We Nitrogen Flush all of our coffee when bagging for an inert shelf stable environment by locking freshness inside for up to 6 weeks prior to opening
Producer: Aleme Wako
Farm Size: 11 hectares
Region: Biloya, Kochere
Varietal: Wolisho, 7441 and 74158
Process: Natural
Altitude: 1725 - 1780 masl
Ethiopia holds a special place in every coffee lovers heart not only as the historical birthplace and origin of all coffee but for the incredibly juicy, vibrant & aromatic coffees found in the country.
The majority of all coffee grown in Ethiopia is produced by smallholder producers who own less than 1 hectare of land amongst other crops for income and sustinence. They harvest their coffee and then usually deliver it to the closest processing station where the cherries are sorted and processed. Most Speciality or 'Grade 1' Coffee in Ethiopia is then either sold as being from this processing station or blended with other lots of similar quality from the same region and made ready for export. Although this system can produce outstanding quality coffee, it restricts the adventure into more clear & complex flavour profiles that can result from separating genetic variteals and farms with their own unique micro-climates & terroir as well as the control that comes to the producer when processing their own coffee themselves. This lot is a perfect illustration of that new and exciting approach.
In the culture of Gedeo, a parcel of land from family is shared with a grandson as a blessing. As a grandson, Aleme was lucky to inherit his first coffee farm of 3 hectares in size from his grandfather. His father also granted him another 3.5 hectares of land. Back in 1991, besides his income from teaching at Elementary school in Biloya town, he decided to diversify his livelihood to coffee farming and other small businesses. His main focus was on coffee farming and he has invested and put a lot of energy to increase his farm size and increase production and productivity. In doing so, he purchased additional coffee farm plots and he is currently harvesting coffee from a total of 11 hectares.
His farms are located between Biloya town and Baya village. Gedeo local landrace coffee varieties used to grow on his original coffee farm. He has noticed aging, poor yield, high pressure of disease and lower quality on the local landrace coffee varieties mainly due to age. Bureau of Agriculture has presence in the area to support coffee farmers through the provision of improved coffee technologies and knowledge. Aleme participated on different coffee agronomy, processing and quality trainings and as a result he is a well informed and trained coffee farmer. With a support from the agricultural bureau, he decided to replace some of the old local landrace coffee varieties with an improved–modern varieties which are known for their high yield, superior quality, and disease resistance. Currently, Aleme harvests coffee from Wolisho and another two coffee berry disease resistant improved coffee varieties namely 7441 and 74158.
His passion and dedication in coffee farming makes him an exemplary farmer in the area. He used to be the active member of Biloya primary cooperative and contributed significantly to the establishment of better post-harvest handling practices in the coop. He left the coop in 2014 to pursue his dream of direct coffee sale to the national and international markets. However, the Ethiopian coffee marketing policy that was in place before 2017 limited Aleme not to see his dream of selling his coffee directly on the international market come true. With the passage of time, a new coffee marketing and quality control policy was put in place in 2017 that allowed Aleme and other small-scale coffee farmers around the country to participate directly in the international coffee market. G Broad, a coffee business, research and development consulting company based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia has designed a best coffee supply chain system for smallholder coffee farmers to help them directly sell their product in the international market. Aleme is among the hundreds coffee farmers who works with G Broad to get services on agronomy, processing, certification, QC, marketing, export cleaning, logistics, financing, accounting, documentation and etc. This coffee harvesting season – i.e., 2019/20, is Aleme’s third year participating directly on the international coffee market.