Dream big

by our Megadu static cherries.

Single farm, limited
lot VE-2415

This was the first time that we did a static cherry process coffee in Guji. In Guji our mill is located in the middle of our plot. First you dry the cherries in short shifts in the sun before anaerobically fermenting them in barrels for 72 hours.

Ashu

We did this using local microbes, and the results with these kinds of processes are always somewhat unpredictable, there is a risk but one worth taking for the amazing results. As with our other anaerobic lots we named this coffee Ashu after the nickname Dawit’s grandparents gave him as a baby meaning ‘Great Satisfaction’.
When Dawit was a boy he was very loved and supported but grew up very poor, he used to sell leaflets at the local church to raise a little money to contribute to the household income, his dream was to buy chickens so he could sell their eggs, his entrepreneurial spirit was there from a young age and carried him through to studying a masters in special needs education. We want our Ashu lot’s to tell this story, a story of sharing opportunity, taking risks and creating great satisfaction.

Lot details

Farm: Bette Buna Megadu

Varietal: 74112, 74110  & Enat Buna Megadu

Altitude: 1900-2200 masl

Harvest: Late November – December ’23

Processing: Static cherries 72 hrs

Traceability

GPS:  5.687563, 38.821360

Farmers: Dawit & Hester Syoum

Farm team: Dawit Syoum, Hester Syoum, Demelash Hailu, ato Sentayehu, ato Saffay, gash Duba, Kemer Saffai, Abiti, [add list ’23 team]

Processing masters: Dawit Syoum & ato Sentayehu

Farm Megadu

The farm is a big beautiful forest, and within its 220 hectares sits our plot, which is around a quarter of the total farmland owned by the three Abbaa Gadaa. As with our Taferi Kela farm our work in this region started as a small pilot. We took a small plot to see how well the collaboration would work. 

We needed to know the project would be a win-win for us, the Abbaa Gadaa and the communities that they represent. We always try to build incrementally so that we have an opportunity to find any potential problems before investing too heavily or taking too much risk. Thankfully this collaboration has been a huge success, massively exceeding our expectations both in terms of coffee quality and impact.  Read more..

Guji is well known for producing exceptional coffees, in particular natural process ones. We’ve learned a lot from the farmers we work with there about good farm management, cultivation and generally the health of farms there from soil to plant is really really good. We’ve had the opportunity to add value there by teaching people other processing techniques. We have a mill there and we process lots from our plot but also the surrounding plots, many as naturals but also washed and some experimental processes such as anaerobic / anoxic. This is a big example of that win-win relationship we aspire to as we are learning and improving our coffee growing and processing in a way that is collaborative and beneficial not only for us but for the wider coffee growing community. More about our approach..

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