Mr Ocholo Bedecho owns 8 hectares of coffee land in Oromia Regional State Guji Zone, Urga district. His farm is located 12 km from small town called Haro Wachu. Most of his income comes from his coffee farm although he also processes some vegetables and Enset (false banana) for daily food from his back yard/garden. He owns 8 hectares of land. 

His land size is one of the largest lands in size by the standards of the district he lives. Mr Ocholo is the father of two daughters and 6 sons and the family work on the farm full time. Through coffee, he has managed to send all his children to school although they help in the farm after school when they can. 

As a region, Guji is a beautifully forested area in southern Ethiopia. Before the early 2000's, this region was considered part of Sidama, but has since become its own region. The people of Guji grow coffee gardens at very high altitudes in the rich red soil of the highlands, setting this coffee's profile apart from neighboring regions. These smallholders deliver their coffee to washing stations to be sorted and processed together, developing flavors of fruits, deep chocolate, and light florals.

This particular micro-lot represents our fourth season of buying a single farmer lot from our producer network in Ethiopia. In the words of our partners at Cafe Imports:

The Single Farmer Project is the result of an effort to support Ethiopian producers with a marketplace for farm-traceable coffees. Back in 2012, during a turbulent time in Ethiopia's coffee exporting history, Partner and CEO Jason Long worked with an established cooperative to export some of the first ever truly “Farm Traceable” lots from Ethiopia. This was the first time a roaster could highlight the individual farmer for their Ethiopian Coffee. It was the start of an incredible project and truly began the movement for traceability in Ethiopia as we see more often today. This project also gave us some very fun stories like literally bringing a backpack full of Ethiopian Birr to Yirgacheffe with COO Noah Namowicz to pay the premiums directly to these farmers who participated. 

This project is made possible in conjunction with important export partners supporting and bringing to market individual farmer lots. Samples are sent out to potential buyers, price is negotiated on the farmers' behalf, and contracts are only accepted when the producer agrees on a sales price and their name is on the contract for each coffee they sell. 

“Our goals with this project would be to help garner and develop long-term relationships between the producers we are already working with and coffee roasting companies that share in the values of transparency, traceability, and relationship that this program represents," says Claudia, green-coffee buyer for Cafe Imports.

This exquisite micro-lot is sweet & snappy and makes for an excellent and clean pour-over or served neat as a single origin espresso.