Honeymoon Washed 2.0 began with a return to Ethiopia during the Spring Festival, when the YD.SELECTS sourcing team travelled into the coffee heartlands to rebuild a familiar washed coffee from the ground up. After more than three months of waiting, the new harvest arrived as an upgraded expression of the everyday Honeymoon style—sweeter, clearer and designed to remain recognisably Ethiopian.

The work centred on Banko Gotiti Washing Station in Gotiti, Gedeo, within the Yirgacheffe region. Local farmers deliver carefully selected 74158 and 74112 cherries grown between approximately 1,870 and 1,980 metres. The process was led by Mr Rabitt of YD.SELECTS together with Hansun Coffee, combining local knowledge with a deliberately standardised approach.

Only cherries reaching 21° Brix are selected. On the day of processing, the cherries are floated, pulped and placed directly into dry fermentation tanks. They undergo a controlled 72-hour fermentation, divided into three 24-hour stages. A gentle clean-water rinse during the process helps prevent heavy fermentation flavours, preserving the clean structure expected from washed coffee while allowing extra sweetness to develop.

After fermentation, the coffee is spread in a single thin layer on African raised beds and dried slowly and evenly in the mountain air. The result is a style that sits between classic washed and honey processing: clear and tea-like, yet lifted by greater sweetness and fruit definition. Honeymoon Washed 2.0 is marked by chamomile, mandarin, sun-orange and Jin Jun Mei black tea, with the floral and citrus character of Gotiti still at its centre.

This harvest also tested whether the method could move beyond a small experiment. The team repeated the process in a micro-batch using cherries from 2,100–2,300 metres, sorting defects by hand from fruit through parchment. The experiment showed that a sweeter, more expressive washed style could be developed without losing the clarity of high-altitude Yirgacheffe.

The journey was not effortless. Existing machinery could not meet the new sorting requirements at container scale, so the team spent the Spring Festival cupping, testing and calibrating before training a full group of skilled women sorters to complete the lot by hand. Shipping delays added another setback, but the work continued. Honeymoon Washed 2.0 is therefore more than a process update: it is an attempt to make washed coffee exciting again, while keeping the method practical enough to benefit farmers and everyday drinkers.