Ethiopia Duromina

Duromina is a washing station in the Gomma district of Agaro, in western Ethiopia, and the cooperative of about 400 farming families who bring their cherry to it. Coffee from this part of the country used to leave as low-grade sun-dried naturals, sold in bulk with no name attached. That started to change in 2009, when TechnoServe, a nonprofit focused on getting farmers better prices, helped set up washing stations here with new equipment, and the people who later founded our importer, Red Fox, started buying here that same year. It's still their oldest relationship in Ethiopia, and 2023 was the last time Duromina came through our roastery.

Most of the families in the cooperative farm somewhere between a tenth of a hectare and two hectares in the Qadamessa community, at 1,850 to 1,980 meters, where rain falls across the whole growing season and the sandy loam holds it well enough that nobody needs fertilizer. They plant false banana and maize between the coffee for shade, placed by how old each tree is. What the cooperative earns goes back into the place, and over the years that has meant a road and bridge that stay open year round, a health center, new classrooms, a clean water system, and a connection to the power grid.

At the station, cherry runs through an eco-pulper that strips off most of the fruit, then soaks overnight in fiberglass tanks so any sugar left on the bean washes clean before it dries. From there it goes out to raised beds for six to eight days, drying six to eight hours a day and getting turned often so it dries evenly. Agaro coffees are the first Ethiopian coffees to reach the States each year, and they keep opening up for months after they land, so by September this one has had plenty of time to settle in.

Roasted light, it drinks big, thick, and heavy, with plum sorbet, graham cracker, and honey up front, black cherry and a little black tea further back, and a mild, balanced acidity holding it all together.

Producer: Smallholder farmers of the Duromina Cooperative, Duromina washing station
Region: Agaro, Jimma Zone, Ethiopia
Altitude: 1,850 to 1,980 MASL
Variety: Ethiopia Landraces
Processing Method: Washed