MUNTASHA WASHED

Highlights

“Bursa is a kebele high in the Arbegona woreda of Sidama. Mulugeta Muntasha grew up there and spent years driving trucks in Arsi before he came home in 2021 and built the Dawencho drying station. His site took second place in the Ethiopian Cup of Excellence that first year, and the year after four of the ten best lots in the country had passed through his hands, including the one that won it. The gardens around the station sit at 2200-2350 masl and the cherry comes in from a few hundred neighbouring smallholders working plots of a hectare or two. Up that high the cherry ripens slowly and arrives dense and sweet. This is his washed lot, and he works it with his son Dege. Ripe cherry is pulped and fermented under water for 48 to 60 hours, then washed clean and dried on raised beds. The ground water comes out cold and the nights are colder still, so the ferment runs long and even without ever getting away from them. We taste stone fruit and plum, with citrus and a floral lift.”