Peach black tea from Ethiopia

Product detailed description

Farm: Dozens of farmers around Beshasha washing station
Region: Agaro District in Jimma
Varietal: Heirloom - many different
Altitude: 2000 - 2100 m.a.s.l.
Crop year: 2023
Importer: Falcon Coffees
Grade: 2

Traceability

Mustefa Abakeno, a dedicated smallholder farmer in the picturesque Jimma Zone of Western Ethiopia, manages an extensive 18-hectare farm located at an impressive elevation of 2,040 meters above sea level. His farm is a testament to the rich coffee heritage of Ethiopia, featuring a diverse array of coffee varieties sourced from the esteemed Jimma research center. Mustefa's coffee processing methods artfully blend tradition and innovation to create exceptional coffee beans.

At the beginning of his endeavour Mustefa purchased a three discs Coffee Pulper, this was used to enable him to process half of his harvest as Fully Washed coffees. The other half undergoes the natural process, where cherries are carefully dried with the fruit pulp intact. However, due to water scarcity and limited fermentation space, the pulped coffee experiences a concise eight-hour fermentation period before being skillfully transferred to drying beds. The outcome of this rigorous process resembles a light honey in flavor. In contrast, the naturals enjoy a more leisurely drying period, taking 24-27 days to reach perfection on the African (raised) beds.

In 2018, Mustefa embarked on his journey as an exporter, benefiting from regulatory changes that allowed him to engage directly with discerning buyers. To facilitate this endeavor, he established the "Beshasha" wet mill, a versatile facility processing both his coffee and that of local outgrowers. These outgrowers, Mustefa's neighbors, collectively oversee land parcels ranging from 4 to 10 hectares.

Mustefa's partnership with the Falcon team in Addis Ababa exemplifies the potential for enhancing coffee quality through direct relationships. This collaboration spans various facets of coffee production, encompassing cherry selection, drying, and farm management. It also streamlines the supply chain, ensuring that a significant portion of the proceeds directly benefits the producers.

In 2021, the addition of agronomist Harun to the Falcon team marked a pivotal moment. Harun's primary focus during the most recent harvest season has been the training and support of Mustefa and local farmers who supply cherries to the washing station. His efforts have led to numerous improvements at the washing station, including the installation of shade netting to protect drying beds during the hottest hours of the day. Cherry selection at the delivery point, tagging day lots for separation, and vigilant monitoring of moisture levels during drying ensure uniform drying before lot assembly.

Mustefa maintains a small field lab, equipped with a high-spec Sinar moisture reader acquired in 2020. This device ensures that all parchment dried in the stations reaches a consistent moisture level before storage in the warehouse. Harun takes charge of assessing and grading dried day lots, categorizing them based on quality and cupping profile. In parallel, he imparts training in good agricultural practices (GAP) to local farmers, with the aim of elevating the quality and productivity of their coffee gardens.

Notably, Mustefa's commitment to excellence extends to infrastructure development. He has constructed a modern warehouse in Agaro, impeccably equipped for milling Natural processed coffees. This investment underscores his dedication to refining and enhancing coffee cherry processing to meet the highest standards.

In a significant move during the 2022 off-season, Mustefa acquired four additional purchasing sites: Echamo, Jarso, Badeyi, and Saadi. These sites serve as crucial collection points, where cherries are meticulously selected and purchased from neighboring farmers. The cherries procured at these sites are subsequently transported to the two main processing stations, Beshasha and Kabira, where Mustefa's exacting standards and coffee processing expertise are consistently applied.

This strategic expansion not only fortifies Mustefa's capacity to source exceptional coffee cherries but also reinforces his role as a catalyst for community development within coffee-growing regions. Through these initiatives, he contributes to the economic well-being of local farmers and the preservation of Ethiopia's esteemed coffee heritage.

