About This Coffee
Bekele Yitute comes from a long line of coffee producers and many of his relatives and his wife and daughter are also coffee farmers. Bekele inherited Dambi Farm, which is named after Dambi kebele, th region where the farm in located.
Cultivation
Bekele’s farm is organic-by-default. He uses organic fertilizers and intercrops legumes to fix nitrogen and food and cash crops to maximize land use.
Bekele grows a mixture of local landrace varieties (which have, in the past, been called Ethiopian heirloom) and JARC varieties on his farm. JARC varieties come from the Jimma Agricultural Research Centre (JARC). JARC is an important research center for Ethiopia and provides disease resistant varieties that also preserve cup quality.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Bekele and his family selectively handpick ripe, red cherry and process it on the farm. Once picked, they visually handsort cherry to ensure only ripe, red cherry is processed. They lay cherry on raised beds to dry and rake it frequently to ensure even drying. It takes approximately 15 to 18 days for cherry to dry.
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.