Ethiopia

Hawissa

Flavour: lemon sherbet, tropical fruits

We’re back in Ethiopia for this week’s coffee as we enjoy more of the latest harvest from Africa.

The Hawissa Farmers Cooperative was started in 2007 with just over one hundred members, and has now grown to over 230 farmers. The cooperative focuses on increasing both the quality and quantity of their coffee to raise the incomes of rural farmers.

Their processing station is in southwestern Ethiopia’s Oromia regional state, within the Jimma zone and Gumay district. It’s 74 km from the town of Jimma and 29km from the town of Agaro, both names that may be familiar if you’ve been enjoying our Ethiopian coffees lately.

Coffee processed at Hawissa is grown between 1,600 and 1,720m above sea level, typically alongside crops of maize or teff (a grain used to make Injera, a spongy bread served with stews in Ethiopia) on their plots. The average family holding ranges from 0.125-2.5 hectares. Across the district, around 25,000 hectares is dedicated to coffee.

Hawissa is also a success story from the TechoServe Coffee Initiative, which we’ve featured before. This initiative (funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) works with coffee farmers to provide business advice and technical support, these farmers have been able to increase production and improve their coffee. Hawissa farmers are now able to raise their standard of living and fight the conditions of poverty.

Prior to the introduction of a wet mill, Hawissa farmers would dry their coffee in smaller amounts or sell their coffee as red cherry at prices determined by private traders. In 2010, the average price for coffee was 2.5 birr/kg for red cherry. Due to the low prices, farmers were thus unable to benefit from coffee farming. Wet mill operation began in 2010 and is expected to produce a 50% overall boost in farmer income. Members constructed a wet mill with local resources at an altitude of 1,646 m altitude. They now have a large mill with a 270-ton capacity and sell at 9 birr/kg in the market. The coffee has recently received a cupping score of 86 points, a CPQI of 13.5 and a cherry to parchment ratio of 4.75 Members of the cooperative were able to cultivate increased amounts of high quality coffee Arabica with a wet mill.

In 2010, the wet mill processed 63,315 kg of cherry and roughly 185 green coffee bags. Farmers plant coffee under acacia and albizia tree shade, apply mulch, slash, and hand weed. Hawisa farmers also plant high quality, high yielding, and disease resistance seed varieties.

There is no use of agrochemicals, making the coffee completely natural and organic. The farmers have created a environmental management plan to protect their natural resources. The coffee pulping machine uses minimal water and the pulp created is used in compost preparation.

A manager, accountant, storekeeper, and machine operator staff the wet mill. The cooperative pays salaries above the national minimum wage, and provides access to drinking water and latrines on site.

Learn everything about this coffee:

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Ethical, traceable sourcing

This page has all the sourcing information (variety, process, region, story, importer, and more) that our importers share with us, and give us permission to use.

The transparency helps us talk confidently about the quality and background of our product, and it helps you know exactly what you’re buying.

Learn more:
Coffee page transparency legend
Our coffee philosophy
Our business approach

Fresh harvest coffee

We only source and roast coffee from each country’s latest harvest season (so the green coffee is never older than 1 year from the time of picking, processing and packing). This ensures the sensory qualities are always at their peak and unaffected by excessive ageing.

Roasted for espresso and filter (best enjoyed black)

Roast style: omni. Omni roasts are designed to brew and taste great both as espresso and filter. Our omni single origins generally sit on Agtron values in the ~70-60 value range. So, technically, they are somewhere in the lighter side of the medium spectrum.

Designed for espresso and filter brewing. Best enjoyed black.

Learn more:
Our Loring Kestrel S35 roaster
Our roasting style and approach

Best brewed within days 15-49 post-roast

The ‘fresh is best’ saying doesn’t apply to coffee (contrary to popular belief). Waiting before opening and brewing your bag of whole coffee beans helps develop peak flavour and acidity.

But heads up: if you buy pre-ground coffee, brew it as soon as possible.

Learn more:
Our recommended brewing window

Try our custom brewing recipes

Our recipes and ratios are tailored to our coffee sourcing and roasting styles, bringing the best flavour and feel out of each coffee.

For pour over, immersion, and other filter brewing styles, check our brew guides.
For our espresso single origins, we recommend a coffee:yield ratio of 1:3:

• Dose: 20g ground coffee
• Yield: 60g espresso
• Total brew time: ~24-28 seconds

This is just a starting point! We encourage you to experiment, taste, and adjust to find the recipe that you enjoy the most.

Learn more:
Our espresso brew guide (single origin)
Brewing ratio calculator

Packaging and sustainability

• Bags: ABA-certified home compostable (AS 5810-2010)
• Labels: recyclable
• Valves (only on +250g bags): general waste
• Box and tape (online orders): recyclable

Learn more:
Our packaging

Producer

Hawissa Cooperative

Country

Ethiopia

Region

Gumay, Jimma, Oromia

Altitude

1646m above sea level

Variety

Ethiopian Heirloom

Body

Light

Acidity

Balanced

Tasting notes

Lemon sherbet, tropical fruits

Roast style

Omni (filter + espresso)