This coffee comes from a washing station in the town of Shantawane, which collects cherries from a number of small producers in the Bensa area, in southern Ethiopia. Bensa is a district (or woreda) in the Sidama region, well known for producing coffees that are floral, complex, and full of character. The coffee here grows at high altitudes – usually between 1,700 and 2,000 metres above sea level.

The farmers are mostly smallholders, working family-run plots where coffee grows alongside food crops like false banana (enset) and local legumes. This type of mixed farming is often referred to as “garden coffee”, and the farms are typically small – just 1 to 5 hectares – making the approach both small-scale and environmentally conscious.

After harvesting, the farmers pulp the coffee cherries on their own farms using traditional disc pulpers. They then take the beans to the washing station, where they are dried on raised African beds to ensure good airflow and even drying.

Once fully processed, the coffee is delivered to the Tracon dry mill, the exporter handling this lot. At Tracon, the beans are hulled and sorted using cutting-edge technology to ensure high-quality preparation. Their facility spans 27,000 square metres and is entirely dedicated to the final stages of coffee processing and export.