The coffee was grown by smallholder farmers living around the kabele (town)of Goromo, in Oromia Region . Most contributing farmers own less than a hectare of land, and they grow coffee simply as a backyard cash crop. Coffee will usually be interspersed with other subsistence crops, such as sweet potato, mangos and avocados, but there are no other primary cash crops grown in the region.
Most of the coffee grown in the region is 100% organic, though not certified, as farmers simply don’t have the money to apply chemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides.
Coffee is selectively hand-picked before being delivered to the mill collection points, usually within5km of the producers’ homes. Great care is taken upon delivery to separate out any overripe, underripe or damaged beans before consolidating with other lots for the road to the wet mill.
At least once a day, the collected coffee cherry is delivered to the mill, where it is floated, pulped and then delivered toa fermentation tank, where it ferments for 66 to 72 hours depending on the climate at the time. Fermentation times are quite long here due to the altitude, which makes for cooler climates. After fermentation the coffee is fully washed through grading channels and is then delivered to dry on African beds or, on occasion, patios. Once here, the parchment is turned regularly and protected from hot sun between 12:00 and 15:00 every day until it reaches the optimal humidity, at which point it is bagged and rested.
a little back ground of the guji area as below
Guji is part of the Oromia region in southern Ethiopia , Around 85 per cent of Ethiopians still live rurally and make a living from agriculture; each family usually lives in a modest home (often a single round mud hut) and farms their own plot of land, where they grow both cash crops andfood for their own consumption.
In Guji, coffee is one of the main cash crops–covering from half a hectare to 1.5hectares (the latter is considered big). This is usually planted alongside a second cash crop–often a large-leafed tree used in making roofs for (and also shade provider for the coffee) known as 'false banana'.
This looks like a banana tree but isn't-instead its thick stem is used to produce both a nutritious flour and a fermented paste that staple ingredients (particularly across southern Ethiopia).There is only one main harvest a year in Ethiopia-this usually takes place in November and December across all of the country's growing regions. There are, on average, 4 passes made during the harvest period, and, in regions that produce both washed and naturals, the last pass is used for the natural coffee. Washed coffees are then generally pulped on the same day that they are picked (usually in the evening/night), sorted into three grades by weight (heavy, medium and floaters), fermented (times vary-usually between 16 and 48 hours), washed and then usually graded again in the washing channels. The beans are then dried on raised beds, where they are hand-sorted, usually by women.
