Limu

Limu (also spelled Limmu) is a coffee area within the Jimma Zone of Ethiopia's Oromia region, in the country's southwest — the washed counterpart to the region's better-known natural-processed coffees, and for years the more overlooked side of Ethiopian specialty.

Coffee here grows in forest and semi-forest garden systems under indigenous shade, at commonly between about 1,400 and 2,100 m, with specialty washing stations documenting windows around 1,800–2,100 m and station-level altitudes near 1,900 m. The plantings are indigenous landraces and heirloom cultivars — Ethiopia's classic, unnamed-by-variety genetics — and the defining process is washed, the identity that separates Limu from Jimma's naturals.

In the cup, buyers commonly describe Limu as the rounder, gentler washed Ethiopian: medium-to-full 'wine-like' body, balanced acidity, floral and spice notes with stone fruit. 'Limu' also circulates as a grade classification in Ethiopian coffee, so provenance should be checked lot by lot — and every cup is station- and season-specific.