Mustefa Abakeno's journey remains a source of inspiration, characterized by an unwavering commitment to excellence and an unrelenting pursuit of quality in coffee production. His dedication to innovation, quality, and community support embodies the essence of the coffee industry's ongoing evolution and growth.

Coffee in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is an extraordinary and complex origin, probably the most complex. It is also a diverse and dispersed workplace. One must invest a lot of time in travel, cuppings and research, to collect lost bits of information and try to understand its coffee industry, through its culture, history, geography, economy and politics.
 
Coffee is so important to Ethiopia that it alone supports the Trade Balance of a country with more than 100 million inhabitants. It is the main source of foreign currency income, reaching record sales of USD 917 million in 2018. In addition, it is estimated that 15 million people depend directly on coffee production to survive.
 
Since Ethiopia's economy is highly dependent on imports, its trade balance is permanently negative, this means that there is a constant deficit of dollars in the fiscal and private coffers. For this reason, there are many actors not related to the coffee industry involved in it, and many others wanting to join. Approximately 40% of the export price is lost in the hands of unnecessary intermediaries, in the production and logistics process.
 
Since 2017, the coffee industry in Ethiopia has allowed direct sales to importers through washing stations. Before, everything had to be traded through the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX). The ECX is equivalent to the Nairobi Coffee Exchange, but inefficient and poorly organized; where batches are mixed across large production areas and therefore traceability and quality are generally lost or degraded.
 
90% of Ethiopian coffee is produced by small coffee growers, who deliver their cherries to the washing stations closest to their farms. These washing stations are organized in two ways, either they are bought by private agents or they are grouped in cooperatives. The private agents are exporters and the cooperatives are again grouped in Unions, which function as an “umbrella” organization, providing support in important areas of marketing, production, financing and logistical support.

Varieties and „Heirloom“

According to the Cambridge dictionary, the word "Heirloom" has the following meanings:
 
1. valuable object that the older members of a family have given to the younger members of the same family for many years.
2. a fruit, plant or seed of a type, which has existed for many years.
 
An "Heirloom" variety is a plant variety that has a history of transfer within a family or community, similar to the generational exchange of heirloom jewellery or furniture.
 
From a macro botanical point of view, an Heirloom variety must be open pollinated. The Arabica species is a self-pollinated crop, therefore, from a conceptual point of view, the term "Heirloom" does not apply to the Arabica species.
 
For many years in the coffee industry, the word Heirloom has been used in Ethiopia, as a generic term to describe a variety or group of unknown cultivated varieties of a particular lot, farm or region, which over the years has been planted and passed from one coffee producer to the next.
 
Ever since the specialty coffee movement began to grow around the world, there was an obvious need for traceability and information. Although the Jimma Agricultural Research Center (JARC) has been working since the 1970s on research and development of new varieties, importers have had limited access to this information to describe the varieties of the coffees they were buying from Ethiopia.
 
Today, thanks to professionals like Getu Bekele and more, who have been studying the wild and cultivated varieties of Ethiopia for decades, we can recognize and differentiate two large groups of Ethiopian coffee varieties: the regional varieties and the varieties improved by the JARC.
 
We can say that there are between 6,000 and 10,000 regional varieties and the JARC has developed around 60 improved varieties, which have been distributed among coffee growers throughout the country. These improved varieties address the problems of CBD, rust, cup quality and yield, and today they are widely used in all coffee growing regions of Ethiopia.
 
For example, if we analyse the Jimma region, we can learn that the improved varieties of the area belong to the 1974/75 Metu Bishari selection, where we find the varieties: 74110, 74112, 74140, 74148 and 74165. The regional varieties found in this area they include: Kuburi, Bedessa, Yawan and Dalacha, among others.
 
Each coffee region in Ethiopia today has a completely specific set of improved varieties and regional varieties, adapted to the unique conditions of each area.

We roast 3 times a week, so your coffee always arrives freshly roasted. We have been roasting our own coffee since 2019 in Silůvky in southern Moravia.