Ethiopia Organic Buture Cooperative

Buture washing station is located in the village of Buture Gibiza, in Ethiopia's Western Jimma Zone. The coffees of Western Ethiopia are quite distinct from Southern regions, like Yirga Cheffe and Guji. For one, there are strong cooperative unions in the West, with formalized efforts toward farmer outreach, often including certification programs like Fair Trade and Organic. But the flavors we associate with washed coffees from the region are also distinct, like stone fruit, honey, and tea. Buture is part of the Jimma Farmers Cooperative Union, which currently has more than 20 coffee coops operating in this Zone. The wet mill is located in an area that is not typical for coffee, possibly due to the very high altitudes that stretch beyond where coffee can be grown. In fact, you don't see much coffee around the station at all, and they truck cherry in for processing from the 10 different collection sites they manage in surrounding villages. The station itself sits at 2200 meters above sea level, and it seems that many farmers are growing JARC (Jimma Agricultural Research Center) varieties like 74112. We visited the station last year for the first time, and were impressed by the expert care being paid to parchment sorting at the drying tables. It's not uncommon to see, but they had a particularly methodical approach to grading that stood out after visiting several other coops that day.