Eastern Sidama
 
Bensa & Arbegona Districts
This coffee highlights the remarkable potential of Eastern Sidama, where extreme elevation, heirloom genetics, and thoughtful local entrepreneurship come together to produce coffees of exceptional sweetness and clarity. Grown by smallholder farmers in the Bensa and Arbegona districts, this lot reflects a modern expression of a classic Ethiopian origin.
 
Bordering the Harenna Forest—Ethiopia’s largest remaining indigenous forest—these farms benefit from natural shade, healthy soils, and cool temperatures that slow cherry maturation. With elevations reaching up to 2,300 meters above sea level, harvests extend late into the season, resulting in coffees with heightened aromatics and refined structure.
 
Producer & Processing
 
This coffee comes from a producer group founded by Bensa district natives in 1996, now operating multiple estates and processing stations across Eastern Sidama. The coffee is sourced from smallholders in the Mirado community, just outside of Daye Bensa town, where farms are small, diversified, and carefully managed.
 
Ripe cherry is floated and hand-sorted, then dried whole on raised beds for 12–15 days. During peak afternoon heat, the coffee is covered to ensure slow, even drying. Once dried, the coffee is conditioned locally, milled, and prepared for export.
 
Tasting Notes
Floral aromatics, stone fruit sweetness, and bright citrus acidity, with a silky mouthfeel and a clean, tea-like finish.
 
Grower: Smallholder farmers organized around Daye Bensa Coffee Export PLC
Region: Mirado community, Bensa woreda, Sidama Zone, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR), Ethiopia
Altitude: 1800-2100 MASL
Variety: Regional arabica cultivar 74158
Soil: Vertisol
Process: Natural
Harvest: Dec- Feb
Tasting Notes: Dried fruit, bergamot, hibiscus, black tea, candy-sweet
 
Roast level: Light
 
**Subscription holders: Please keep in mind that we try to always keep Ethiopia in stock but the crop/harvest will change from time to time- If we ever run out of Ethiopia, we will contact you to find out what you would like your subscription switched to. Thank you!