Basha Bekele Murago - White Honey Washed Landrace - Ethiopia

Whole Bean
Size: 8oz / 227g
Roast: Light
Recommended Rest: 4-6 weeks from roast date
Tasting Notes: jasmine, mulberry, mango, orange

Origin Details

Region: Bombe, Bensa, Ethiopia
Elevation: 2350m
Producer: Basha Bekele
Process: Honey
Variety: 74158

ABOUT THIS COFFEE AND PRODUCER

From Crop to Cup:

We stopped by Basha’s Bombe drying station on our second day in Bensa in December. Basha’s father—also a community man who with Basha built a church for the community at their site in Bombe—was once a manager for a co-op in Bombe that supplied coffee to the Sidama Union. Before the government made it possible for smallholders to obtain export licenses, both he and his father sold their cherry to the cooperative. Basha now has his own export license and grows coffee (primarily 74158, known locally as “Walega”) in semi-forested plots on 12 hectares in addition to operating collection sites in Bombe, Shantawane, and Kokose—collecting cherry from producers growing coffee as high as 2300 masl. While cherry prices were high this year, Basha maintained a practice we didn’t see everywhere: delivering a second payment to the 126 producers he bought cherry from once the coffee sold. Like most smallholders around Bensa, Basha exclusively produces dry processes—which includes experiments with anaerobic styles of fermentation—and practices cherry flotation before drying his coffee slowly on raised beds (with some preparations drying under shade). This is our first import from Basha.

WHY WE SELECTED THIS COFFEE

We’re bringing back another beautiful coffee from Basha Bekele from this year’s harvest. This release is especially exciting as it’s our first white honey process from Basha and easily our favorite coffee from them yet.

The cup opens with clean, expressive florals and a rich, complex mulberry sweetness. As it cools, it moves gracefully into deep mango-like tropical notes, with sweet citrus threading through the finish.

It’s a reflection of a fantastic harvest and impeccable processing from the team at the Bombe station this year — a coffee that captures both clarity and depth in every sip.