Ethiopia Bette Buna Grand Cru

Here's the ‘champagne’ of lots from Bette Buna this year: This beauty was processed using a champagne yeast inoculation. It’s just bursting with sparkling acidity and summery notes of honey mango, Riesling, and elderflower. A refined coffee for the refined palate!

This gorgeous lot is one of several we recently air-freighted to the UK (a very rare occurrence) so it's an extra special treat: you won't normally encounter Ethiopian coffee this fresh, as it usually arrives by ship. We're thrilled to share this opportunity to taste what coffee buyers in Ethiopia taste – fresh crop coffee just weeks after processing.

Betta Buna was founded by partners Hester Westerveld-Syoum and Dawit Syoum when they inherited their grandfather’s tiny family farm in Taferi Kela, Sidamo. With a background in NGO and development work, they decided to grow and scale the farm as the foundation for a larger company with greater impact.

After starting in 2019, they have now grown considerably, expanding the Taferi Kela farm from two to 50 hectares and spreading to a second 50-hectare farm in Megadu, Guji. Both farms have tree nurseries where climate change-resistant varietals are grown to share with surrounding farmers. Similarly, they have facilities where they not only process their own lots but also educate other farmers in processing techniques, while their Coffee Campus programme provides training in roasting, brewing, and even exporting. They provide countless opportunities for their farming communities by not only teaching and motivating farmers but also hiring local workers at their nurseries and mills, including single mothers and disabled people who would struggle to find employment elsewhere. They also prioritise sustainable farming methods, rewild forests on their land, and protect local wildlife to promote ecosystem health for future generations. We're proud to support Bette Buna and plan to partner with them for many years to come.

This coffee began with rigorous cherry selection, where only the ripest cherries were placed in hermetic barrels for controlled fermentation over 96 hours. A selected commercial yeast, supported by sugar and nutrients, guided the process to build complexity while preserving the coffee’s intrinsic character, with close monitoring of pH, temperature, and °Brix.

Elevation: 2100 Metres Above Sea Level
Varietal: Enat Buna, 74158, 74112
Cup score: 90
Price paid per kg: £24.50
Process: Champagne yeast natural