Mengeshe is the very first smallholder farmer we met during our inaugural season in Ethiopia. After the change and thus liberalising the regulations in 2017, Mengeshe obtained an exporting license the following year and was ready to sell his beautiful coffee overseas. However, it was not until 2024 that he was able to connect with direct buyers for the first time.

Mengeshe’s entire 2024 crop was around 50 bags of which we bought 15 and the rest went to the US with NYC-based importer Crop to Cup.

As with almost all Ethiopian smallholders, this lot was processed as a natural. Ripe cherries of kurume, wolisho and dega varietals, picked on a 3-hectare semi-wild plantation in the forest of Worka Sakaro, dried for 20 days on Mengeshe’s raised beds.