Ethiopia Checho Bita Keffa

Tasting Notes: Blackberry, lime soda, florals

Processing: Natural

Producer:  Aliye Majo

Location:  Bita, Snnpr, Ethiopia

Altitude: 1880-2000masl

Varietals: Landrace varieties

Bio: (An excerpt from Catalyst Trade, the importer we worked with for this coffee)

Long-time Catalyst Trade producer partner, Dinkalem Adema, owns several coffee sites in his native Keffa, including a washing station and the farm where outgrowersfrom the surrounding Bita area bring their freshly picked, red-ripe cherries for purchase. This is his vision for his farm: to produce
some beautiful coffee personally, and to provide a unique venue for
everyone nearby to add value and have more opportunities. Most farmers are smallholders with an average of 2 hectares or less, and one picking may yield less than a bag of ripe cherries at a time. These are transported to the washing station by donkey cart, someone’s shoulders or one of the ubiquitous 3-wheeled taxi vehicles that bump along the dusty Ethiopian roads, carrying people to and from wherever they need to go.

During harvest season, the cherries flow in, but for the most part, no one
lot Dinkalem buys from the Bita outgrowers is big enough to process
separately. That means that the day’s pick of cherries purchased from neighbors and families who’ve come from all over the area is mingled at the mill, and voila! So. Much. Nuance! These community lot coffees showcase Keffa’s renowned flavor and terroir.

Every part of Ethiopia has its own mystique, and the Western region of
Keffa is no exception. The roads that thread the map are sparse and constantly traveled, rich with the scent of the red soil, drifting woodsmoke from cooking fires, and buna (coffee).