Buku Hurufa - Ethiopia

Lulo Coffee opened Buku Hurufa in 2020 to process Naturals, Anaerobics, and reduce environmental impact. They believe in a full circle approach to bringing growing, harvesting, processing and exporting in house under their expertise making use, and adding value back, to their partner farmers.

Buku means 'dust' in the local tongue and is named this after the dust that was kicked up from the dry pathways while being a stopping point for Borena cattle. It's in Hambela Guji, one of our favourite Ethiopian growing regions and where cherry prices are raised due to high demand and a later harvest. This presents us with smaller, denser beans which contributes to a higher sugar content in the bean due to the cold nights and high altitude.

The mill is accessible only via a dirt road and serene river crossing over the beautiful. Buku River which merges with the Dawa, Juba Rivers in Somalia, eventually landing in the Indian Ocean.

Ethiopia has long been a coffee darling for its diversity and now regulations allow direct purchasing, helping create traceable specialty lots with more value for both the farmers and of course roasters like us. Coffee here is grown traditionally with no chemicals, and harvesting/drying is all completely manual which can be really labour intensive while the sun beats down!

We discovered this coffee first at Glasgow Coffee Festival in May and immediately got excited because of it's flavour profile, best described as 'purple'. We later cupped it extensively at our roastery and set about securing a small amount of this from a shipment due to leave Ethiopia. Delighted to have it here and we are sure you will enjoy the notes of Lavender Honey, Blueberry and Parmaviolets.