Ethiopia Sidamo 'Bona Zuria'

The Bona Zuria district is located in the Sidamo region of the country. It borders the Oromia region to the south, Hula to the west, Bursa to the north west, Arbegona to the north and Bensa to the east. This coffee is made up from coffee from seven farmers from Bona Zuria.

The farmers own and farm between 3 and 8 hectares of land each, and have all been working in the coffee industry for over a decade. The varietals they grow have been selected over the years and consist of JARC(the Jimma Agricultural research Center) recognised CBD resistant varietals identified in the mid 1970’s and grown under shade.

They hand pick the coffee cherries before they inspect and ultimately deliver them to the Ayele Tulu Washing Station to be processed. Usually the farmers deliver their cherries by horse or donkey.

The washing station itself is situated at 2,190 masl, making it one of the highest altitude washing stations in the whole of Ethiopia. It was officially founded in 2014 by Mr Ayele Tulu who has been working in the coffee industry for more than 2 decades.

Once the farmers have delivered their coffee to the washing station they are dried on raised African beds with shades. These beds are designed to ensure proper air circulation and temperature control and so to help the coffee to dry optimally. At this altitude, drying will take around 4 to 6 weeks.

Once dried the cherries are taken to the Heleph Coffee store in Bona Zuria where their moisture content is recorded, all cherries must have a moisture content between 10% and 11.9%. Here the dried cherries are put through a hulling machine, leaving just the beans. The coffee is then are transported on to Addis Ababa for export.