Description
What a delicious coffee. This is why Ethiopia is my favourite origin: Intense, fruity, floral, and sweet.
The producers of Keramo, who live high in the beautiful Bombe mountains, are mainly outgrowers that work with Daye Bensa. The outgrower group consists of about 1500 growers in various parts of the mountain range, which also include producers from Bombe and Shantawene. The producers deliver their coffee to the Daye Bensa Keramo washing station.
In previous years this station along with the Shatawene site has produced Cup of Excellence lots from coffees grown in this area. The beans of this area are very dense, with heavy concentrations of the smaller screen sizes (the majority of the coffee screen sizes at 13-14) which is highly unusual and reflects the higher elevations where the coffee is grown. Daye Bensa are currently investing in upgrading processing equipment to push lot quality even further, as well as experimenting with processing honey and anaerobic fermentation lots.
This lot comes to us in partnership with the Daye Bensa exporter. Daye Bensa is very much a community-focussed business that aims to deliver additional bonus payment to the farmers based on the volume they contribute to their station micro-lots, and they reward consistency in both volume and quality to their farmers year after year.
Traceability is extremely important during the production of micro lots. The record-keeping book is carefully handled and separation of lots is key to guaranteeing the highest level of quality. When the cherries are received they are separated by village, the coffee is then kept separate throughout drying, processing, and storage, with labels stating the delivery dates, farm name, lot number, and more details related to the particular lot. They also run an out-growers program that benefits farmers with an off-season payment on top of the harvest fee and have been active in working to improve the farmers’ living situations and standards, with healthcare access, utilities, education and transport infrastructure. Additionally, Daye Bensa are working with the school principals in the villages surrounding the farms, providing basic school materials for the students.
