Description
, Producer |
Bekele Belaycho/Belaneh Beriso |
Minimum Registration |
4,81$/lb |
Region |
Hora Genet, Kokose, Sidama/Bensa, Sidama |
F.O.B |
6,50$/lb |
Variety |
74158 |
F.O.T |
19,60€/kg |
Altitude |
2000 - 2200 masl |
Context |
Minimum registration is the minimum price F.O.B set by the Ethiopian Government at time of contract. |
Process
|
Natural/Anaerobic Honey/Natural Anaerobic | ||
Flavour |
Delicious, Vibey, Fruity, Fun | ||
Importer |
Omwani |
Two producers, three different processing methods, three wildly different flavour profiles! This Christmas we have my three favourite microlots from my trip to Ethiopia in January!
First up and back for another year is Bekele Belaycho with two lots. We loved the natural coffee from his Kokose processing station last year and this year it's even richer, with a deep chocolate and blueberry sweetness, lime and stonefruit acidity and violet florals!
Alongside the natural, we also have his first ever anaerobic honey lot. Christopher Feran and Crop to Cup supplied Bekele with a motorised disc pulper last year, so that he could experiment with new processes. This coffee proves that he should definitely keep on producing honey and anaerobic honey coffees. This anaerobic honey has the subtleties of a washed coffee with the sweetness of a honey process and the vibrancy of the anaerobic fermentation, while remaining crisp and juicy!
Finally, a new solo producer on the scene, Belaneh Beriso from Bensa, Sidama. Not initially wanting to follow the family business in coffee, he tried trading in the area of Bensa. When he inherited 5 Hectares from his father in the village of Wamera, he replanted it with the local traditional JARC varieties 74110 and 74158 and got stuck in after all. Producing solely natural and natural anaerobic lots, it was this natural anaerobic that stuck out the most whilst cupping over 60 coffees once getting back to Addis Ababa. It is loud and fruity, with notes that for us are like berry candy, vibrant acidity and complex florals. It is complex and BIG!
A huge thanks goes out to Omwani, who import these amazing coffees, for inviting me out to Ethiopia after a 5 minute chat at WoC 2024 and a few texts!!! It was a trip of a lifetime and fantastic to meet the legendary Moata Raya of Mecota Trading (Omwani's export partner in Ethiopia), who is more knowledgeable, calm and kind than anybody I have ever met! The work he is doing to support smallholder farmers branch out on their own and produce their own coffee to extremely high quality coffees is an inspiration!
Bekele and Jacob at the Kokose processing station, January 2025
Belaneh Beriso, David Burton (Omwani) and Moata Raya r-l, Wamera, Bensa
January 2025
Want us to grind your coffee?
We sell all our coffee as whole beans to preserve their freshness and to allow you to grind the coffee to suit your preferred brew method.
However, if you'd like to request that your beans are ground before we ship them to you, please add a comment on the checkout specifying the brew method that the beans should be ground for.
Brew methods:
- Pourover
- Filter Machine
- Aeropress
- Bialetti
- Espresso Machine
- French Press
Transparency
How We Buy Our Coffees
Raw Material
Raw Material are a Community Interest Company based in the UK, meaning that 100% of profits are put to work to create economic freedom for those coffee producers who are most marginalised. Driven by social objectives, the guys at Raw Material are set on bringing real change to the people who matter most! All of our coffees from Rwanda, Burundi, Timor-Leste and Mexico are bought through Raw Material because they don't just do great social work, they also have some of the most delicious coffees out there!!!
Planting Costa Rica
Nico from Planting Costa Rica actually used to be a barista at Café Blá! Now he's importing amazing coffees from his native Costa Rica. Through his successful 2017 crowdfunding campaign, he was able to start addressing the socio-economic gap, helping small producers wanting to move into speciality growing and processing practises modernise and improve quality. We have been following the progress from the beginning, buying lots from El Bueyerito every year. The progress made in terms of quality has been amazing! Now with a wide and exciting range of partner farms, we are really excited to continue buying our Costa Rican lots from Nico. In March '23 I was lucky enough to be able to go to Costa Rica with Nico and Fatima and meet all of the producers we have been buying from and more! Costa Rica is a wonderfully green country, with a lot of positive green initiatives and government agencies helping keep the coffee trade fair for those who are most important, namely the farmers.
Omwani
Omwani are a UK based importer, importing coffees from East Africa. They work with projects all of the most well known producing countries like Ethiopia and Kenya, but also in less-seen countries like Malawi and Uganda. The projects they support are all specific to what is needed in the country, looking to bring economic freedom to smallholders and producers, whilst also tackling area specific issues, such as climate related diseases, access to fresh water, healthcare and education. Starting in 2025, we will have their Ethiopian, Kenyan and Ugandan coffees as a part of our coffee menu.
What does "Powered by Vits.coffee" mean?
Café Blá is owned by Jacob Henry-Foord and Alexander Vits. Jacob is head roaster for Vits der Kaffee, Alex's roastery and café.
When Stephanie made the decision to sell Café Blá, for whom we have been roasting the coffee since its opening in 2016, I (Jacob) approached Alex with the idea of taking on the café as a joint venture, specifically with the idea of moving the Vits third wave coffee selection over to the Blá brand, thus creating a new sub-brand from Vits.
So as not to confuse the loyal Vits customers, we decided to add the tagline "Powered by Vits.coffee," seeing as the coffees are roasted in the Vits roastery by the Vits head-roaster, who also just happens to be co-owner and CEO of Café Blá.
Confused? We hope not!
Put in short: Café Blá coffee is sourced and roasted by Jacob in the Vits roastery.