The Far mers

Around 600 smallholder coffee farmers in the Chelbesa kebele have contributed towards this lot. The cultivars are Wolisho, Dega & Kurume, which are tended to completely organically in a semi-forest system. Each farmer has between 0.5 and 2 hectares planted with coffee, amidst bananas and natural shade trees, with 1,500 to 2,400 coffee trees per hectare. Each tree only produces around 3kg of coffee fruit per season, which is delivered on foot or by mule to the newly built Danche washing station.

The Washing Station & Their Approach 

Situated at 2,160 metres the Danche wet mill was established in 2019 and is managed by Girum Assefa. It is one of two sites that SNAP Coffees are operating in the Chelbesa kebele, the other being Worka washing station.

After depulping the received coffee cherries using an Agaarde disc pulper the coffee is fermented under cool water in ceramic tiled tanks for 72 hours, before washing and grading in long channels. The seeds are effectively graded by density in these channels and will be graded again once fully dried when the quality is refined at the dry mill using vibrating density sorting tables. It makes for a reliable product for us to roast, as the seeds are small and compact yet very dense, allowing an efficient transfer of heat through each seed and the entire batch. 

The Exporter

Snap Coffee was established in 2008 by Negusse Debela Weldyes and the group are responsible for the running and operation of several coffee washing stations which feature in our coffee range each year. This year we are working with lots from Riripa, Aricha and Danche.

Snap oversee the processing facilities but also take on the task of dispensing agricultural knowledge to their contributing farmers. Steps such as tiling fermentation tanks to enable better cleaning, as well as implementing strict drying protocols, have gone long ways to improving the clarity, cleanliness and longevity of the coffees’ characteristics.

They are committed to recycling waste by-products from coffee processing at each of their stations where they have also built schools and provided them with computing equipment from the other arm of their business which is in electronics. They have improved the roads to streamline access to the washing stations and have built health clinics to provide access to better healthcare for their contributing farmers as well.

Lots from the most recent harvest have been dry milled at Snap’s own processing and warehousing facility. This has afforded the group even more control over the final exportable product that we get to work with, leading to improved consistency and uniformity. 

We spent several days cupping through lots at Snap Plaza in Addis Ababa this February, and were able to connect with Negusse and his son Amanuel who has taken on an operational role at Snap Coffee. Later in the year Amanuel came to visit us in our roastery and we were able to show him all of processes we undertake to ensure we handle Snap’s, and other producers’, coffees with respect and care.