We’re getting about 25 different coffees from our Ethiopian partners Bette Buna this year, so we’ve decided to name each lot after one of the people who worked on producing it, exporting it, or contributing to social work at Bette Buna.
This one is named for Demelesh (pictured above). A living legend of coffee production with over 40 years' experience in Ethiopian coffee, he's repaired equipment, managed mills, exported coffee, and was even a truck driver at age 12. Everyone in the Ethiopian coffee world, especially Guji, knows and respects Demelesh. Now he's partnered up with Bette Buna and Guji leaders Gash Syoum and Gash Sentayehu to produce and export amazing anaerobic coffees like this one.
This special anaerobic lot from Guji is lush and sweet, with notes of raspberry and Concord grape plus a hint of spicy nasturtium. If you like juicy coffees with loads of nuance, this is the one for you!
For a bit more about Bette Buna, check out our blog post here or read on below ...
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.
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. Both farms have tree nurseries where climate change-resistant varietals are grown to share with surrounding farmers. Similarly, they have facilities where they not only process their own lots but also educate other farmers in processing techniques, while their Coffee Campus programme provides training in roasting, brewing, and even exporting. 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.
To create this lot, ripe cherries were de-pulped and then fermented with extra pulp from other natural coffee lots in sealed barrels for 96 hours. There were no added yeasts or starters, but the pulp gave the bacteria some extra sugar to feed on. After this, it was spread on raised African beds to dry. After dry milling locally to remove the hulls, there was another round of hand-sorting by the milling team to remove any defects. After that, the bags of green coffee were loaded on a truck to take a 3-5 day drive to the main dry mill in Gelan. Here the cherries underwent another round of cleaning, screening on size and density, and color sorting, and were bagged a final time.
We're proud to support Bette Buna and plan to partner with them for many years to come.
Elevation: 2000-2200 MASL
Varietal: 74112, 74158, Wild Guji Megadu
Cup score: 89
Price paid per kg: £15.29
Process: Anaerobic Natural
