Duromina All Coffee, LUSH Hair Salon

COUNTRY: Ethiopia
REGION: Agaro, Near Jimma
PRODUCER: Duromina Washing Station
VARIETY: Mixed Heirloom
PROCESS: Washed

IMPORTER: Nordic Approach

TASTING NOTES: sweet, floral and mildly fruity. Notes of orange, black tea, red fruit

This lot is part of a small and carefully curated selection of coffees from the West. Duromina is a cooperative that was established in 2011 with assistance from an NGO called Technoserve. We have more or less been buying their coffees since the beginning.

They are located in Agaro, close to Jimma in the west of Ethiopia, an area that is developing a reputation for intense, spicy coffees with diverse flavour attributes. Before this cooperative was established, the farmers were mainly producing lower-grade naturals which were sold as Jimma Grade 5.

The cherries are selected from smallholders with less than 3 hectares of farmland. Many of these farms are located at 2000 masl or higher. The washing station uses Penagos Ecopulpers, and they ferment lightly. After pulping, the coffees are soaked in clean water overnight before they are dried on raised tables.

Origin: Duromina Cooperative

Quedamesa smallholders

Summary

Duromina currently have two washing stations. These businesses have been financially beneficial for the farmer members and producing award winning coffees. They have some hundred members delivering cherry, plus non-members who sell their coffee to this washing station as well. The members receive a second payment after harvest once the coffee has been milled and graded for quality.

Technoserve is the organisation behind Duromina. They supported farmers to set up the washing stations and create a new cooperative structure. The aim of the project was to increase sustainability and quality in the west, with transparent and environmentally friendly production, and increased premiums for the producers. From the outset they used eco pulpers and built water treatment systems based on Vetiver grass which naturally filters the water from production before it is pumped into lagoons to be absorbed into the earth. They also established farmer training programmes and implemented a traceability system.

We discovered Duromina, and other cooperative washing stations, like Nano Challa and Biftu Gudina, the year they were established. It was clear from the beginning that this would be a different kind of operation. The management is strong and Duromina succeeded in producing high quality coffees from year one. This project has revealed a great new range of coffee flavours not found elsewhere. They were initially part of Oromia Cooperative Union, but a few years ago they established a new local Cooperative union in the area called Kata Muduga.

Cooperative structures

We currently work with the Sidamo Union in southern Ethiopia and Kata Muduga Union in the west, which represents an area around Agaro Town in Jimma.

Even before the liberalisation of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX), cooperatives have always been allowed to sell coffees directly to an international buyer as a fully traceable product outside the ECX. They are always marketed and sold through a Cooperative Union. Generally the name of the Cooperative Union represents the zone and area where they operate. For example, a cooperative in Limu is sold and exported by the Limu Union, In Oromia the Oromia Union, Sidama the Sidamo Union, and so on.

The farmers:

There are some farmers in this area with farms of up to 3 hectares, which is a large farm by Ethiopian standards. However the average smallholder farm size is half a hectare.

Most coffees are organic by default. Organic compost is common, pruning less common. A farmer typically has less than 1500 trees per hectare, and one tree typically produces cherries equal to 100 - 200 grams of green coffee.

Cultivars:

Mainly an improved native varietal called 1274, but also a mix of Ethiopian Heirloom, usually native coffee trees from the forest that have been transferred to family smallholder plots.

Post-Harvest Processing - Washed

Harvest and cherry selection

Coffee cherries are harvested by family members, then hand-sorted to remove unripes and overripe cherries before they are delivered to the washing station for processing.

The farmers will be paid based on the current cherry prices in the area that day. The cooperatives will pay the members a dividend as a second payment when the coffee is sold at a premium.

Pulping and pre-grading

A Penagos Eco Pulper removes the skin, pulp and mucilage. This machine removes mucilage without the need to ferment the coffee. After the mucilage is mechanically removed, it is soaked in clean water in concrete tanks for about 3- 10 hours.

Fermentation

Coffees undergo a brief fermentation when soaking due to the small amount of mucilage that remain. White or yellow honey coffees also ferment further on the drying table.

Drying and handsorting

Skin dried and sorted under shade for about 6 hours after soaking. After skin drying it is moved out in the sun and dried about 10 days on African drying beds on shade nets or hessian cloths. Coffees are covered in plastic or shade nets during midday and at night.