Ethiopia Konga Natural

Tasting Notes: floral and sweet, this coffee has notes of peach, orange marmalade and butterscotch

Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, and Yirgacheffe is one of 3 of Ethiopia’s hallmark growing regions.  Konga, is a cooperative washing station just on the outskirts of the town of Yirgacheffe. 

I decided in 2012 that buying coffee through the Unions and Cooperatives was the best opportunity to ensure that farmers were paid a fair price for the coffee they produced.  At the time things were very obfuscated by a government controlled auction (the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange).  Because of this most coffee was not traceable.  Some things have changed in Ethiopia since, but my view is still that the Unions, which are democratically run by the farmer members offer the best platform.  I’ve been buying coffee from Konga Cooperative ever since.  The last time I visited, our translator helped me explain that I had bought coffee from them the previous year, and that I was hoping to buy more coffee again this year.  The men at the washing station cheerfully offered me the coffee they had just harvested and prepared, and freshly stored in the warehouse for shipment to the Union headquarters.  They beamed with pride as they enthusiastically hand-hulled a sample for me, and everyone smiled as we shook hands on a bargain well struck.