Ethiopia - Biya Faris - Bashasha Single Farm Natural Djimma

Before joining the Bashasha group, Biya sold his coffee as cherry to the Hunda Oli Cooperative, who then processed the coffee. Thanks to the 2017 law that allows individual producers to sell directly to exporters, Biya now processes his own coffee and garners a higher price for the final product.

Biya started selling his coffee to us in 2018/2019, and the profits from the first few years of direct trade have enabled him to reinvest in his farm. In 2019 he built 8 new drying beds and bought new mesh to help protect drying cherry. 

The increased revenue and importance of coffee has also tangibly inspired Biya to invest not only money, but also more time and care into his coffee. On a 2019 visit, we noticed a significant improvement in the ripeness and uniformity of drying cherry over the previous year. 

Through the partnership, Biya has access to training in cultivation and processing higher quality cherry. Above all, he has an assured buyer for all his coffee, not just the top lots. For us and our customers, we get a chance to build long term partnerships with producers in an area known for producing spectacular coffees. And we continue to buy those coffees year after year and bring them, with full traceability, to you.

Biya’s farm is small, but is still relatively large by Ethiopian standards. His 10.3 hectares feature a number of coffee varieties, all of which he cares for carefully. Many of the methods he uses are organic by default, as agricultural inputs have historically been hard to access.

In addition to coffee farming, Biya keeps cows and honeybees for additional income.

After selective handpicking, cherry is laid to dry on Biya’s 18 drying beds. During the harvest, Biya employs 16 people to carefully handpick ripe cherry and 6 people to inspect and maintain the drying beds. The employees working at the drying beds turn drying cherry frequently to ensure even drying. They use this opportunity toremove any unripe, overripe or damage cherry. 

Cherry dries for an average of 15 to 20 days. Then, dried cherry rests in a warehouse on Biya’s farm for 30 days before it is transported to the dry mill in Addis Ababa.

Due to recent changes in regulation, even the little guys can directly export their coffee to foreign markets. With Ethiopia’s staggering levels of variety diversity, we believe that amazing new coffees are just waiting to be discovered. 

The Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) was established in 2008 as a way to help farmers receive higher prices, get paid more quickly and receive better payment for better quality. To accomplish these goals, the ECX was intentionally designed to semi-anonymize coffees so that those who graded and those who purchased the coffees, did so on the merit of the cup not the reputation of the name.  

In response to the demand for more traceable coffee, the Ethiopian Coffee & Tea Development and Marketing Authority introduced a bill in 2017 that allowed Ethiopian coffee, including coffee sold through the ECX, to be marketed and sold with full traceability. 

The 2017 changes to the ECX regulations gave farmers a chance to apply for export licenses. With these export licenses, farmers can now process, market and export their coffee directly. This system places an emphasis on preserving traceability for each producer’s lots throughout the supply chain. It also means that farmers have more choice and more control over the price they receive. Finally, it provides incentives for farmers who are geared towards quality, benefitting all actors in the supply chain.  

These new laws are giving us a unique opportunity to increase our traceability all while supporting great coffee farmers. We’ve partnered with farmers in Bashasha, a small town in the Agaro Zone of Western Ethiopia, to bring you a selection of Naturals and Fully washed coffees that can be traced all the way to the farmers themselves.

Agaro is well known for producing some of the most well-known cooperative coffees of the past decade via the Duromina, Biftu Gudina, Yukro, and Hunda Oli cooperatives.  

The majority of coffees grown in Agaro are local landrace varieties (which are often also called Ethiopian heirloom). Other varieties grown in the region were developed by the Jimma Agricultural Research Centre (JARC). JARC is an important research center for Ethiopia and has done a great deal of work on developing disease-resistant and high-yielding varieties that still demonstrate quality in the cup. 

Most farmers in the region farm on fewer than 5 hectares (many counting their coffee farms in terms of trees rather than area). Cultivation methods are traditional for the most part, with coffee being grown as part of an integrated ‘coffee garden,’ intercropped with other food crops.