Ethiopia Basha Bekele

Producer Basha Bekele
Farm Gonjobe
District Bensa
Region Sidama

Sun Exposure Mixed Shade
Farm Size 5.5 hectares
Altitude 2350-2500masl
Latitude 6.51885
Longitude 38.90607

Variety 74112, 74158
Process Natural
Fermentation Dry
Drying 30-35 days on raised beds

Harvest 2025

Flavor Honey, Jolly Ranchers, Blueberry, Blackberry, Floral
Descriptors Juicy, Full Mouthfeel, Sweet

About This Coffee In 2024, the first Cup of Excellence competition was held in Ethiopia. Peter joined as one of the jurors for the International Phase of the competition, where he had the opportunity to meet a large part of Ethiopia's coffee community, including producers and exporters. The 2024 Cup of Excellence competition was of historic proportions, with Basha Bekele Butusha winning with his outstanding natural coffee from his Gonjobe farm. Fast forward to early 2025 when all the producers in Ethiopia were busy preparing their best lots of the new harvest for the forthcoming CoE competition. However, because of internal governmental politics, the competition was canceled, and the producers had to look to external markets to sell their special lots.

Since we had been involved in judging the previous competition, we were able to work with the in-country coordinator Endale Asfaw to try as many of the “competition” lots as we could. Endale had been deep in the field over the harvest season and was working with many of the top winners of the 2024 competition. Overall, we cupped 25 different lots that had been prepared for the competition, and Basha Bekele’s 74112/74158 natural really stood out for us, so we bought the entire lot directly from him and had it air shipped.

Basha Bekele bought his award-winning Gonjobe farm in 2021, located on the steep slopes of Bode Hill, just outside Gonjobe village in the Bensa district. This lot is traditionally prepared as a Natural, or Dry Processed lot. During harvest, ripe cherries are picked by hand and carried down the slopes to the dry processing site, where they are spread out on covered raised beds where the cherries are hand sorted. During drying, which lasts between 30-35 days, the coffee cherries are raked 4-6 times a day to ensure even drying, before being collected into jute bags and transported to Basha’s warehouse in Day town for primary hulling and cleaning.