ETHIOPIA SIDAMA, Mr. Tomas Ganamo

This coffee is part of Cafe Imports’ (our coffee merchant) “Small Farmer Project” which is the result of an effort to support Ethiopian producers. “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.

Tomas owns a 6-hectare farm in Bombe, Ethiopia. This coffee was naturally processed on raised beds for 16 days. Mr. Ganamo produces about 160 bags of coffee per harvest through a mill he built on his farm. 

Among coffee-producing countries, Ethiopia holds near-legendary status not only because it’s the “birthplace” of Arabica coffee, but also because it is simply unlike every other place in the coffee world. Unlike the vast majority of coffee-growing countries, the plant was not introduced as a cash crop through colonization. Instead, growing, processing, and drinking coffee is part of the everyday way of life, and has been for centuries since the trees were discovered growing wild in forests, eventually cultivated for household use and commercial sale.