Origin: Ethiopia
Region: West Arsi, Nansebo
Farm: Bale Mountain Dry Mill
Variety: Heirloom

The Coffee

Our first coffee sourced from owner producer Israel Degfa. This exclusive coffee is situated in an isolated region in Bale Mountain which is hard to reach by road due to the treacherous terrain. The soil it is grown in is rich with plenty of forest humus. It is highly unique micro-lot as the coffee is grown and processed on site of the farm. This coffee is very clean, bright tropical fruit acidity turns into floral tones and a buttery fudge sweetness.

Location & Farmer

This coffee is produced by Israel Degfa, who owns also other farms and washing stations in Ethiopia.

Private owners are indeed a new thing in Ethiopia, before they we not allowed to exist. All coffees had to be delivered to the exchange and sold as per their grade. Grade 1 would be specialty but there was no possibility of traceability as coffees from all sorts of farmer were bulked together by the Exchange which is owned by the government.
Nowadays, exporters and cooperatives are starting to get permission to export directly, just like in Brazil. A few years ago, Israel, who was a 30-year-old Ethiopian willing to change how things work got together with other exporters to create a different scenario. Now it’s possible to have farm coffees from Ethiopia and it’s possible to have coffees traced from each washing station.
Regarding payments, the way it works is the government fixes the price every harvest and what Israel did was to implement a program with farmers that teaches them to harvest better quality coffees (the red cherries) for premium prices. He will always buy the coffee cherries no matter what for a premium compared to governmental price- the better the quality, the bigger the premium. To control this project, he created a registration program for farmers all of them have they membership number with Kerchanshe and keep a record of improvements, again to assure an ongoing relationship. He also offers micro finance for famers wanting to improve the quality of coffees.
Farmers are paid in cash on delivery of the coffee and the ones that keep improving quality will receive an after payment, a few weeks later after coffee is sold. Having this membership does not mean they have to exclusively sell to Kerchanshe, it only means they can keep track of each other and, they can access facilities such as schools and healthcare centres Kerchanshe has created.

Ethiopia Bale Mountain

Serving great tasting coffee doesn’t happen by chance. It takes a perfect blend of authentic speciality coffee, professional Sanremo espresso machines and equipment, and the skills of a trained barista to maximise the flavour contained within each of our speciality coffee beans.

Ethiopia Bale Mountain

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Ethiopia Bale Mountain