Ethiopia - Tesfaye Bekele

about the producer.

Tesfaye Bekele is one of the people who put Guji specialty coffee on the map. His story is a remarkable full circle journey that resulted in the development of one of the world’s best coffee growing regions. Tesfaye’s story comes to us from Trabocca, who worked in partnership with Swiss Water to bring us this incredible decaffeinated Ethiopian microlot.

“I come from a coffee-producing family, so during my childhood, I started to work with coffee early on. At first, coffee did not have my interest. The labor was hard, and the days were long.”

After school, Tesfaye decided to work for the government of Ethiopia taking a position in the Department of Natural Resource and Environmental Protection. During this time he was made responsible for the administrative area that covered Borena and Guji, where he was born.

From 1997 to 1999 Guji was terrorized by large bushfires that destroyed 5000 forest acres. Tesfaye found himself with the responsibility to oversee the response to the crisis and lead the reforestation of the area.

“After the fires, locals returned to the lands to change these into agricultural fields. They started to produce teff and maize, for instance.”

These crops require direct sunlight and were incompatible with the government’s reforestation goals, but as a responsible government official, Tesfaye realized that he could not stop people from rebuilding their livelihoods. He needed to provide an alternative.

“I came with the idea to replant the forests and also add coffee trees to enhance diversity. The local community agreed to my proposal and they asked me to provide the coffee seedlings."

Tesfaye distributed large amounts of coffee seedlings among the community. He rented a big truck and started to divide this evenly.

“People started to ask me how long it would take before this crop starts to yield cherries. I answered, ‘four to five years’, they gave the seedlings back to me after hearing this”.

So Tesfaye decided to prove that his idea to plant coffee and preserve Guji’s forest was the best path forward and created a government funded seedling nursery on a reserved plot of land. Tesfaye appointed several managers to oversee the project but after years of minimal results they eventually all lost faith and moved on. So committed to this vision for Guji coffee, Tesfaye resigned from his job with the government and became a full time coffee farmer, turning the nursery into Suke Quto farm . After his first successful harvest the local community that had abandoned the idea finally returned to Tesfaye. 

“First, they run away, but later they came back and asked me to provide coffee seedlings. I am very proud of this idea because all the farms you see today in Guji are inspired by the Suke Quto Farm.”

Today, Tesfaye Bekele works with 171 outgrowers that deliver cherries to his Suke Quto Washing and Drying Stations. Additionally, Tesfaye owns another 221 hectares in the highlands of Guji where more than 200 seasonal workers are needed to pick and process the Suke coffees. Along with producing and milling high quality coffees Tesfaye focuses on the economic growth of the community believing that the local growers should receive a living income from sustainable coffee production. Tesfaye also initiated a community project that aims to renew local schools. With a handful of dedicated coffee roasters, Tesfaye has built a new school building in the neighboring village Kurume.

about the coffee.

Tesfaye works together with 171 outgrowers that deliver cherries to the Suke Quto Washing and Drying Station. Tesfaye’s Suke Quto farm is spread over 221 hectares in the highlands of Guji and more than 200 seasonal workers are needed to pick and process the Suke coffees.

The primary local landrace varieties from the seeds that Tesfaye distributed are Kurume and Welicho, which thrive in Guji’s high elevations, with these lots ranging from 1800 - 2000 metres above sea level. Cherries are sorted to select on the ripest coffee before being dried between 9 and 15 days on raised beds, which provide increased airflow for more consistent results.

cup profile.

Swiss Water in Delta, BC is an industry leader in natural decaffeination, using only water to remove 99.9% of coffee’s caffeine while retaining its unique flavour. This decaf has all the notes from Suke Quto with none of the buzz, we’re tasting blackberry, red grape, and milk chocolate.