Duromina is a relatively new cooperative in the Jimma region of Ethiopia. The name roughly translates as “to improve their lives” in the Afan Oromo language.

Farmers cultivate their coffee in small homesteads and on hillsides under the shade of dense canopies provided by indigenous Acacia trees. There is no use of chemicals for their coffee, making it completely natural.

Sorting the wet parchment at Duromina. Photo: Nordic Approach

The wet mill sources most of its water from a nearby uncontaminated river, with their supply fed by gravity. Waste water from processing is treated through planted vetiver grass and two large dugout lagoons. The pulp created during processing is mixed with soil to create compost and can be used as fertiliser.

Technoserve

Before establishing the Duromina cooperative, farmers had to transport their coffee crops to a wetmill on the other side of a valley, crossing a river which regularly flooded in harvest season. The quality of the farmer's crops was greatly reduced due to delays reaching the mill, sometimes forcing them to sell their crop unprocessed and at greatly reduced prices.

Like Nano Chala, the Duromina cooperative is a success story for the not-for-profit organisation Technoserve, who helped secure the funding and training necessary for the wetmill in 2010.

This change meant farmers no longer needed transportation to reach a mill, or were forced to sell unprocessed beans for a lower price. Just a year later in 2011, Duromina’s coffee was voted the best coffee in all of Africa.

Soon major international coffee roasters came to the Duromina, meeting with coffee farmers and paying an premium of at least 65% over the international commodity price.

The farmers used this additional income to improve their homes, expand the local school, and build a bridge to connect their village with the larger communities and markets across the river: they’re bringing their whole community with them on the journey out of poverty

Keep reading

• Coffee Transparency project: Duromina
• NPR: How An Ethiopian Bean Became The Cinderella Of Coffee
• Borgen Project: The Success of a Small Coffee Cooperative in Ethiopia

 

Sourcing and ingredients

100% 1274, Ethiopian Heirloom coffee beans, provided by Silo/Nordic Approach and roasted by us on Gadigal land / Sydney.

Country grade: Unknown ?

Packaging

Bag: ABA Certified home compostable
Label: Recyclable
Valve (on bags larger than 250g): General waste
Coffee ordered online is shipped in a recyclable cardboard box

Brewing this coffee

We recommend brewing this coffee 15–49 days post-roast. If pre-ground, brew as soon as possible. Our advice on storing coffee.

Producer

Duromina Cooperative

Country

Ethiopia

Region

Goma, Agaro District, Jimma Zone

Altitude

1950m above sea level

Varietals

1274, Ethiopian Heirloom

Process

Washed, Dried On Raised Beds

Body

Light

Acidity

Balanced

Tasting notes

Dried apricot, mandarin, bergamot

Roast style

Omni