Ethiopia Haile Washed

We've received about 25 different coffees from our Ethiopian partners Bette Buna this harvest cycle, so we’ve decided to name each lot after one of the people who worked on producing it, exporting it, or contributing to social work at Bette Buna.

This lot is named for Haile (pictured above, far right), one of Dawit’s many cousins. Haile originally trained as a priest with the desire to bring hope to his home village of Taferi Kela. After Bette Buna was formed, however, he recognised its potential for community change and decided to learn how to bless others through coffee instead. He’s now a mill team leader for Bette Buna and oversees much of the processing of their cherry.

With crisp notes of apricot, Meyer lemon, and green tea, this coffee is the perfect affordable daily drinker that also supports brilliant work in one of the least advantaged coffee-producing communities in the world.

For a bit more about Bette Buna, check out our blog post here or read on below ...

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.

Having started in 2019, they have already grown considerably. They have expanded the Taferi Kela farm from 2 to 50 hectares and have spread 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 work hard to incorporate sustainable farming methods, rewild forests on their land, and protect local wildlife to promote ecosystem health for coming generations.

This particular lot was grown by Taferi Kela community farmers and processed by Bette Buna at their washing station. It’s a classic washed Ethiopian coffee: First depulped, then fermented in concrete basins of water for 24-36 hrs depending on the temperature. It’s a low-oxygen but not completely anaerobic environment. Next, it was washed and floaters/defects removed. It was then dried on raised, covered drying beds for 8-15 days, followed by rest time in the warehouse to stabilise the coffee and allow it to reach the correct moisture level. The different ‘lots’ are different processing runs that happened over the course of the season.

Once the correct moisture level was reached, the parchment was bagged, tagged, and rested for a minimum of 8 weeks to improve the complexity and intensity of the cup profile. After dry milling locally to remove the parchment, the team applied another round of hand sorting to remove any primary defects. After that, the bags of green coffee were loaded on a truck to take a 3-5 day drive to the Bette Buna dry mill in Gelan. Here the coffee underwent another round of cleaning, screening on size and density, and colour sorting before being bagged a final time. 

Elevation: 1900-2100 MASL
Varietal: Enat Buna Taferi Kela, 74110, 74112
Cup score: 86
Price paid per kg: £8.38
Process: Washed