Gera
The southwestern part of Ethiopia is renowned as a center of Arabic coffee origin and diversity. Gera Woreda (County) in the Jimma zone is notable for its natural forest, where the predominant production system is semi-forested coffee. Coffee farmers around Gera own significantly larger coffee farms compared to those in the southern regions of Ethiopia
Seid Kemal was born in Sedi village, a small town known for its coffee production and proximity to the national coffee research center, Gera Research, which specializes in coffee berry disease and genetic conservation research. Growing up in a coffee farming family and observing coffee researchers daily, Seid developed a strong motivation to pursue a career in coffee farming and trade. As one of the older children in his family, he was responsible for helping his parents with all aspects of coffee farming and trading activities. Like most coffee farmers in Ethiopia, they sold their red coffee cherries to local collectors (Akrabis) and private washing stations at lower prices.
Production
As Seid expanded his coffee business network by working closely with Akrabis and washing stations, he learned a great deal and began figuring out how to secure financial resources to establish his own coffee washing station. He secured a loan from a bank in Agaro town, which enabled him to build a coffee washing station in Sedi in 2016. Seeking independence, he shared a portion of his parents’ coffee farm, inheriting a total of 60 hectares in Sedi village. He subsequently collaborated with other coffee farmers in Chawra to process their red coffee cherries at his washing station. Seid now works with over 40 smallholder coffee farmers and pays a second payment to registered and permanent suppliers of coffee to his station.
G Broad connected with Seid through Getu Bekele’s farm in Chawra, giving Seid the opportunity to acquire some of Getu’s coffees, which were blended into a macro lot and sold as Gera Washed coffee. Condesa has been buying coffees from Gera and Goma counties in the Jimma zone for a few years. This year marks the first arrival of Seid’s coffee from Sedi village in Gera Woreda in Australia. Sedi produces both grade 1 and grade 2 washed coffees, collected from coffee berry disease-resistant varieties, namely 75227 and Merdacheriko.
Processing
Freshly picked coffee cherries are meticulously sorted to eliminate any unripe, lighter, overripe, or insect-damaged fruit, retaining only fully ripe red cherries. The pulping process is carried out using a locally made Agard pulper. Subsequently, the coffee is soaked in water between 60 and 72 hours during wet fermentation, depending on the ambient temperature. During the first 24 hours, the water is replaced every 12 hours, and then every 24 hours for the remaining 48 hours. The fermentation process is complete when the mucilage is fully removed, which is confirmed by washing the parchment coffee with clean water.
Washed parchment coffee moves onto the skin-drying stage, where it is spread out by hand under shade for 2 to 4 hours in the morning. Following this, the coffee enters the final main drying stage. Parchment coffee is placed on a raised drying bed for 12 - 14 days, until the moisture level of the beans reaches 10.0-10.5%.
To ensure even drying, the coffee is sun-dried for two hours each morning (8.30-11.00 AM)and afternoon (3.00-5.00PM). It is covered with nylon mesh and plastic from 11.30AM- 3:00 PM to shield it from the direct midday heat. This routine is followed throughout the entire parchment coffee drying process.
