This lively blend comes from smallscale farmers growing coffee halfway across the world from each other: the coffee from Mexico is heavy and rich, while the coffee from Ethiopia is bright and aromatic. They both combine to deliver a rich and complex coffee.

Monte Alban, Mexico
Monte Alban is the 1000-year-old Zapotec ruin visible from the coffee farms that are hidden in the mountains surrounding the site. Coffee growers from this region have been producing coffee for more than three generations in a very traditional and mostly organic way.

Our importer partner Caravela has been working with these very small communities to help them certify their farms and add value to their product. The organic farmers who contribute to Monte Alban primarily rely on coffee cultivation as their main source of income. In addition to growing coffee, many farmers migrate to the coast in the off-season months where they grow corn or raise cattle.

With this group, Caravela started in 2018 with 55 independent organic farmers, initially in the Sierra Sur de Oaxaca. Over time, and as they launched and strengthened their Growers Education Program, or PECA in Spanish, across the state, they expanded their reach to more remote communities such as Los Naranjos, Tierra Blanca, Malvarisco, San Pedro Pochutla, and Santa María Ozolotepec. In 2019, the program had exponential growth and reached 245 partner farmers, including coffee communities such as Lagunilla, Loma Canela, Ozolotepec, San Antonio Xanagua, San Antonio Ozolotepec, San Marcial Ozolotepec and San Antonio Guivini, amongst others.

Today, 100% of the farmers are certified organic and rely on traditional farming methods and processing, do not use chemicals, and produce their own organic compost. For them, farming is a heritage rooted in generational knowledge and shaped by their unique culture and identity as farmers. This certification is financed by Caravela and is free of charge for all associated farmers, allowing farmers to enter the specialty coffee market and obtain better prices.

Keramo, Ethiopia
This coffee comes from the Sidama region of Ethiopia, and was grown at incredibly high altitudes (up to 2,300+ meters or 7,545 feet!). We purchased this coffee through our importing partner, The Coffee Quest, and they in turn found this coffee by partnering with the Ethiopian coffee export company Daye Bensa.

Daye Bensa, founded in 2006 by brothers Asefa and Mulugeta Dukamo, aren’t only an exporter: they also run the Keramo washing station where this coffee was processed! At the washing station, the coffee fruit is separated from the seeds, and those seeds are washed, dried and prepared to ship to coffee roasters around the world. When the Keramo farmers’ coffee cherries are ripe, they are harvested and then delivered to exporter Daye Bensa’s local washing station.

Daye Bensa opened a washing station right in Keramo so that the coffee could be processed separately - this improves overall quality as well as traceability. Rather than having Keramo producers travel with their coffee fruit to a neighboring village, Daye Bensa opened the Keramo washing station right in its namesake village. This means that they don’t have to worry about keeping Keramo coffees separate from coffees grown in other areas, and also, it means that farmers don't have to travel as far to deliver their coffee fruit. Coffee processing is a time that can really make or break a coffee, and Daye Bensa has been producing really amazing, high quality coffees: in 2021, they received 8th place in a national coffee competition!