Refisa All Coffee

COUNTRY: Ethiopia
REGION: Nensebo (West Arsi)
PRODUCER: SNAP Coffee Exporters
VARIETY: Welisho & Kurume
PROCESS: Washed

IMPORTER: Nordic Approach

TASTING NOTES: Tealike and sweet. Notes of red apple, ripe nectarine, mild hibiscus, mango. Syrupy sweet and caramel flavours.

NOTES FROM THE IMPORTER

Refisa is a washing station located in West Arsi with 389 active farmer members that deliver cherries. This washing station is owned by SNAP Coffee Exporters. 

SNAP COFFEE was established in Addis Ababa in 2008, by coffee-passionate entrepreneur, Negusse D. Weldyes. The company runs three coffee washing and processing stations in Chelelektu, Kochere District of the Gedeo Zone and partnering washing stations in Uraga (Guji) and Nensebo (West Arsi). On average, about 550 farmers supply each washing station.

The company’s supply policy rests on three main pillars:

• Process specialty coffee consistently;
• Transfer the required know-how to the outgrowing farmers along with a great desire and training in processing and cleaning methods;
• Protect the environment through waste recycling systems.

SNAP COFFEE is a business group engaged in other activities as well. They have an electronics assembly business and a software development company. They began their speciality coffee export business after the ECX reformed regulations to make it easier for companies to export coffee in 2017.The company currently exports about 78 containers per year. They employ around 253 employees, of which 13 are in their specialty coffee exporting business.

THE FARMS:

Vegetation: Semi-forest

Average lot size of farms: 1-2 hectares

Soil type: Rich and fertile red soil

Number of trees per hectare: 1800-2400

How much cherries per tree on average: 3 kgs

Average selling price of farmers per kilo of cherries for 2019/2020 harvest year: $0.63/20 birr

POST-HARVEST WASHED PROCESSING

• Harvest and cherry selection
• Cherries are collected manually and hand sorted later.
• Pulping and pre-grading
• The cherries are pulped by a traditional Agaarde Discpulper. Skin and fruit pulp are removed before the machine grades the parchment in water as 1st or 2nd quality, determined by density.
• Drying and hand sorting
• Coffee is then piled up in layers which are 2cm in height and dried over a 10 day period then followed by hand sorting for 2-4 hours