SOURCE
Source information, words and photos provided by Catalyst Trade.
HAYISSA OLOCHO KERAMO - NATURAL PROCESS
Name of Village: Hayissa Olocho
Name of Municipality: Keramo
Name of District: Bura
Name of Zone: Bensa
Name of Region: Sidama
Farm Elevations: 1900-2300 MASL
Coffee Varieties: Variety 74110, 74158
Soil Type: Fertile loamy clay
Local People Group: Durato, Faficho
Local Language(s): Sidama, Amha
Along treacherous, barely-paved roads that pass the bustling town of Daye in the Bensa district of Sidamain Ethiopia is the village of Keramo, which has become famed for itsherbal-forward coffee profile, whichwe often relate to a Gin & Tonic cocktail.
We first began working there in the 2015-16 harvest, when that coffee was still lumped into Sidama(o) coffee. The next year, our partners and we broke Keramo into its own coffee... and WOW was it good! In fact, we were the first to bring Keramo coffee by that name to the world at large.The profile can be divisive, since it’s so botanical, but it also has lovely floral qualities and is intensely concentrated. Our Hayissa Olocho carries that legendary profile in part because, due to Catalyst Trade’s OCD Quality Control processes, it is entirely undiluted, unlike most coffees that reach roasteries from this area (Flavor Matching against type samples is the norm for most exporters who sell Keramo coffee).
Hayissa Olocho site has 30 drying tables and the management team also purchase cherries from high-quality focused nearby producers, resulting this year in 148 bags total production. Catalyst Trade bought every bag, breaking them into lots both washed andnatural.
KERMAO BENSA SIDAMA NAME- WASHED PROCESS
Name of site/village: Keramo
Name of District: Bensa
Name of Zone: Sidama
Name of Region: Sidama
GPS Coordinates: 6.556452, 38.850337
Farm elevations: 1950-2150 MASL
Coffee varieties: 74110,
and local varieties Setami, Mekicho
Soil type: Nitisols
Local People Group: Sidama
Local Language: Sidamigna
Keramo, high in the beautiful Bombe mountains in Bensa, Sidama, is so remote that the area does not have its own central washing station, so producers bring their cherries to neighboring washing stations for processing, which results in some fun crossovers with other local districts.
Our first encounter with the unique terroir of coffees from Keramo was during the 2015-16 harvests when we purchased them as mixed lots, all sold under the name of neighboring village Shantawene (itself an area that produces amazing coffee). We began noticing different cup dynamics from the cherries that came from different areas, and eventually began to isolate coffees by village. This led us on a journey to get even more isolation in the lots, which continues even today as this coffee was processed on the same site as our Modor Shantawene using cherries brought from Keramo-area smallholder producers. It’s a fun continuation for us of a journey which allowed us to introduce Keramo coffees to
the coffee-drinking world at large, and see them very successful.
These coffees continue to stand out as a team favorite on the cupping table. It is a dense coffee, with heavy concentrations of the smaller screen sizes, which is highly unusual and reflects the higher elevations where the coffee is grown.
