Epoch 9 - Ethiopia Tega & Tula

Importer: FORWARD Coffee

Price Paid per LB after Roasting: $11.22

Volume Purchased: 60kg

Origin: Ethiopia

Farm: West Arsi, Sidama, Ethiopia

Process: Natural

Harvest Date: August-September

Tasting Notes: dried apricot, jackfruit, blueberries, black tea.

West Arsi washing station coffee has a distinct Sidamo taste and all of its 1900 bags are processed as Q/ specialty 1. The site is located in the highest Kogne mountain of West Arsi surrounded by deep wild forests, a large river known as Hodum and smaller namely Bedesa and Belecho. The area has one of the greenest views and known to represent Ethiopia’s rich coffee culture. The Sidamo – west arsi variety is also known for winning cup of excellence and Africa Fine Coffee Association (AFCA) quality awards.
Tega and Tula operates this washing station by paying its farmers and workers premium (in line with adhering to leviable wedges) for their coffee / work and is recognized as a model farmer for building schools, constructing roads and support of women clinics for the community. The site also supports its outgrowers by availing disease (CBD) resistant coffee varieties / seedlings and support with farm equipment. Tega & Tula also invests heavily in sustainable and climate smart farming trainings as part of its outgrower support programs.

The cup profile is very juicy and plump. There's stonefruit qualities that lead the structure of the profile, with some stewed citrus notes giving nice complexity and aromatics. Typical to natural Ethiopian coffees, there's some berry tones that compliment the complexities of the other fruits, leading to familiar qualities and flavours.

After working in the corporate world of the United States, Ahadu Woubshet moved back to his birth country Ethiopia to be part of the transformation that the country was aspiring for and was one of the founding managment and chief operating officer of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX), where he worked on quality standards, capacity building, alignment on the international market, true price discovery and even established the first coffee contract to be traded within the ECX. Working at the ECX gave Ahadu opportunities to travel to various coffee-growing regions and farms in Ethiopia and gain first-hand insight into the lives of the farmers and how coffee is grown, traded and how quality is assured. This experience made Ahadu fall in love with coffee and create an impact in the land that gave the world Arabica Coffee. After completing his national mission of the ECX establishment, Ahadu decided to invest more of himself towards developing Ethiopian coffee to its rightful place in the world by applying best practices including investing in the community, developing sustainable farming practices and doing coffee farming right. It was with this decision that the farmer in him took full form.