Single origin

Arabica

1900–2300 masl

Lush and floral, this Guji natural is thick with berry preserves and tangerine, warmed by cane sugar and lifted by lavender. Buku Sayasa is a smallholder farming community in the Hambela district of Ethiopia’s Guji zone, at the far southeastern edge of the massive Oromia region. Guji is a heavily forested, remote part of the country where the Guji people, part of the wider Oromo nation, have long organized to keep mining and logging out and preserve the region’s canopy. Coffee farms here often start at 2000 meters and climb from there. Cherries from Buku Sayasa cross the border into the neighboring Gedeb district for processing at EDN Ethiopian Coffee’s Chelchele site. Cooperative unions have little presence in this part of Guji, so private stations like EDN’s play a critical role in giving smallholders reliable access to specialty markets. Ripe cherries are sorted for defects and uniform color, fermented in cold water for 24 hours, and then moved to raised beds to dry in the sun for three to four weeks. During harvest, the Chelchele site employs more than 200 people, and workers and their families receive full daily meals, educational resources, and lodging on the grounds.