We're proud to announce we've won a 2017 Good Food Award for our Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Idido. Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee. So it’s no surprise that the country produces some of the most delightful, nuanced coffees, grown on heirloom plants that have been carefully tended for generations. We’re always tickled when a fresh-crop Ethiopian lands on the table in our QC lab, because you just never know what intricate subtleties are in store for our noses and palates. What we can count on is that it will be delicious.
Excited to try it for yourself? Buy a bag here.
The washing station at Yirgacheffe's Idido cooperative.
Higher Grounds has been partnering with farmers in Ethiopia for several years now, working with Cooperative Coffees to source top-quality lots from both the Yirgacheffe and Sidama regions. We’re extremely thrilled to discover our offering from the Idido cooperative, a smaller farmer group within the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (YCFCU), has been honored with such a prestigious award.
Supported by the Good Food Retailers Collaborative, the Good Food Awards “honor outstanding American food producers and farmers who push their industries towards craftsmanship, sustainability, and social good.” We’re humbled and excited to receive this award, which we see as an endorsement of our transparent, sustainable trading practices as well as our commitment to quality.
What’s more, some of our good friends at other local businesses are being recognized too. Food For Thought’s Blueberry Lavender Preserves and Fresh Coast Chocolate’s 70% dark Belize bar also accepted awards this weekend in San Francisco. We got our Idido together with these other goodies to celebrate.
Discovery #1: Smear some of FFT’s preserves on a baguette, pour yourself a cup of Idido, and experience fruit and herbal nuances in two very distinct ways. The preserves, delivered to your taste buds by the hearty baguette, exhibit the essence of blueberry with just enough sweetness to balance out the tang. And while you may not notice it right away, the lavender is there in the echo, a delicate surprise. Follow that swallow with a sip of Idido. Now the fruit returns, but this time it’s less berry than citrus, and the brightness carries the profile, complemented by aromas of bergamot and orange zest.
Discovery #2: Alternating bites of Fresh Coast’s Belize bar with sips of Idido takes us to a new kind of symbiosis. Idido is a light-bodied, aromatic coffee with soft sweetness. It’s clean and juicy; it doesn’t linger long on your tongue after you swallow. So when you start with a bite of Belize—think cashew, honey, cherry—that rich chocolate sinks into your tongue and stays there. Then the coffee comes in, blending those more delicate aromas of bergamot and citrus with the richness of the chocolate, then washing it all down together. Call it teamwork—the tastiest kind.
Is your mouth watering yet? Pick up a bag of Idido, then wander on over to Food For Thought and Fresh Coast for the other goodies too and taste for yourself. You can thank us later.