Tsegaye Tekebo owns a moderate sized washing station next to his farm on the outskirts of the Biloya village. His farm is approximately 3 times that of the average sized garden coffee farm in the area and from that he produces 150 bags of coffee.

His washing station uses a locally made coffee pulping machine called an Agard, and from that he prepares other washed lots from coffee farmers in the surrounding area.

All coffee produced at his washing station is documented and traceable. This year was his first to experiment with Honey and Anaerobic processes. 

Flavour Notes: Elderflower, Yoghurt, Jasmine

Origin: Biloya Kebele in Kochere Woreda - Gedeo zone, Ethiopia

Producer: Tsegaye Tekebo

Processing: Anaerobic Washed

Variety: Heirloom

Altitude: 1780m

THE FARM

Tsegaye Tekebo is a well established coffee producer in the Biloya kebele. His traditional coffee management skills are accompanied by the modern day specialty approach taught by Getu Bekele of G Broad and the Jabanto Group. He replants coffee varieties that are high yield, high quality, drought tolerant, and disease and pest resistant. These varieties are selected out of locally adapted landraces like Dega and Walichu, and the successful JARC varieties.

Garden coffee production system with well-maintained agro forestry practice best describes the ecology of Tsegaye’s farm and surrounding farms in the Biloya kebele. Throughout his farm the coffee trees grow under a light shade from perennial shade trees and food crops such as Enset (false banana). Most farmers in the region grow coffee with food crops intertwined which is great for permaculture as they are a great source of compost as well as providing yearly financial support.

Organic compost is the only source of nutrient that is used to fertilize both coffee trees and the other food crops in the Jabanto group. Due to the well-maintained agroforestry system and soil/water conservation practice, the level of soil erosion on the farm of Tsgaye has been low. As a result, the top soil in that area is rich with organic matter. Immediately after the end of harvest, Tsegaye focuses on coffee tree pruning, re-planting, land preparation and compost fertilization, weed control and disease management.

PROCESSING

Hand-picked coffee cherries are taken directly from the farm to the washing station. It first arrives at the processing site to sort out under ripe, overripe and insect/pest damaged cherries by hand. The cherries are then moved into plastic containers and soaked in water where floaters are separated and then the cherries are left to ferment under anaerobic conditions for 24 hours.

Afterwards the coffee is pulped and taken to traditional fermentation tanks where the coffee is fermented under water for 48 hours aerobically. During this period water is changed every 12 hours to enable a clean and stable fermentation. This fermentation is completed after confirming that the mucilage can be completely removed through washing the parchment coffee using again clean water. Finally, clean parchment coffee is transferred to a soaking tank and stays there under water for a brief soaking period of 4-6 hours.

The coffee is then transferred to a skin drying stage where consistent stirring of the parchment coffee is carried out by hand under shade. This process usually lasts from 2-4 hours in the morning.

Finally, the parchment coffee is transferred onto a raised drying bed. The parchment coffee is set under the sun for four hours in the morning, between 7 AM and 11 AM. To prevent overheating of the coffee during the hottest hours of the day, the parchment coffee is covered with nylon mesh between 11 AM and 3 PM. In the afternoon the parchment coffee is uncovered for another three hours between 3 PM and 6 PM before covering with plastic overnight to prevent re-humidification. To maintain uniform drying amongst beans, regular turning of the parchment is carried out every 2 hours to maintain an even moisture level. The final drying phase lasts around 14 days, until the bean moisture level reaches 10-10.5% humidity.