Ethiopia | Karamo Natural

The Karamo Natural comes from Karamo Village in the Bura zone of Sidama, Ethiopia. Between 500 and 600 smallholder farmers grow coffee in the village and bring their cherry to Karamo Coffee, the company run by Niguse Gemeda. In 2020, his natural lot from the village, named Karamo, won Ethiopia's first Cup of Excellence with a score of 91.04.

Niguse grew up among the coffee farms of Bensa and Bura. He spent more than 25 years as a commercial coffee supplier before turning to specialty in 2015. Karamo now trains its station workers in careful drying and defect removal, and works with its farmers on organic practices and selective harvesting.

The farms sit between 2,340 and 2,460 meters, high even for Sidama, and every tree is 74158, a selection from Ethiopia's Jimma Agricultural Research Center. This is the natural lot. The cherries were dried whole on raised beds, fruit still on the seed, which carries the cup toward ripe berry and a fuller, sweeter body than the washed coffees from the same hills.