Ethiopia - Mustefa Abakeno Gera | Washed

This washed lot comes from Mustefa Abakeno’s farm and 36 neighbouring outgrowers in Ethiopia’s Limu region, grown at 1,950 to 2,100 metres. It’s planted mostly with 74110 and 74112 varietals, and every bag traces back to one small community of farms.

This coffee is certified organic.

Mustefa runs his own 18-hectare farm and washing station in Beshasha Kebele. His operation processes coffee from a little over 200 outgrower farmers in total, and three dozen of them, including several women, farm right next door to him. Across all his sites, Mustefa practises regenerative farming: He prunes and stumps his trees routinely, composts coffee pulp, and returns milling byproducts to the soil as mulch and organic fertilizer. These methods have steadily caught on across Agaro, and his influence has no doubt played a part.

In Agaro, Mustefa is a living legend. He helped form the Hunda Oli cooperative and the Kata Meduga Cooperative Union, both of which Crop to Cup bought from in its early Ethiopia days. In 2018, just one year after Ethiopia began granting export licences to qualified smallholder farmers, he secured his own, making him one of the earlier Ethiopian producers to earn true name recognition in the wider market. Today, he manages five washing stations alongside his home farm.

Brewing recommendations:

• Rest: 3+ weeks
  
• Filter: 1:16–17 | 94°C
• Espresso: 1:2.5–2.7 | 26–30s