Kayon Mountain Farm

The Kayon Mountain Coffee Farm is 500 hectares with about 300 hectares planted in coffee and has been owned and operated by Ismael Hassen and his family since 2012. It is located 510 kilometers south of Addis Ababa, and the property crosses the border of two villages—Taro and Sewana—located in the Oromia region, in the Guji zone of the Shakiso district of Ethiopia.

Ismael oversees a staff of 25 permanent full-time and 300 seasonal employees, and the farm management offers free transportation services as well as financial support for building schools and administration buildings for the community. The farm competes with a nearby mining village for seasonal workers, so Ismael and his family tend to pay higher wages to their pickers in order to incentivize them returning year after year.

Kayon Mountain farm has a nursery on-site and utilizes shade (acacia and other indigenous trees) to protect the coffee as well as for creating compost to fertilize naturally. Ismael is meticulous about not only the structure and management of the farm itself but also the harvesting and processing. Both Natural and Washed lots are produced on the property.

Process: Natural Kayon Mountain Farm - Shakiso - Grade 1

Natural coffees are typically delivered the day they are harvested, and are first sorted for ripeness and quality before being rinsed clean of dirt. Then they are spread on raised drying beds or tables, where they will be rotated constantly throughout the course of drying. Drying can take an average of 8–25 days, depending on the weather.

Variety: Heirloom Ethiopian Varieties Kayon Mountain Farm - Shakiso - Grade 1

Although this offering is not traceable to a single variety, it is comprised of native heirloom varieties cultivated in Ethiopia.

Region:

Guji Kayon Mountain Farm - Shakiso - Grade 1 Guji is a beautifully forested area in southern Ethiopia. Before the early 2000's, this region was considered part of Sidama, but has since become its own region. The people of Guji grow coffee gardens at very high altitudes in the rich red soil of the highlands, setting this coffee's profile apart from neighboring regions. These smallholders deliver their coffee to washing stations to be sorted and processed together, developing flavors of fruits, deep chocolate, and light florals.

Country:

Ethiopia Kayon Mountain Farm - Shakiso - Grade 1 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 and eventually cultivated for household use and commercial sale.The majority of Ethiopia’s farmers are smallholders and sustenance farmers, with less than 1 hectare of land apiece. In many cases, it is almost more accurate to describe these farms as “coffee gardens” as the trees do sometimes grow in more of a garden or forest environment than what we imagine fields of farmland to look like. There are some large privately owned estates, as well as co-operative societies comprising a mix of small and more mid-size farms, but the average producer here grows relatively very little for commercial sale.

Sourcing:

Ethiopia Sourcing Kayon Mountain Farm - Shakiso - Grade 1 Jason Long, Café Imports’ CEO, and our green buyer for Africa, Claudia Bellinzoni have worked for many years to develop long-term partnerships in Ethiopia. Through our various relationships there, we are pleased to offer a variety of Ethiopian coffees every year. We buy directly from both individual estates, co-ops, and washing stations that provide traceability down to the microregion. In future years, through partnerships with innovative coffee farmers and exporters, the traceability of these lots should be increased. Our hope is that the future of coffee sourcing for Cafe Imports in Ethiopia will see more farmerspecific lots and special-prep projects with price premiums attached for quality and differentiation.

Courtesy: Cafe Imports, USA