Ethiopia, Banko Gotiti

Banko Gotiti is a village in the Gedeb district of Ethiopia’s Gedeo Zone, right in the heart of Yirgacheffe. Its cooperative was founded in 2012 and has around 300 members, who grow a mix of heirloom Ethiopian varieties on small plots alongside other crops. The high-altitude highlands here, with their cool climate and fertile soils, are the conditions that have made Yirgacheffe famous among coffee lovers.

Farmers deliver their ripe cherry to a nearby washing station, where it’s sorted, weighed, processed and dried on raised beds. Exporters then organise the sale of the collective’s coffee. Most farmers here don’t have access to fertilisers or pesticides, so the coffee is grown without them.