The Archers bond with Daye Bensa goes a long way back, and it's also a connection marked by exhilarating milestones. A quick retrospective?

These were — Archers' first stint at the UAE National Brewers Cup in 2021 where our Frederick Bejo showcased a progressive rendering of Hamasho Village on-stage; our first creative processing collaboration that brought us exclusive Hamasho 192 Hrs and Gatta Warm Anaerobic Archers lots, our inaugural learning adventure at origin when we flew to Ethiopia for  The CQI Q Processing 2 The Professional at Gatta Farm, Sidama Bensa, and that epic private cupping event featuring 20 cup profiles expressed by a single Ethiopian variety processed in 20 different ways led by our Dave Peralta, co-founder and Head of Archers Academy.  

That's all apart from the consistently mind-blowing coffees from Hamasho, Shantawene, Bombe, Damo, and Gatta we've been enjoying together through the years, friends, and that we all sorely miss as soon as our stash runs out. And you know it does — so, so fast.

It always feels too long between Daye Bensa coffee releases, and now well into the 4th year of our prosperous partnership, our collective longing has finally come to an end! Let's relish how the 2023 crop of varieties 74158, 74110, and 74112 have captured the marvels of picturesque Sidama Bensa this time, in these new Hamasho Village and Bombe Village lots.

As one of your closest coffee friends, we strongly suggest you rush to our roastery in Sharjah for your share of these sensational coffees — or get a hold of them here, now!

Celebrating Nuanced Variability between Harvests 

Our relationship with Daye Bensa has been revelatory as much as it has been rewarding. 

Every harvest, we can’t wait to enjoy how varieties 74158, 74110, and 74112 capture the natural marvels of the picturesque Sidama Bensa terroir and express it in our cups.

Our first Hamasho Village Natural was in 2020, which had notes of jasmine, orange blossom, lychee, apricot, and lemongrass. From 2020 to 2022, Hamasho Village Natural has consistently carried signature jasmine and lychee notes, while introducing some delicious variability throughout as well. For example, the crop also expressed apricot in 2020 and 2021, enlivening the profile with a hint of sweet tanginess as well as the invigorating aromatic nuance of lemongrass. Then, in 2022 new fruit notes emerged like blueberries and orange, along with caramel, which gave the cup a certain  juiciness and a measure of richness and depth.

As a result of natural processing in this 2023 crop, Hamasho Village Lot 2 expresses the signature notes of jasmine and lychee, alongside the return of orange blossom, and together with amplified sweetness and new layers of intricacy with notes of peach soda, melon, and mandarine. 

On the other hand, as a result of natural anaerobic processing for this crop, Hamasho Village 72 Hrs Anaerobic keeps the delicate elegance of jasmine and the tropical lushness of lychee which are complemented by the sunny succulence of yellow peach and mandarine.

Meanwhile, we had Bombe Village Natural in 2021 and 2022. 2021 had tasting notes of mandarin orange, apricot, strawberry, and caramel, while 2022 had orange, apricot, pineapple, mixed berries, and floral honey. Both years, the crops consistently showcased a sweet, succulent, and pleasantly tart apricot note alongside prominent sweetness — caramel in 2021 and floral honey in 2022. While both years showcased diversely aromatic and fruit-forward qualities, 2022 had a wider spectrum that included berries, citrus, tropical fruit notes, as well as some florality.

2023 Bombe Village Natural is a surprise stunner, with the heightened aromatics of serenely floral lavender and invigorating lemongrass — both of which had not been there before — intertwined with mouthwatering nectarine and the creamy sweetness of papaya.

But, it is the 72-hour Natural Anaerobic lot that has nostalgically brought back the distinct apricot note that characterized Bombe Village in 2021 and 2022, along with the strawberry that was also present in 2021. The natural anaerobic process gave way to this fantastic frenzy of fruit that unfurls on the palate as a playful composition that now includes mango, lychee, and clementine notes.

A Consistently Satisfying Specialty Coffee Experience

It was our first Hamasho Village lot that signaled how important it is that we do not make blanket value judgments about a coffee’s quality based on any single parameter like its physical look — bean color, visual uniformity, or screen size, for example – especially without tasting it first and understanding more about terroir, variety, and processing. 

That’s because, when we make absolute judgments about any coffee based on misinformed criteria — as specialty coffee lovers, we risk missing out on amazing flavor experiences that we can share with our fellow specialty coffee aficionados. 

Then, as specialty coffee professionals, for instance, as buyers of green or roasted coffee and as baristas in a hospitality setting, we risk diverting our own time and energy from more joyful and value-adding activities when we jump to negative conclusions about a coffee’s quality based on inadequate or outdated knowledge.

That’s also why it’s especially important for professional practitioners in the consuming side of the specialty coffee value chain to keep our processing and brewing know-how current. It’s useful to know about post-harvest processing to have a better-informed basis for properly assessing the quality of coffee we are purchasing and using. 

And it’s beneficial to know the fundamental industry standards and best practices for manual brewing and espresso extraction to improve our ability to consistently make the most of the specialty coffees we use.

Find out why it’s no longer enough to judge coffee quality through physical look alone when you take the CQI Introduction to Post-Harvest Processing on July 28, 2023. 

Also, consider getting started on improving the consistency of your manual brew quality with SCA Brewing Foundation on July 27, 2023, and learn to dial in and pull more consistently satisfying espressos with SCA Barista Foundation on July 26, 2023.

Archers & Daye Bensa Coffee Partnership 

Our co-founders knew Sidama Bensa coffee was special well before Ethiopia's Cup of Excellence started. After blind cupping 14-16 samples during Panama Geisha season in 2019, the team picked out the top three. The supposed calibrator, Hamasho Village from Daye Bensa Coffee, surprisingly took the top two spot.

Frederick Bejo, Archers Co-founder, Head of Operations, and Green Buyer, recalls his first impressions and surprise at how this coffee was among the most aromatic and sweet-smelling he had ever encountered. He was also amazed by how much it tasted like geisha. Soon after, Archers and Daye Bensa sealed the deal for the purchase of 60 bags of Hamasho, which has increased to countless bags from more Sidama Bensa villages to date.