Worka Sakaro

Worka Sakaro — Anaerobic Natural
Gedeb District, Gedeo Zone, Ethiopia — Anaerobic Natural Process

Some coffees come back every year and are good. This one comes back every year and gets better.

The Worka Sakaro Anaerobic Natural is one of the most consistently celebrated lots we carry and the 2026 crop is the best version we’ve had.

Same label. More in the cup.

Worka Sakaro sits in the Gedeb district at the southern edge of the Gedeo Zone (technically outside the Yirgacheffe but classified within it) at elevations between 2,000 and 2,200 meters above sea level. Over half of the district’s 1,300 hectares are dedicated to coffee. The indigenous heirloom cultivars grown here (Kumie, Siga, and Wilsho) have never been systematically bred or selected. They grow the way they have for centuries, in the shade of Birbira, Corsica Africana, and Ensete Ventricosum trees, on steep mountain slopes above a landscape the UN has declared one of the most significant wild coffee gene pools on earth.

The washing station is operated by Tracon Trading — one of Ethiopia’s most respected independent exporters, with 35 stations across Sidama, Yirgacheffe, Guji, and Limu, and over 30 years in specialty coffee. Tracon’s Worka Sakaro facility is their largest: 360 drying beds on nearly five hectares, receiving cherry from hundreds of smallholder farms in the surrounding kebeles.

The anaerobic process starts with selection. Ripe cherries are hand-picked and sorted, then sealed in stainless steel canisters and vacuum-packed whole. Over four to five days, pressure, temperature, and pH are closely monitored until the cherries reach the precise fermentation point. Once the target is hit, they’re transferred to raised beds and dried slowly in the Ethiopian sun for 18 to 21 days. The result of that controlled patience is a cup that doesn’t behave like most natural process coffees — it’s not wild or unpredictable. It’s precise, layered, and extraordinarily clean for everything it’s carrying.

What you’ll taste: raspberry, black cherry and blueberry up front, a cordial-like sweetness in the mid-palate, papaya and craisin depth underneath, and a finish that is juicy and sustained long after the sip with hibiscus remnants. Bold body that develop deep chocolate mousse tones unlocked in different brew approaches.

Fragrance and aroma are where this coffee announces itself, the nose alone tells you something unusual is happening. Light roasted, well-developed.

This is a coffee that earned a 93-point score from Coffee Review in 2025. The 2026 crop gave us more to work with.