THE ORIGIN REPORT
Ethiopia Shantawene Daye Bensa
Region: Sidamo
Elevation: 1,900–2,300 MASL
Producer: Shantawene
Certifications: Organic, Rainforest Alliance
From the importer, InterAmerican Coffee: In 2006, brothers Asefa and Mulugeta Dukamo founded Daye Bensa, a coffee grower and exporter in Ethiopia. Daye Bensa exports coffee from its farm, in the Shantawene Village, as well as from "out-growers" (or smallholders) in three villages: Shantawene, Karamo and Bombe. Ethiopia Shantawene is named after the village where the majority of the people who work on the farm, many of them women, are from.
In Dec. 2019, InterAmerican CEO Florian Benkhofer, and traders Ed Kaufmann and Dana Andrews visited Ethiopia, and specifically Daye Bensa, which stretches between 1,900 and 2,217 meters. The delivered cherry from comes from out-growers' farms higher up the mountain, between 2,000 and 2,400 meters.
Daye Bensa owns 15 washing stations across three districts, and they handle all the coffee they export. Its two farms, in Kaffa and Sidamo, are Organic, UTZ, Rainforest Alliance and C.A.F.E. practices certified. Each year Daye Bensa hosts an Out-Growers Day. Nearly 1,000 farmers gather to celebrate their harvests and to receive second payments for their coffee cherry contributions. Daye Bensa additionally rewards the top three farmers from each of the three villages with certificates and cash prizes, recognizing them for consistently delivering high-quality cherries.
Going forward, Daye Benesa is hoping to work with more farmers, to particularly encourage women farmers and to work with Hawassa University, to help students perform research to improve coffee quality.
What is Natural Process Coffee? Natural process, also known as dry process, is a method of processing that involves drying the coffee cherries while leaving the fruit of the coffee intact. This process originated in regions where access to reliable water is limited, where rain is infrequent, and where humidity is low. Today, however, natural processing occurs in many coffee growing countries and is known to lead to fruit-forward flavors.
