Casa Espresso: Ethiopia, Bale Mountain Dry Mill, Natural

This exclusive coffee is situated in an isolated region in Bale Mountain which is hard to reach by road due to the treacherous terrain. The soil it is grown in is rich with plenty of forest humus.

It is produced by Israel Degfa, who also owns other farms and washing stations in Ethiopia.

Private owners are indeed a new thing in Ethiopia, before they were not allowed to exist. All coffees had to be delivered to the exchange and sold as per their grade. Grade 1 would be specialty but there was no possibility of traceability as coffees from all sorts of farmer were bulked together by the Exchange which is owned by the government.

Nowadays, exporters and cooperatives are starting to get permission to export directly, just like in Brazil. A few years ago, Israel, who was a 30-year-old Ethiopian willing to change how things work got together with other exporters to create a different scenario. Now it’s possible to have farm coffees from Ethiopia and it’s possible to have coffees traced from each washing station.