Trabocca have been doing great work in Ethiopia for over 25 years, not only sourcing beautiful coffees, also in the coffee growing communities with whom they work with. This is exactly why we buy all of our Ethiopian lots from them. The quality in the past years has been fantastic! Here is what they have to say about Aricha, where our current natural Ethiopian coffee comes from, and Faysel A. Yonis, who does a wonderful job producing this coffee.
The road to the Aricha washing station
As soon as you pass the city of Dilla, you’ll notice the road roughening. A bumpy A8-highway, that feels like a country-side mountain bike trail, takes you to the Aricha mountains. Then a curly rocky road leads you to the gate of Aricha washing station. The famous Naga Singage mountain looms over the station and the Wogida river creates a continuous serene rush of water, only interrupted by singing Gedeo women stirring parchment and coffee cherry.
If you’re looking for floral and complex-tasting Yirgacheffe’s, Aricha is the place. The recently revived washing station collects coffee cherries from Yirgacheffe’s most potent coffee forests. The washing station provides an income for surrounding communities. And coffee roasters find the finest natural and washed grade-1 Yirgacheffe’s on the market. But it wasn’t always like this.
Dormant washing station turns into Yirgacheffe coffee hub
The Aricha station, in the words of the current manager, was a dump. A neglected, abandoned, and the out-of-business station that did not process a single cherry for years on end. Grass covered the entire terrain and the buildings were in decay. The surrounding smallholders had to deliver their cherries to another washing station further up the road. A far from an ideal situation, since transport goes on foot or by mule. But just a few months before the harvest of 2018, the communities met with a new potential station owner. Faysel Yonis, the founder of coffee exporter Testi Coffee.
Faysel shared his plans to make Aricha a hub for quality Yiracheffe coffee. After the traditional coffee ceremony, the elders expressed their enthusiasm and gave their blessing. Faysel’s vision goes beyond coffee and business. Because besides reviving the station, Faysel started to work with the community to build an electricity-network for surrounding villages. Testi Coffee is also coordinating the construction of a school and plans to give families access to clean water.
The coffee communities of Aricha
Today Aricha is a Yirgacheffe coffee-hub. Testi Coffee estimates that one thousand smallholders from different communities come to Aricha to sell their cherries. During collection, the people of Testi Coffee mark the lots per community to ensure traceability. In the hills surrounding the station, you find four coffee communities; Aricha, Gersi, Idido, and Reko Onancho.
All four communities submitted micro-lots for the 2019’ Ethiopian Cup and ranked among the top-scoring coffees within the auction. Each farming family received a portion of the auction premium to improve their livelihoods. When you search for lots from Aricha, be sure to look for the community names as well.