Yeche Elfeta / Ethiopia

Reminds us of - Pink Lemonade & Marmalade

Debakul Farm Village // Yeche Elfeta, Limu Kossa, Jimma, Ethiopia
Natural-processed heirloom varietals // 1700 - 1800 masl 

Debakul Farm Village is a coffee washing station in the rural town of Yeche Elfeta, in the Limu Kossa district of Ethiopia’s Jimma Zone. In these fertile highlands of Limu Kossa, heirloom coffee varietals grow in red clay soils, nourished by spring water and abundant rainfall. Debakul serves between 400–600 farmers from the surrounding Yeche Elfeta village, most farming small backyard plots of about half a hectare. Coffee grows alongside cereals and fruit for the household, while animal-based fertilizer and the absence of chemical inputs are part of the farmers’ traditional cultivation practices.

Coffee is the economic backbone for these families, helping them pay for school and medical care. The harvest typically runs from November through January, when the coffee is brought to Debakul to be purchased for processing. For this natural-process lot, coffee cherries are dried whole, with the fruit left intact while it dries on raised beds for roughly two weeks. After processing at the station, the coffee is trucked to a dry mill in Addis Ababa and prepared for export.

We sourced this coffee from our friend Kidane Teklu of Leafy Coffee, a Denver-based importer with deep roots in Ethiopia. This is our second year working with Kidane, and he's an absolute legend. Kidane’s journey from computer engineer to agricultural entrepreneur is a story of full-circle purpose. After 15+ years in IT, he returned to Ethiopia to invest in sustainable farming and rural development. Unfortunately, the realities of the war in Tigray cut short his return, forcing him to go back to the US. Today, through his partnerships with respected regional exporters like Haileselassie Ambaye Industrial PLC, Kidane brings meticulously sourced Ethiopian coffees to roasters across Colorado and beyond. We're pumped to see Kidane rebuild and hopefully one day return to his passion for farming.