From the Birthplace of Coffee

It’s tempting to think that coffee originated in Brazil or Columbia. In fact, it is an indigenous forest crop in the highlands of one of Africa’s poorest countries – Ethiopia.

Our Fairtrade and Certified Organic coffee is sourced directly from Ethiopia, where the first coffee bush was discovered more than a thousand years ago. Many would say this coffee is not only the original but the best. The coffee beans are supplied by the good farmers of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Union, which buys beans from the growers in the cooperative to sell directly to overseas buyers. Seventy per-cent of net profit is returned to the farmers, and the extra Fairtrade premium paid when we buy this coffee goes back to the cooperative for community benefit. In 2005, Kalenso, Makeniso in southern Ethiopia opened its first primary school which now has an enrolment of 900 students. By 2010 a second primary school and a secondary school were built. More coffee – more schools!

The new school at Kalenso Makonisa funded by the Fairtrade premiums from our coffee.

We are pleased to offer two varieties of coffee, both are Fairtrade and Organic:

Sidamo is a smooth non-bitter washed coffee from the slightly damper climate of southern Ethiopia. The coffee cherry is fermented for 24 hours and the flesh is washed off; the bean is then dried naturally.

Harar is a sundried coffee from hotter, drier, eastern Ethiopia where the coffee cherry is first dried in the sun and then the dry flesh surrounding the coffee bean is rubbed off. The Harar flavours are more complex than Sidamo and it is the world’s premium mocha coffee.

We can also supply green (unroasted) coffee. It’s not easy to get an even roast, but you could try 43 beans in a hot oven, or in a continually stirred wok, or even a popcorn roaster.