Dembi is located in the Sidama region of Ethiopia. Around 1,200 farmers consistently contribute to these lots. Coffee cherries are handpicked at peak ripeness and delivered fresh to be processed. For natural processing, cherries are floated to remove bad fruit and dried in the shade for around 18 days or until a moisture of 11.2% is reached. The dry cherry is then rested for 4 weeks before hulling and prepared for export.

Anaerobic Natural 

First, cherries were immersed and floated in the water tanks to remove the low-density coffees, and the cherries were closed air-tight and in a fully sealed and controlled anaerobic fermentation tank. The tanks are regulated by valves to ensure no oxygen can seep throughout the fermentation process. The fermentation occurred for 7 days until the pH level dropped to 3.8 to get the desired profile of winey, dry fruit, juicy, fruity flavors, and rich floral. Throughout the 7 days, the fermentation tanks were placed in concrete water baths to maintain a constant temperature between 15 and 18 degrees Celsius and to keep the fermentation very slow. The fermentation process was homogenized by rotating or moving the tanks.

At the end of the seventh day, the fermentation is suspended by removing the cherries from the tanks.

On day one, quick drying is applied until the coffee humidity drops to 35%. Cherries were dried for 30 days under a shade net on African beds. Once the drying period was completed, and the humidity decreased to 12%, cherries were collected and stored in a conducive warehouse for four weeks of resting time. 

It is important to note this coffee was intentionally processed utilizing anaerobic fermentation. In general, placing freshly-harvested cherries inside a sealed container or bag of some sort for a period of time will create a flavor impact. We find those anaerobically-fermented coffees often exhibit an increase in the intensity of fruit and acidity and a slight increase in the body. Nonetheless, the anaerobic fermentation process has a distinct impact on the outcome of the flavor profile.