Whole Bean Coffee

Ethiopia, Guji Gogogu

Varietal: Heirloom

Process: Natural

Elevation: 1,900-2200 MASL

We taste: Strawberry compote, caramelized sugar, white wine

This coffee comes from the Gogogu washing station in the Kofee district of Guji, Ethiopia. The station produces both washed and natural coffees, processed traditionally from ripe coffee cherries. Over 700 small farmers, each with about 2 hectares of land, deliver cherries from nearby areas. Coffee is their main source of income, and the harvest season runs from mid-December to late February.

In Ethiopia, most coffee is grown on very small plots—often “coffee gardens”—where farmers also grow other crops. They typically deliver fresh coffee cherries to a washing station, where the cherries are sorted, weighed, processed, and dried on raised beds. Because cherries from many farmers are combined into day lots, tracing coffee back to a single farmer is usually not possible.

Most farmers do not use fertilizers or pesticides. Natural coffees are delivered the same day they are harvested, sorted, rinsed, and dried for 8–25 days, depending on weather. The coffees are made up of native Ethiopian heirloom varieties.

Guji, once part of Sidama, is now its own region. It is a high-altitude, forested area with rich red soil, producing coffees known for fruit notes, deep chocolate, and light florals. Ethiopia is the birthplace of Arabica coffee, and coffee growing has been part of daily life and culture for centuries—not introduced through colonization.

Most Ethiopian farmers are smallholders with less than 1 hectare, and they grow relatively small amounts of coffee for commercial sale.