Beloya, Washed - Ethiopia

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The Beloya washing station is located in the Kochere District. This washing station has been around for over twenty years and has two processing units to ensure a timely washing and drying of the cherry, using water from the local river system. Smallholder farmers in the hills surrounding the washing station bring their cherries to be processed, cupped, and sold. The 12 fermentation tanks and more than 136 raised beds allow for lot management to ensure traceability. This drive for quality is not limited to the washing station as the Dry mill too has laser colour sorters for detecting defects.

The coffee from here is grown at high altitudes in iron rich soils with a spread of genetic diversity provided by the heirloom varietals. The coffee farmers use traditional pest control methods that have been in use for many years, and so organic production is commonly found.

Red cherries are picked and freshly sorted before pulping where over-ripe and under-ripe beans are handpicked and separated before processing. Coffees are pulped and allowed to ferment for 36-48 hours. The fermented coffee is washed with clean running water, soaked in clean water and then dried for 18 days to retain about 11.5% of moisture. Dried parchment coffee is stored in field warehouse until it is transported for further processing to Addis Ababa. The parchment coffee is processed in dry processing warehouse to remove the husks and the clean beans are packaged in bags for export.