Khalid Shifa is a third generation coffee farmer from Gera, this is our first time buying coffee from him, which we’ve done through one of our import partners Belco. Khalid has had an export licence for over 5 years, and is a quite large scale producer which is unusual in Ethiopia. He has three sites all located in or near the wider region of Jimma. Echemo, where he has a dry mill and honey processing station, 110 raised beds, and a depulper. Bedeyi, where he has a drying station spanning 3 hectares with 200 raised beds and finally Gera where this coffee comes from. Gera is slightly smaller with 1.8 hectares but has two washing stations, primarily for the processing of washed coffees.
The volume and scale of producers like Khalid Shifa allows for a lot of employment opportunities as well as consistent availability of quality large volume lots. Another advantage is certification, because of the economies of scale it is economically feasible to pay for certification whereas for smaller farms it can be overly costly and oftentimes not worth it.
Seasonal buying is about seeing coffee as a crop not a commodity, buying in harmony with the growing seasons to enjoy coffee at its best. This kind of buying has always been the backbone of our business and it’s something we’ve improved and refined every year.
