Halo Beriti Washing Station was established in 2014 and serves between 600–800 smallholder producers, who deliver their coffee in cherry form. Coffee is sorted, depulped, fermented, and then washed clean before being spread on raised beds for 7–14 days to dry. Natural lots are dried on raised beds for 8–15 days when the weather is sunny or 15–20 days when it is cloudy. This lot is a "special preparation" for Cafe Imports, which means that only the ripest red cherries were used to create the lot, and they were meticulously and constantly sorted, rotated, and cared for while they were on the drying beds.
Coffees in Ethiopia are typically traceable to the washing station level, where smallholder farmers—many of whom own less than 1/2 hectare of land, and as little as 1/8 hectare on average—deliver cherry by weight to receive payment at a market rate. The coffee is sorted and processed into lots without retaining information about whose coffee harvest is in which bag or which lot. Farmers who deliver to Halo Beriti own an average of 1 hectare, and they grow coffee in a garden-style agricultural system, alongside other crops. Coffee brings in a higher income for these farmers, and almost all of them are able to send their children to school because of coffee. Producers in this area do not use any chemical fertilizers or inputs, but rather typically apply manure from their cattle for soil management and nutrition.
For more information about coffee production in Ethiopia, visit our Ethiopia page.
