Yaye is one of the highest-elevation washing stations in the world and consistently produces some of our favorite profiles in all of coffee. Each year we look forward to this release. In the cup we find watermelon, lychee, and complex botanicals. This is our third year working with coffee from the Yaye site, which has consistently produced some of our highest-scoring lots. Later this month, we will be traveling to Ethiopia to visit Yaye and Arbegona, continuing to learn and build on the work that has begun. This site yields some of the most articulated profiles we taste each year, and we always look forward to sharing these special selections. ABOUT ETHIOPIAN LANDRACE Ethiopia is widely acknowledged as where coffee originated, and its production continues to represent about 10% of the country’s gross domestic product. DNA testing has confirmed over 60 distinct varieties growing in Ethiopia, making it home to the most coffee biodiversity of any region in the world. Given the tradition of coffee production in Ethiopia and the political interworkings of the Ethiopian coffee trade, it is virtually impossible to get single variety coffee lots from Ethiopia. This is changing, albeit very slowly. Most Ethiopian coffees are blends of the many Ethiopian varieties, and referred to simply as 'Ethiopian Landrace'.