About This Coffee
Demise Wote cultivates coffee on his 6.5-hectare farm in Lalesa, Yirgacheffe. His farm sits at 2,046 meters above sea level. The high altitude provides the ideal conditions for cultivating specialty coffee. The warm days and cool nights help concentrate sugars for sweet, dense cherry, and the cooler weather means that there are far fewer pests and diseases to deal with. Each year, Demise produces approximately 8,200 kg of Natural coffee for export.
Demise’s father, Wote Jego, also owns and operates a similar size farm right across from Demise. Their farms are among the largest in the neighborhood.
Cultivation
In addition to coffee, Demise also cultivates enset (false banana), kidney beans and fruit. Kidney beans help fix nitrogen in the soil and provide nutrients for coffee trees while fruit trees provide shade for growing coffee.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Demise selectively handpicks ripe, red cherry and processes it on his farm. He lays cherry on raised drying beds to sundry. Demise turns cherry every hour to ensure even drying. It takes approximately 14 days for cherry to dry. He stores dried cherry in a warehouse on his farm, allowing it to rest, for 4 months before transporting it to the dry mill to be prepared for export.
Ethiopia Grade 1
Grades in Ethiopia depend on visual inspection for defects and on cup quality. Grade 1 is considered the highest quality coffee. Grade 1 and 2 are considered specialty coffee, grades 3-9 are classified as commercial coffee. Grade 1 is free of cup faults and taints and has zero quakers.
Coffee in Ethiopia
While Ethiopia is famous as coffee’s birthplace, today it remains a specialty coffee industry darling for its incredible variety of flavors. While full traceability has been difficult in recent history, new regulations have made direct purchasing possible. We’re partnering directly with farmers to help them produce top quality specialty lots that are now completely traceable, adding value for farmers and roasters, alike.
The exceptional quality of Ethiopian coffee is due to a combination of factors. The genetic diversity of coffee varieties means that we find a diversity of flavor, even between (or within) farms with similar growing conditions and processing. In addition to varieties, processing methods also contribute to end quality. The final key ingredients for excellent coffee in Ethiopia are the producing traditions that have created the genetic diversity, processing infrastructure and great coffee we enjoy today.
Most producers in Ethiopia are smallholders, and the majority continue to cultivate coffee using traditional methods. As a result, most coffee is grown with no chemical fertilizer or pesticide use. Coffee is almost entirely cultivated, harvested and dried using manual systems.