History

Chelchele is back! This is now our fifth year in a row buying coffee from Chelchele washing station in Ethiopia. As ever, Chelchele is packed full of juiciness and florality, with bright peach, jasmine and black tea notes. This is one of our favorite coffees to get each year, and for very good reason.

The Chelchele farm, managed by Metad, is situated about 400 km south of Addis Ababa, in the administrative Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region. It was created in 2013 on 30 hectares of land in the very heart of the Yirgacheffe appellation, known on the international scene for its high-quality coffees.

Metad works with local farmers who supply him with their best cherries. More than 2,000 farmers in the vicinity of Gedeb currently sell all or part of their harvest to Metad. They cultivate high-altitude land (at around 2,000 metres) using old and exclusively manual practices. Metad operates a very precise traceability system thanks to which we know the farmers, who are members of kebele associations.

Metad has set up a washing station in Gedeb, at an altitude of 2,000 metres, which offers advantages for bean preparation. It is a coffee that takes longer to dry and also suffers less damage from insects, of which there are fewer here. The result is a better-quality coffee with a more intricate cup. 

We were also delighted to discover that the company is involved in development projects that go beyond the farm itself, an approach that further encouraged us to work with Metad. The group is aware of the natural wealth of the Gedeb area and promotes more environmentally responsible agricultural practices. In addition, it finances road construction and a primary school for 800 pupils in the vicinity of the washing station, which it fully manages.

METAD supports various local social and environmental projects. It organises regular training courses and pays coffee farmers advances, making their situation more stable. The group has also distributed over 600,000 coffee seeds to the farmers it works with. More generally, METAD has helped to build roads and provided funding for new primary schools, covering all expenses for 800 pupils (equipment, teachers’ wages, etc.). It offers scholarships for 105 disadvantaged students in the region of Gedeo, and runs projects aimed at supporting farmers’ wives, particularly in terms of disease prevention and screening. 

We have decided to roast this coffee omni, which means it can be enjoyed equally as both espresso and filter brews.

Specifications