Ethiopia – Abekeno Lot 28 Organic

Ethiopia – Mustefa Abekeno Lot 28 Organic

Mustefa Abakeno is a smallholder farmer who owns 18 hectares of land near to Agaro in the Jimma area of Western Ethiopia. His farm and wet mill are located 2040 metres above sea level and the farm is planted with a variety of coffee cultivars from the Jimma research centre. Mustefa has a small disk pulper, which he uses for half of his coffee, the other half is dried as a natural. Due to a lack of water in the area and limited space to ferment the coffee, Mustefa ferments the coffee for a short period of time before he moves it to his drying beds, and the result is similar to a light honey process. Mustefa has recently registered as an exporter and is now able to sell his coffee directly to buyers, due to recent regulation changes in Ethiopia.

Mustefa has also set up a small wet mill where he processes coffee from his own farm and that of local ‘outgrowers’. The outgrowers’ coffee is kept separate and dried on raised African beds. Mustefa’s outgrowers are all neighbours and have between 4 and 10 hectares of land each. He is processing both natural and washed coffee and all of it is semi-shade dried. Direct relationships like this provide a huge opportunity to drive up quality as our partners Falcon Speciality are able to work with Mustefa and his outgrowers on cherry selection, drying and farm management, covering all aspects of quality best practises. By working directly we are also able to make the supply chain much more efficient and maximise the amount of money that goes back to the producers.

This particular lot is certified organic and was grown by Mustefas’ neighbour Usmail Sherif. His processing methods are much the same as Mustaffa’s own and flavour distinctions are due to subtle differences between each farm. It is these that make each coffee lot unique. Washed lots like this one are fermented for eight hours and dried on raised beds for a time-span that ranges between thirteen to sixteen days.