Ethiopia Suke Quto

The original farm consisted of only 5 hectares but has now grown to over 221 hectares. When a bushfire destroyed most of the forest surrounding the farm, many locals started to grow Corn and Teff on the land (which leads to soil erosion and will leave the land barren after a few years). Tesfaye, the owner of the farm, came up with the idea to distribute coffee and shade tree seedlings. Over 150 out-growers are now replanting the forest and bringing organic coffee to the Suke Quto farm for processing.

The washed coffees are first washed with spring water after which they are pulped in a 5-disk Brazilian pulper. The mucilage is removed by fermentation, which lasts 36-72 hours depending on the weather conditions. The coffee is then dried on raised African beds (over 200 beds are present at the washing station) for 9-13 days.