This selection from Geta Bore boasts the classic profile that has made southwestern Ethiopia one of the most famous coffee-producing regions in the world. In the cup we find extreme honey-like sweetness, intense jasmine aromatics, and a peach and citrus complexity.
Ethiopian Landrace
Gomma, Jimma
2,000 - 2,100 masl
January, 2021
Hand picked at peak ripeness. Floated to further remove defects. Depulped using an eco-pulper. Soaked in clean water for 12 hours. Grade 1 density separated. Dried on raised beds for 9-14 days.
Geta Bore is a relatively new 232-smallholder cooperative, established in 2018. The cooperative's producers are located in the higher altitudes of the Gomma woreda (district). Geta Bore is part of the TechnoServe NGO—shorthand for “technology in the service of mankind”—aimed at creating market-based solutions to poverty. It has invested in over 45,000 smallholding producers though the Enhancing Market Efficiency and Resilience for Growing Ethiopians New Coffee Economy (EMERGENCE) project. Geta Bore is one of 45 cooperatives to receive assistance from this project which includes training, education, and market access.
Ethiopia is widely acknowledged as where coffee originated, and its production continues to represent about 10% of the country’s gross domestic product. DNA testing has confirmed over 60 distinct varieties growing in Ethiopia, making it home to the most coffee biodiversity of any region in the world. Given the tradition of coffee production in Ethiopia and the political interworkings of the Ethiopian coffee trade, it is virtually impossible to get single variety coffee lots from Ethiopia. This is changing, albeit very slowly. Most Ethiopian coffees are blends of the many Ethiopian varieties, and referred to simply as 'Ethiopian Landrace'.
The cost of getting a coffee from cherry to beverage varies enormously depending on its place of origin and the location of its consumption. The inclusion of price transparency is a starting point to inform broader conversation around the true costs of production and the sustainability of specialty coffee as a whole.