This exceptional lot was processed, dry milled and exported by Legu Trading. The coffee was grown by smallholder farmers living around the town of Adado in Gedeo County, Yirgacheffe region, Ethiopia. Most contributing farmers own less than a hectare of land, and they grow coffee simply as a backyard cash crop. Coffee will usually be interspersed with other subsistence crops, such as sweet potato, mangos and avocados. Income from coffee is important but minimal for most farmers due to the small size of their farms. As such, inputs are minimal – most coffee grown in the region is 100% organic, though not certified, as farmers simply don’t have the money to apply chemical fertilisers, pesticides or herbicides.

General Info:

Farm: Various small farms
Varietal: Heritage Gedeo, 740110 & 74112
Processing: Fully washed & dried on African beds
Altitude: 1,800 to 2,000 metres above sea level
Owner: Legu Trading PLC
Town / City: Bulle district, Adado localities
Region: Southern State, Gedeo County(Yirgacheffe)

Ethiopia Yirgacheffe – Coffee packed for transport

Coffee is selectively hand-picked before being delivered to collection points, usually within 10 km of the producers’ homes. Great care is taken upon delivery to separate out any overripe, underripe or damaged beans before consolidating with other lots for the road to the wet mill. At least once a day, the collected coffee cherry is delivered to the mill. It is then pulped and delivered to a fermentation tank, where it ferments for 12-18 hours depending on the climate at the time. After fermentation, the coffee is fully washed through grading channels and is then delivered to dry on African beds. Once here, the parchment is turned regularly and protected from hot sun until it reaches the optimal humidity, at which point it is bagged and rested.

Varieties of coffee grown here are traditionally referred to as ‘heirloom’ by exporters – a catchall terminology which often masks the wide assortment of varieties that may be present within various regions…even, within farms. Many of these varieties will have been developed by Ethiopia’s Jimma Agricultural Research Centre (JARC). Since the late 1960s, JARC has worked to develop resistant and tasty varieties for the Ethiopian coffee industry. They also provide the agricultural extension training needed to cultivate these varietals. The dual factors of Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) forced anonymisation of lots combined with the relatively low awareness of formal variety names outside Ethiopia.

Ethiopia Yirgacheffe – Coffee sorting

About the Yirgacheffe region

Yirgacheffe is actually part of the Sidamo region in southern Ethiopia. Its exquisite washed coffees are so well-known that  Yirgacheffe has been sub-divided into its own micro-region. This steep, green area is both fertile and high – much of the coffee grows at 2,000m and above.

At first glance, Yirgacheffe’s hills look thickly forested. In fact, it is a heavily populated region and the hills are dotted with many dwellings and villages’ growing what is known as ‘garden coffee’. There are approximately 26 cooperatives in the region, representing some 43,794 farmers and around 62,004 hectares of garden coffee. The production is predominantly washed, although a smaller amount of sundried coffees also come out of Yirgacheffe. In Yirgacheffe, coffee is one of the main cash crops – covering from half a hectare to 1.5 hectares. This is usually planted alongside a second cash crop – often a large-leafed tree used in making roofs (and also shade provider for the coffee).

There is only one main harvest a year in Ethiopia – this usually takes place in November and December across all of the country’s growing regions. There are, on average, 4 passes made during the harvest period, and, in regions that produce both washed and naturals, the last pass is used for the natural coffee. Washed coffees are then generally pulped on the same day that they are picked, sorted into three grades by weight (heavy, medium and floaters), fermented, washed and then usually graded again in the washing channels. The beans are then dried on African beds, where they are hand-sorted, usually by women.

Conclusion

In the cup expect red berry, lemongrass, tinned pineapple flavours with a light, elegant body. This versatile coffee is suitable for any brewing method. Enjoy a cup at Origin in De Waterkant and Bree. Grab a bag of beans for your home or office. View our full coffee offering here.

General coffee info

Farm: Musasa: Ruli
Varietal: 100% Red Bourbon
Processing: Fully washed & sundried on raised beds
Altitude: 1 700 to 2 000 metres above sea level
Owner: Musasa Dukunde Kawa Cooperative – some 2,148 smallholder farmers
Town/City: Ruli
Region: Ruli Sector, Gakenke District of Northern Province & Coko Sector, Gakenke District of Northern Province

Sorting coffee at Ruli

The Musasa Dukunde Kawa cooperative & washing stations

The Musasa Dukunde Kawa cooperative has three washing stations lying high in Rwanda’s rugged northwest. Ruli – the cooperative’s first washing station – was built by the co-op in 2003.

Most of the small scale producers with whom Musasa Dukunde Kawa works own less than a quarter of a hectare of land, where they cultivate an average of only 250 – 300 coffee trees each as well as other subsistence food crops such as maize and beans. The cooperative gives these small farmers the chance to combine their harvests and process cherries centrally. Before the proliferation of washing stations such as Ruli, the norm in Rwanda was for small farmers to sell semi-processed cherries on to a middleman, and the market was dominated by a single exporter. This commodity-focused system – coupled with declining world prices in the 1990s – brought severe hardship to farmers, some of whom abandoned coffee entirely.

