirgacheffe is the name that built Ethiopia's reputation as the birthplace of arabica. Within it, the Gedeo Zone sits on iron-rich red soil at the kind of altitude that slows cherry maturation and concentrates sweetness, with farms climbing toward 2,100 meters. The Dumerso mill operates near the town of Yirga Chefe, gathering ripe cherry from around 700 neighboring smallholders who tend old indigenous heirloom varieties that grow almost wild across these hills.
The mill is a family operation run by the Birhanu family, with a brother-and-sister team managing processing and export. Beyond the coffee, Dumerso runs a program that presses spent coffee parchment into firewood briquettes, adding farmer income while easing pressure on the surrounding forests. It is the sort of practical, local stewardship that fits how we think about coffee.
The CraftWashed Clarity, Caffeine Gently Removed
At Dumerso the cherry is depulped in the evening, floated for density, then fermented underwater in open tanks for 36 to 48 hours before drying on raised beds for nine to eleven days. That fully washed process is what gives Yirgacheffe its hallmark transparency: clean, floral, and citrus-forward rather than fruit-heavy.
The decaffeination happens later, using the Swiss Water Process. It relies only on water, temperature, and time to draw out caffeine while leaving the flavor compounds behind, with no chemical solvents involved. We finish it at a City+ roast, light enough to protect the jasmine and bergamot notes that make this origin worth seeking out, even without the caffeine.
The CupYirgacheffe Without the Buzz
The cup opens with jasmine and a soft floral lift, then moves into bright bergamot and clean lemon acidity. Underneath sits a gentle cocoa sweetness that gives the light body something to lean on, finishing tea-like and aromatic. Tasted blind, most drinkers would never guess the caffeine was gone.
