ETHIOPIA | TEWABECH TILO NATURAL

A rare “single producer” natural from Tewabech Tilo in Yirgacheffe.

Tewabech Tilo grows coffee on 6.5 hectares of land in Yirga Chefe (also spelled Yirgacheffe), one of 8 woredas, or districts, that comprise the dense and competitive highland zone of Gedeo. The entire Gedeo zone is called “Yirgacheffe” after this district. By far, it is most famous for its long history of recognizable terroir.

6.5 hectares is considered very large for this area, where half a hectare is the norm. Ethiopia's vast majority of coffee processing is centralized due to a complete lack of infrastructure or efficiencies at the farm level. Still, larger plots like Tewabech’s allow for greater personal control. This lot is Tewabech’s entire specialty crop, harvested with the assistance of about seven workers, sorted for consistency, and sundried on her property on raised beds for about three weeks.  There are precious few single-farm coffees available in this part of Ethiopia. Not long ago, there were practically none at all. For the past ten years, Royal, with support from select cooperatives, led the formation of the Single Farmer Lots Program to break off single farmer lots from the more giant cooperative blends sold anonymously through the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX), taking custody of these precious coffees through a direct sale. The program was a unique micro-channel of almost unprecedented specificity in coffee supply from Ethiopia during those first years. Royal supported farmers with the drive and means to sell directly. In turn, our most enthusiastic buyers of Ethiopia coffee had access to a portfolio of single-farm lots, un-diluted by the typical cooperative- and exporter-level consolidations. The Single Farmer Lots Program represented a delightful end to a chaotic chapter in Ethiopia’s coffee history. We think it was a foundational model for what is happening now: the emergence of a new generation of micro-exporters engaged in start-up relationship farming in Ethiopia’s world-famous southern zones, putting more diversity and traceability into the global market than ever before.

Tewabech Tilo started processing and marketing her coffee in 2019. After losing her husband 27 years ago, she raised her six children alone—all of whom are now college educated and work to help support her and her farm. Tewabech’s coffee is managed and exported by Konga Trading PLC, a recently-formed company owned by, who else, the former General Manager of the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (YCFCU), Takele Mammo. Takele was an instrumental partner of Royal’s during his time at YCFCU, helping us identify and successfully export single farmer lots for the first time in the Union’s long history.