Today, it’s a different picture. Farmers who work with Musasa Dukunde Kawa have seen their income at least double, and the co-op produces some outstanding lots for the speciality market year after year. ‘Musasa’ means ‘a place to make a bed’ and ‘Dukunde Kawa’ means ‘let’s love coffee’ in Kinyarwanda – a reference to the power of coffee to improve the lives of those in rural communities.

Musasa Dukunde Kawa now owns three washing stations and is one of Rwanda’s larger cooperatives, with 2,148 members as of the 2014/15 crop year. Ruli washing station began serving local farmers in 2004 and today buys and processes cherries from 1,438 farmers in the area. All of this is overseen by Wet Mill Manager Valens Ntezimana, who has held the post since 2012. Under his direction and with the help of 28 permanent employees and 287 seasonal workers, Ruli has grown to process 9 containers of exportable coffee.

Rwanda Musasa Ruli coffee “mountains”

Processing

The level of care that Musasa Dukunde Kawa Ruli takes over the processing is impressive. Cherries are hand-picked only when fully ripe and then pulped that same evening using a mechanical pulper that divides the beans into three grades by weight. 2015 saw the installation of a brand new pulper that should increase the washing station’s capacity and give even more control over processing and quality. As at most washing stations in Rwanda, women do the majority of the hand sorting.

After pulping, the coffee is fermented overnight (for around 12 hours) and then graded again using flotation channels that sort the coffee by weight (the heaviest – or A1 – usually being the best). The wet parchment is then soaked in water for between 18 and 24 hours to stabilise moisture content.

Conclusion

In the cup expect apricot, almond, cocoa and nutmeg flavours with a round body. This coffee is best suited to espresso, siphon and pourover. Enjoy a cup at Origin in De Waterkant and Bree or grab a bag of beans for your home or office. View our full coffee offering here.

The coffee was grown by smallholder farmers living around the town of Banco Gotete in Gedeo County, Yirgacheffe region, Ethiopia. Most contributing farmers own less than a hectare of land, and they grow coffee simply as a backyard cash crop. Coffee will usually be interspersed with other subsistence crops, such as sweet potato, mangos and avocados.

General Info:

Farm: Various small farms
Varietal: Heritage Gedeo, 740110 & 74112
Processing: Natural
Altitude: 2,000 to 2,100 metres above sea level
Owner: Legu Trading PLC
Town / City: Banco Gotete, Gedeo County
Region: Kochere Yirgacheffe

Income from coffee is important but minimal for most farmers due to the small size of their farms. As such, inputs are minimal – most coffee grown in the region is 100% organic, though not certified, as farmers simply don’t have the money to apply chemical fertilisers, pesticides or herbicides.

Coffee is selectively hand-picked before being delivered to collection points, usually within 10 km of the producers’ homes. Great care is taken upon delivery to separate out any overripe, underripe or damaged beans before consolidating with other lots for the road to the wet mill.

About the Yirgacheffe region Ethopia

Yirgacheffe is actually part of the Sidamo region in southern Ethiopia, but its exquisite washed coffees are so well-known that is has been sub-divided into its own micro-region. This steep, green area is both fertile and high – much of the coffee grows at 2,000m and above.

Ethiopia Kochere Banco Gotete – coffee cherries before processing

At first glance Yirgacheffe’s hills look thickly forested – but in fact it is a heavily populated region and the hills are dotted with many dwellings and villages’ growing what is known as ‘garden coffee’. There are approximately 26 cooperatives in the region, representing some 43,794 farmers and around 62,004 hectares of garden coffee. The production is predominantly washed, although a smaller amount of sundried coffees also come out of Yirgacheffe.

Around 85 percent of Ethiopians still live rurally and make a living from agriculture; each family usually lives in a modest home (often a single round mud hut) and farms their own plot of land, where they grow both cash crops and food for their own consumption.

In Yirgacheffe, coffee is one of the main cash crops – covering from half a hectare to 1.5 hectares (the latter is considered big). This is usually planted alongside a second cash crop – often a large-leafed tree used in making roofs for  (and also shade provider for the coffee) known as ‘false banana’. This looks like a banana tree but isn’t – instead its thick stem is used to produce both a nutritious flour and a fermented paste that are staple ingredients.

There is only one main harvest a year in Ethiopia – this usually takes place in November and December across all of the country’s growing regions. There are, on average, 4 passes made during the harvest period, and, in regions that produce both washed and naturals, the last pass is used for the natural coffee. Washed coffees are then generally pulped on the same day that they are picked, sorted into three grades by weight, fermented, washed and then usually graded again in the washing channels. The beans are then dried on African beds, where they are hand-sorted, usually by women.

Conclusion

In the cup expect blueberry, passion fruit and red berry flavours with a thick, sticky body. This versatile coffee is suitable for any brewing method. Enjoy a cup at Origin in De Waterkant and Bree or grab a bag of beans for your home or office. View our full coffee offering here.