Limmu Kossa

Coffee roasters have been buying Ethiopian green coffee through big importers for years; this was most convenient, but the local market also demanded it. All coffee was forced to be sold through the central exchange in Addis Ababa. This made it difficult to create direct relationships with producers, since this demands a lot of personal attention and transparent sales.

By chance, a partner of ours got in contact with a representative of Limmu Kossa, a privately owned coffee estate in the Jimma region of Ethiopia. The owner, Gidey Berhe Retta, is locally called “Abba Ollie”, or “He Who Uplifts”, due to his passion, integrity and extensive social work. He supports surrounding farmers by offering them higher prices and teaching them about agro-forestry and quality coffee.

Limmu Kossa has been doing great over the years, but it has always been difficult for them to consistently sell their coffee to the specialty industry. With our network, both in consuming countries and in other origins, we are trying to create more awareness of this beautiful work ethic. This quality and dedication can serve as an example to farmers in other regions or countries.

Limmu Kossa is taking agroforestry extremely serious. Galeh, the town or micro-region, is basically a thinned out subtropical forest in which many tree varieties are native only to Ethiopia. Abba Ollie’s right hand, Mr. Desta, is the farm manager and certified agroforestry expert. He creates closed loop fertiliser made from plant, wood and fruit material exclusively from the Galeh estate. The six native varieties of which this coffee consists, and suited to these particular soil types and altitudes. Every shrub is documented to ensure natural balance and diversity. This practice is a beautiful example that we can use as a benchmark for other producers.

2018: met producers at World of Coffee in Instagram to discuss their work ethic and quality programmes. Imported first natural microlot.