A truly exceptional coffee from a farm that embodies our values here at Skylark, this is quite possibly the best Ethiopian coffee we’ve ever released. Within about five minutes of tasting our first sample of this coffee we committed to buying the whole lot. This coffee delivers the most gorgeous notes of blueberry, jasmine, and strawberry pastry... still, the quality of the coffee is only part of the reason we're so excited!
This coffee comes from Bette Buna, an Ethiopian coffee company that we are thrilled to support. Betta Buna was founded by partners Hester Westerveld-Syoum and Dawit Syoum when they inherited their grandfather’s tiny family farm in Taferi Kela, Sidamo. With a background in NGO and development work, they decided to grow and scale the farm as the foundation for a larger company with greater impact. Coffee is a big deal in Ethiopia. More than 33% of the country's GDP comes from the export of coffee and 80% of that production comes from smallholder farms under 2 hectares, even as 90% of people working in coffee in Ethiopia don’t make a livable income. Bette Buna was formed to meet the obvious need to improve outcomes for smallholders and to generate opportunities for farming communities along the way.
Having started in 2019, they have already grown considerably. They have expanded the Taferi Kela farm from 2 to 50 hectares and have spread to a second 50-hectare farm in Megadu, Guji, where this lot was grown. Both farms have tree nurseries where varietals are grown for their own use as well as to share with surrounding farmers. Similarly, they have facilities where they process their own lots and educate other farmers in processing techniques while their ‘Coffee Campus’ programme provides training in roasting, brewing, and even exporting. Essentially, they provide countless opportunities for their farming communities by not only teaching and motivating farmers but also hiring local workers at their nurseries and mills, including single mothers and disabled people who would struggle to find employment elsewhere. They also work hard to incorporate sustainable farming methods, rewild forests on their land, and protect local wildlife to promote ecosystem health for coming generations.
We’re such big fans that we sent Micah and Tabitha to help and learn from them for a couple weeks this January. You can read more about their experience in a blog post by Micah here.
Why is this coffee called ‘Ashu’? When Dawit Syoum was born, his grandparents gave him the nickname Ashu which means Great Satisfaction. Bette Buna gives their anaerobic lots the name ‘Ashu’ not only because they make for greatly satisfying cups of coffee, but also because, like Dawit, there is a lot of ingenuity, hard work, and a certain amount of luck that brought these coffees into being. This special Ashu lot is a 96-hour anaerobic natural lot processed by Dawit and Siday Tadesse, Bette Buna’s processing manager. Processing coffees as anaerobics is relatively new for Bette Buna. They followed lots of information they found on the web, chatted to other producers, watched and listened to podcasts and figured things out as best as they could. There is a lot of risk with new processing, but their bravery paid off, and we’re looking forward to trying even more processes from them in the years to come.
Picture 1: Dawit Syoum harvesting ripe coffee cherries
Picture 2: Sisay Tadesse standing next to anaerobic fermentation barrels
Picture 3: Sisay Tadesse and Hester Westerveld-Syoum
Elevation: 1900-2200 MASL
Varietal: 74112, 74110 & Enat Buna Megadu
Cup score: 90
Price paid per kg: £17.85
Process: 96hr Anaerobic Natural
