Welcome to the May 2025 edition of For The Love of Coffee. A blog about all things coffee, exclusively for the employees of Vienna Coffee.
Our Spotlight coffee for the merry month of May is the glorious Ethiopian Gatta Honey. This outstanding coffee comes from the Daye Bensa Farm in the heart of Shantawene Village, in Sidama Bensa, Ethiopia. The farm sits at 2,200 masl amid a natural forest with many trees over 100 years old.
Gatta Honey is prepared using a unique method called “honey-process,” where the coffee is pulped from the fruit and, instead of being washed, is immediately moved outside to raised beds to dry with all the sticky mucilage (fruit residue) remaining on the coffee. This gives a unique variation to the two common processing methods (washed and natural) and typically results in a sweeter, more complex flavor profile.
Depulped coffee beans ready to go straight to the drying beds.
We have had a strong relationship with Daye Bensa Farm for many years and we were honored to host the Founder, Asefa Dukamo, and his family here at Vienna in 2021. Just this past March, our own Les & Jamie Stoneham from Deeper Roots Coffee visited the farm once again and discussed their ever-expanding offerings and steady growth as one of Ethiopia’s premier coffee producers.
Daye Bensa school for children of the families who work for the coffee farm
For our Vienna debut, we are featuring this single-origin beauty as a light roast, giving this coffee a bright acidity, full body with bold sweetness, and tasting notes of black tea, bergamot, and tropical fruit.
Baristas, your 4 OZ samples are available to take home and try using your preferred brewing method. Once again, comments are enabled to facilitate questions and discussion about the coffee. I would welcome any feedback or questions.
It’s a GREAT day for coffee!
Matt