Ethiopia Sidama Dobenawicho Fair Trade Organic Washed

Flavor: Peach, lemonade, mint, brown sugar, jasmine
Region: Aleta Wondo District, Sidama Zone, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region, Ethiopia
Altitude: 1800 Meters
Producer: 1530 smallholder farmers organized around the Dobenawicho Primary Cooperative
Variety: Regional landraces and local heirloom cultivars
Process: Fully washed and dried on raised beds
Certifications: Fair Trade (FLO), Organic

About Sidama

The Sidama zone is one of Ethiopia's most productive, supplying over 40% of the entire country's washed coffee to its central market. Compared to Yirgacheffe, further south, Sidama is a sprawling and varied landscape that transitions from the Great Rift Valley to beyond 2000 meters in elevation. The Aleta Wondo "woreda", or district, where the Dobenawicho cooperative is located, is in southern Sidama, close to the city of Dila and Sidama’s border with Yirgacheffe. Dobenawicho has been in existence since 1975.

The climb from the southern end of the Great Rift Valley, through Shashamene and past Awasa is gradual, and coffee trees slowly increase in frequency, large, lanky, and dusty by the roadside, many so tall they lean on the roofs of houses for support. Coffees produced in Sidama are earlier than in the far south, delicate, and citric. Sidama has one of the most exemplary cooperative unions in the country, as well as a thriving industry of independent washing stations and medium-sized family estates with export licenses of their own.

The Sidama Union and its Coops

The Sidama Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (SCFCU) is one of Ethiopia’s largest and best-known exporting organizations. SCFCU is robust; there are 53 member cooperatives in the union and over 80,000 member households throughout the Sidama Zone. Because harvest in Sidama occurs slightly earlier than in the more southern zones of Gedeo and Guji, the fully washed lots from here are usually the year’s very first top quality arrivals from anywhere in Ethiopia.SCFCU coops each carry out activities that often go unnoticed but are crucial for small producers, including training producers in best organic practices and investing in basic infrastructure needs like road improvements and establishing local warehouses. SCFCU focuses on establishing a certification process for local cooperatives, creating micro-credit for producers and investing in social programs on a larger scale. Environmental training programs, healthcare initiatives, life insurance, and educational opportunities are just some of the ways SCFCU strives to improve the quality of life for coffee producers and their families.Farmer members throughout the union are truly smallholders, averaging less than a hectare of coffee cultivation each, in which they also produce vegetables for the household and local sale.

Dobenawicho Cooperative and Washed Processing

Cherry is delivered daily to Dobenawicho where it is sorted, depulped, and fermented for 48 hours in water, which is traditionally replenished multiple times during the fermentation period to ensure clean, white, and contaminant-free parchment. Once fermentation is complete the coffee is moved immediately to raised screen tables for sundrying, where it is rotated constantly for 10-15 days to ensure gradual, even drying.The coop employs up to 85 people during harvest to manage all the daily operations of coffee rotation on the drying tables, cherry intake, station finances and record keeping, and of course processing itself.

About Quality Grades for Ethiopian Coffee

In Ethiopia, coffee grading is based on both physical and cup qualities, including altitude, imperfections, and flavor. The grades range from 1 (highest) to 9 (lowest), with grades 1 and 2 classified as specialty coffee.

About Ethiopian Green Coffee Beans

Ethiopia, the birthplace of Arabica coffee, contributes only 3-4% of the world's coffee supply, but the variety of flavors from this origin is remarkable. Ethiopian green coffee is celebrated for its bright fruit and floral notes, exceptional acidity, and sweetness. Among the many coffee-growing districts, Yirgacheffe, Sidama, and Guji stand out for their distinctive cup profiles.