Widely considered the birthplace of coffee, 98% of Ethiopian coffee is still produced by smallholder farmers today. The nuances across producers, variety, and landscape means Ethiopia is widely considered as one of the most exciting and delicious origins in the world. We agree.
To help bring these coffees to your tables, we work with Israel Degfa. Israel is one of Kamba’s shareholders and the owner of the Ethiopian export company.
Israel and his team own a variety of mills, washing stations and private farms across the coffee producing regions of Ethiopia. At Kamba, we work with Israel across Sidamo, Guji and Yirgacheffe.
Since Israel is involved at every stage in the chain, the money that these coffees are sold for by Kamba goes in part back to Israel and is reinvested in the Ethiopian coffee community. The relationship we have with Israel and Kerchanshe allows us to work together with Kerchanshe and all the contributing smallholders to develop quality and support projects and producers across Ethiopia.
The Bulessa Washing Station is in the Sidamo region of Ethiopia. It is run by Tizita Bizuneh and managed by a team of 15 full time female workers. This team can reach close to 150 people during harvest season.
As well as the station being managed and operated by women, the coffee that is processed at the Bulessa washing station is farmed by majority female smallholder farmers in the local area.
Tizita started this project with the goal of empowering women in coffee production and then progressing them to help with the management of the station. As the project has evolved, the scheme has developed and started providing educational and agricultural workshops for children and women across the community.
Further to the empowerment project, the contributing farmers are also registered and a part of the Kerchanshe support network set up by Israel Degfa. This network helps smallholders and their families with access to healthcare, education and agricultural support.
This coffee is now a core part of the Kamba offer. Over the last two years, it has been the largest washed coffee project that we have supported in Ethiopia.
