Lot 25.51

We want to change communities, so we can’t only rely on microlots. Just like at a roastery, it’s important to have a mix of small and large volumes to create maximum impact!

Since we only want to produce coffee in a sustainable way, we’ve developed strategies for working with our community farmers in both Guji and Sidama to allow us to source the best cherries from them while also teaching ecological farming methods that ensure both the farmers and their land thrive.

One of these strategies is a pilot training program we started a few years ago to help farmers improve their home processing techniques. Instead of delivering cherries to our mill and having to worry about capacity issues, we could teach these smallholder farmers how to pick and process their cherries at home. 

Let’s say one farmer harvests his coffee in 4 or 5 rounds, with the goal of improving his sun-drying method. He may have started by drying his coffee on the ground, and then perhaps a plastic sheet. But we can provide him with African raised beds and even facilitate him joining with neighbors to create and share a small natural drying station. When we help farmers in this way, we are also able to form long-term partnerships with them. We provide contracts early in the season so they have a level of financial security, and we can see them progressing year after year. 

This lot is a blend of coffees from community farmers who now excel at home processing. By putting together small amounts of coffee from many farmers in one excellent lot, we are able to have a high level of impact within those communities. For you, the roaster, it’s creating a good, steady coffee that can be reliably used as a daily espresso or in a blend. So if you want to make an impact, don’t forget about our Every Day coffees. 

This year’s harvest was early! In Guji, we usually start harvesting in December, but this year the cherries were ready to pick in November. 

After picking, the fresh cherries were placed on African raised beds and hand sorted by each farmer as a way of “pre-cleaning” out underripe and overripe cherries and any leaves or sticks.

The sorted cherries were then kept on the beds to dry in the sun until the right moisture level was reached. The raised beds are important to facilitate airflow to ensure equal drying of each cherry. The drying process takes about 20-25 days, depending on the strength of the sun.

Once the correct moisture level was reached, the dry cherries, still in their natural hulls, were bagged and moved to our Bette Buna mill in Megadu. There we allow natural lots to rest for a minimum of 8 weeks after bagging to improve the complexity and intensity of each cup profile. We control the potential quality of each lot in our coffee lab, and decide which “sub-lots” could work as a community blend.

After dry milling locally to remove the hulls, we applied another round of hand sorting by our milling team to remove any defects. After that, the bags of green coffee were loaded on a truck to take a 3-5 day drive to our main dry mill in Gelan. Here the cherries underwent another round of cleaning, screening on size and density, and color sorting, and were bagged a final time.

Megadu is part of the Woreda Shakisso under the zone Guji and is one of Guji’s most remote communities. The region is very mountainous and densely forested. The soil is rich and the potential for coffee is spectacular, making it one of the most exceptional coffee growing regions in the world – but it would be a mistake to think Guji’s reputation is purely down to its environmental niche. Coffee has grown wild in the many dense forests of Guji for centuries, and cultivation has evolved over the years.

This lot is a blend of multiple community farmers, including some batches from our own farm. We're all each other’s neighbors in Megadu and decided to put our hands together in this lot.

We are rooted in our communities and committed to building a positive and sustainable future by educating and creating equal opportunity jobs at our own facilities.

By distributing climate-resistant seedlings and providing "learning by doing" programs for children and adults, we facilitate our communities to transform their futures. We are honored to work with local chiefs, community leaders, and smallholder farmers to grow and source our spectacular Bette Buna coffees.

At our farms in Taferi Kela-Sidamo and Guji-Megadu we work closely with our family and neighbours to grow seedlings, rewild coffee forests, and train farmers in methods of growing and processing that create opportunities for everyone in our community.

Learn more!