Ethiopia
Guji
Smallholder Farmers
Smallholder Farms
Heirloom local varieties
Natural
November-January
Creamy, Milk Chocolate, Strawberry, Blueberry, Earl Grey, Vanilla, Elderflower
1900 meters
N/A
60kg
SOLD OUT
The Gigesa Washing Station was established in 2014 by Faysel Adham Yonis, an Ethiopian entrepreneur and coffee professional who understands the value of careful processing in preserving the unique and attractive flavors and aromas of Ethiopian coffees. Gigesa Washing station is located in the Danbi Uddo kebele or town in the Shakiso district of Guji Zone in Oromia region.
850 member producers, owning farms 2-5 hectares in size at elevations between 1800 and 1950 meters above sea level, contribute cherries to Gigesa. The mill produces Washed and Natural coffees. Natural coffees are dried for 15-18 days on raised beds where they are turned regularly to expose the sun equally to all sides.
There are two lagoons and areas planted with vetiver grass to treat wastewater from washed coffees. For both processes, cherries are both hand sorted for ripeness and passed through in a floatation tank to ensure uniformity and quality.
The land around Gigesa ranges from hilly to mountainous to flat. The Gigesa Washing Station produces roughly 15 containers each year.
Guji is a Zone in the Oromia Region of southern Ethiopia. Most residents of this region are Oromo and speak the Oromo language, which is entirely different from the Ethiopia’s main language of Amharic. Like many of the country’s coffee growing regions, the culture of the Guji Zone varies from woreda to woreda and speaks to the diversity of people who cultivate coffee. More small washing stations are being built in Guji to respond to the demand for improvements in processing to fully capture the range of attributes found in Ethiopian coffee. The Zone’s principle fresh water source is the Ganale Dorya river, which also acts as the boundary line with the neighboring Bale zone to the east.
