While the name Aricha may be well-known, it is uncommonly known that what we are referring to is the Kebele Aricha which is located within the Woreda Yirgacheffe. Being within the Yirgacheffe umbrella, the washing stations from Aricha encapsulate the beautifully classic Ethiopia look. The hills are coloured in the bright and lush red, green and blue of the earth, the trees and the sky, with artistic brushstrokes of yellow, orange and deep purple of the coffee cherries drying on plastic sheets. The raised drying beds that rest in loosely paralleled rows across the hillside follow the topography of the land so well; they could be a natural extension of the land itself.

The workers collect and carry the coffee cherries in tightly woven baskets and gather to wash their hands and faces in the nearby stream. The work of the land and the people here create a coffee profile so wonderful that can only be matched by the natural beauty of the landscape in which it is made. The cherries from Aricha will continue to amaze the industry who values it