Recommended: Pour over / Drip
Bean: Ethiopia
Regions: Gedeb Village, Gedeo
Owners: Chelbesa Lot No.2, Neguesse Debela
Process: Washed
Varietal: Heirloom
Notes: Bergamot, lemon custard, black currant, maple syrup sweetness, slick, juicy dark chocolate finish
Elevation: 1950-2200masl

Ethiopian Specialty Coffee

King Canute, our Ethiopian specialty coffee, has been sourced from one of the finest coffee producing areas within the Gedeb district of Southern Ethiopia. The Chelbesa farm in Gedeb village is owned by Neguesse Debela who implements excellent coffee growing agro-ecology. The resulting beans have a very high cup score of 88.25, the highest of all our specialty coffees.

King Canute combines washed mixed heirloom varietals that we have roasted to a medium darkness. With citrus notes of bergamot and lemon along with fruity black currant, this Ethiopian speciality coffee is light and refreshing. It also has flavours of sweet maple syrup and a dark chocolate finish making it well balanced and refined. King Canute is best enjoyed using percolation or filter methods such as V60 or French press but there’s no reason why you can’t use it for espresso drinks.

Our King Canute Ethiopian specialty coffee is available in three sizes (250g, 500g or 1kg) and can be purchased as whole beans or ground for Aeropress, cafetiere, espresso, moka pot or V60 to suit your preferred brewing method. To guarantee freshness, all our specialty coffee beans are ground on the day of dispatch and roasted no more than 5 days before an order is placed.

King Canute

A Fable from West Lindsey, Lincolnshire

Among many others, West Lindsey is host to the folklore that King Canute once stood on the shores of the River Trent, gazing at the rising Aegir and commanded it to stop. 

The tale goes, tired of his follower’s vain flattery and persistence of his god-like status, he decided once and for all to prove who the true God is, that they should revere Him and set aside their love of the crown over Christ. When he was at the height of his ascendancy, he ordered his royal throne to be placed on the shore as the tide was coming in. King Canute then said to the rising tide, ‘You are subject to me, as the land on which I am sitting is mine, and no one has ever resisted me. I command you, therefore, not to rise on to my land, nor to presume to wet the clothing or limbs of your master.’ But the waters came up as usual, and disrespectfully drenched the king and  his fine expensive clothing. 

Canute cried, ‘Let all the world know that the power of kings is empty and worthless, and there is no king worthy of the name save Him by whose will heaven, earth and sea obey eternal laws. He who causes the sea to rise is the right and proper person to place one’s trust in and to honour. He is a just and virtuous king, whereas I am a miserable wretch. I am a mere mortal, whereas He is everlasting. 

Thereafter King Canute never wore his royal golden crown, but placed it on the image of the crucified Lord, in eternal praise of God - The one great King.