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This coffee was grown by roughly 500 farmers at very high elevations (1900-2300masl) in the village of Banko Taratu. These farmers deliver coffee in cherry to a central washing and processing station where the coffee undergoes a fairly short tank time and then is fully washed and sun dried.
Here’s some detailed economic and country context-based info about buying in Ethiopia, for those curious:
Of the over 100 million people in Ethiopia, almost 15 million rely on coffee for income. Coffee accounts for 60% of foreign income, and is about 40% of total country exports. For the scope (Africa's largest coffee producing country) and importance of the industry, there's a surprising amount of consolidation. Things are constantly changing in Ethiopia but for the most part, buying happens in these ways: from an exporter who buys off the government run exchange (ECX,), from a Co-op Union which markets coffees collected from member co-ops, or direct from a single producer or estate (as long as they have a farm over 2 hectares, they can export). Previously, exporters who owned wet mills in Ethiopia could buy cherry and sell the fully processed green coffee. Now, wet-mills are required to sell to the exchange, and exporters are required to buy from the exchange. In other words, wet-mills can no longer sell directly to exporters, making traceability more difficult. As it stands, the only way to get exceptional coffee from the ECX is to buy it, then cup it see if you like it. If you don't, you’re stuck. This process isn’t practical for a specialty buyer, so oftentimes exporters will allow specialty buyers to cup through their purchases from the ECX and select the ones they like, then the exporter can then use the coffees left over to fill a commodity contract for another buyer. While this can result in good coffee, the traceability is lost, as is the ability to secure the exact same coffee next year.
Last, you may also find a landowner that builds a mill on their land and buys cherry from surrounding farmers. This is called an out-grower scheme and they can directly export these coffees, so this has been a major loophole for wet-mill owners who were affected by the ECX regulation passed in 2008. For example, if I had a mill only, I have to sell to the ECX. But If I have a mill and I buy the farm it’s on and register that farm for direct export, now I can sell all the coffee from my mill to buyers and bypass the ECX. While this does happen, those that can do it have both money and political clout, stacking the deck against the smallholder. Banko Taratu is essentially one of these outgrower lots, purchased from all the farmers collectively via the washing station and sold directly to Falcon then to us.
Price paid green: $6.64
FOB Price:
