This Ethiopian coffee is from the Duromina washing station in Agaro, in the Western region. The cherries are pulped and dried after depulping, yielding a clean, bright cup with tasting notes of candied citrus, floral honey, and sweet peach. Harvested between December and January 2026 and grown at elevations around 1850–1950 MASL, produced by the Kata Maduga Cooperative.
Rebecca Grossman and Lucas Smith founded Ilse in 2019, starting with a thousand dollars and a rented roaster in Stamford before building out their own facility in a converted mechanic's garage in North Canaan. The approach is quality-driven: light roasts, single-producer microlots, and a commitment to buying entire harvests from the same farms year after year, some relationships now stretch back to the beginning. Pricing is transparent; each bag lists what the producer was paid, the FOB price, and Ilse's cost. Sourcing focuses on Central and South America and East Africa, with Costa Rica, Honduras, Colombia, and Ethiopia appearing regularly.
