Coffee Profile

The Story

As Goldstone’s first Ethiopian offering, I am pleased to bring you a fantastic coffee from one of the most recognized coffee-growing regions in the world. Bedhatu Jibicho owns and manages an 84-acre farm in the Gedeb region of Yirgacheffe with the help of her sons and 20 year-round employees, along with 130 seasonal workers, most of whom are women, during harvest.  In the 1960s her late husband was granted the land from the Ethiopian government, and after he passed away in 1991, Bedhatu continued the work of managing the farm while raising all six of their children single-handedly.  She joined the Work a cooperative in 2011, and the Banko Gotiti cooperative in 2013, both a part of the larger Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (YCFCU).  The union recognized her as a model farmer, which paved the way for her to receive processing training that enabled her to sell her coffees in a separate lot as a part of the union’s differentiation program, which put her farm on the map for interested international buyers.  Since then, Bedhatu and her family have started their own business, Roba and Family Coffee, to export their coffee directly to buyers and have also expanded to support other farmers.  Bedhatu’s coffees are particularly recognized year after year within the region for their quality.

For this natural coffee, cherries are carefully hand-sorted and floated to separate out less dense beans, then immediately spread out on raised beds in a single layer where it is dried over a period of 12 to 20 days and hand-sorted continuously. The drying cherry is often covered in the mid-afternoons to prevent cracking or uneven evaporation during the hours of intense sun.

As a family-owned business, emphasis on social impact in the communities where they source coffee is taking shape. The Roba family has invested in more localized cherry collection sites to reduce the transportation cost for other producers.  They have also contributed to road construction projects that make travel a bit easier for everyone.  Our partners at Royal Coffee Importers make annual visits and communicate regularly through representatives on the ground to ensure that farmers and washing stations are following strict farm management and post-harvest protocols to keep their coffees strong. For most newer single-farm exporters, the results have been increasing cup quality and higher returns for the individual producers over time. For Bedhatu and the team, however, the coffee is simply always outstanding.