Effect of Drying Methods on Raw Quality of Selected Cultivars of Arabica Coffee (Coffea arabica L.) Grown in South West, Ethiopia

Coffee Arabica is an essential commodity to the livelihood of millions of Ethiopians and its quality had critical importance to the coffee industry. A study was conducted to evaluate coffee quality attributes of nine newly released coffee cultivars subjected to open sun (direct sun light) and lath house-drying methods. The experiment was designed in complete randomized design factorial with two factors (cultivars and drying methods). Coffee cultivars were (Gawe, Dessu, 744, 7440, 74148, Gesha, Merdacheriko, Wushwush and Catimor J- 19) prepared using wet (washed) processing method during harvesting of 2017/18 cropping season, which were collected from different altitude of south west, Ethiopia. Raw quality was evaluated by a team of certified panelists at Jimma agricultural research center coffee processing and quality analysis laboratory. Cultivars of Dessu, 744 and Merdacheriko having best value in raw quality attributes, but, low values were recorded in Gesha cultivar. Drying method was no significant difference (Pgreater than0.05) in raw quality parameters. Many of coffee cultivars showed significant differences (P