Sidama region

Ethiopia is a magical land of contrasts located in East Africa, north of the equator. It is the fifth country in the current ranking of world coffee production and is the most important in the entire African continent. Approximately 85% of farmers in this country are very small with plantations that do not exceed 0.1 hectares.

In the country we find 12 very different production areas, more than 130 micro-locations, as well as more than 2,000 indigenous varieties that make Ethiopian coffee very diverse and complex.

The Sidama region rests in the Rift Valley in the south of the country and in an area of lush vegetation because rainfall is abundant in the rainy season. The height above sea level in this area is between 1,500 and 2,300 meters.

Shantawene Farm and Washing Stations

In November 2019, we travelled to Daye, a small town in Bensa District, in Sidama region, to launch a fresh round of experiments carefully planned by our R&D department. Our local partners: Daye Bensa Coffee, a company that grows, processes and exports coffee, with a young team of production and washing station managers in the field.

There we met Kenean and Elias, both part of the youngest generation of the Dukamo family, as well as Atiklet, Daye's agronomist. A young yet ambitious team, open to learn our new ideas and techniques, and much involved in all steps of the process.

Daye's network consists of 16 washing stations around Sidama where they work with external producers and one farm, called Shantawene. While strategically based in Daye for a week, our work together was carried within 3 different villages: Shantawene, Karamo and Bombe, all located between 1900-2300 m of altitude.

New techniques

Being the first year, after studying the farms and stations, we decided to work with several combinations of fermentation and drying techniques.

These combinations only positively add to the exceptional genetics and ecosystem found in Daye District, from which you can find 6 different processing methods, and 10 differents lots being offered: