ETHIOPIA | Sidama – Ayla Bensa | Heirloom | Washed
Bombe, a small micro-region in the district of Bensa, Sidama, is home to some truly exceptional coffees. High up in the mountains that give the region its name, the farmers of Bombe grow their coffee in small traditional gardens – roughly 3-4 hectares in size – that sit behind their homes. Coffee cultivation is a family affair, with everyone working together. While coffee is the main cash crop for farmers in Bombe, these small garden farms also provide the food the farmers eat. Therefore, farmers intercrop their coffee with other crops like enset, yams and maize. Unlike most producers in Central and South America, who will process their coffees themselves, before delivering them to a mill for export – producers in Ethiopia typically sell unprocessed coffee cherry to community washing stations, where it is then processed, dried, and milled. After harvest, the producers in Bombe take the trip down the mountain and deliver their crop to the Ayla Bensa Washing.
Because of their high quality, Bombe coffees are kept separate from other coffees delivered to the washing station. This lot was processed as a traditional washed coffee; coffee cherries are depulped, fermented in water for a few days, before being washed, and then set out to dry on raised beds.
