Chelba is a washing station, named after the nearby village of Chelba, located 12km from Yirgacheffe town. Over 800 producers contribute cherry to the station from within a three-kilometer radius. The average farm size is two hectares, and the average family size is seven individuals. Yearly rainfall for this area averages around 70 inches and temperatures average 75-85°F. 

Coffees in Ethiopia are typically grown on very small plots of land by farmers who also grow other crops. The majority of smallholders will deliver their coffee in cherry to a nearby washing station or central processing unit, where their coffee will be sorted, weighed, and paid for, or given a receipt. Coffee is then processed, usually washed or natural, by the washing station and dried on raised beds.

The washing stations serve as many as several hundred to sometimes a thousand or more producers, who deliver cherry throughout the harvest season: The blending of these cherries into day lots makes it virtually impossible under normal circumstances to know precisely whose coffee winds up in which bags on what day, making traceability to the producer difficult. Cafe Imports (our partners in sourcing), however, makes every available effort to source coffee from the same washing stations every year, through our export partners and their connections with mills and washing stations.

Typically farmers in this region don't have access to and therefore do not utilize fertilizers or pesticides in the production of coffee. So while this coffee is not certified organic, the farming practices used to grow this coffee are organic.

TASTING NOTES: BLACKBERRY /// JASMINE /// TOOTSIE ROLL