Counter Culture has been purchasing coffee from farmers in Ethiopia’s Gedeo Zone since 2011. At the time, Ethiopian export policy required most coffees to be blended and sold by regional grade; only cooperatives or large estates could offer traceable lots. Many cooperatives helped their members sell single-farmer microlots. Counter Culture bought coffee from cooperatives and individual farmers in and around Yirgacheffe and Kochere, exporting through the cooperative system.
In 2017, a new policy allowed smallholders to export directly, but with significant bureaucratic hurdles. Farmers needed export licenses and had to manage documentation, milling, transport, and sales, on top of producing high-quality coffee. Despite the complexity, a group of farmers who had previously sold to Counter Culture through a union wanted to pursue this path. In 2018, they partnered with the G Broad exporting company to make it possible.
They named themselves Jabanto, meaning “stronger together” in Gedeofa, the language of the Gedeo people. Today, Jabanto has grown to over 80 members. While each farmer manages their own harvest, they collaborate on all aspects of export. Their coffees appear across our menu, but this selection features their highest-scoring, best-tasting lots.
