In 2017, Ture Waji and his colleagues Egata Alata, and Fedhesa Wedesa created a coffee production, processing, and export business called Dambi Uddo Agro Industry PLC, named after one of the major coffee growing kebeles (towns) in Odo Shakiso county. The company launched the very next year with the establishment of a natural coffee processing site with a dry milling machine in Suke Quto village. Soon after, the company established an 80 hectare coffee farm in Dambi Uddo. The company began by working with their own coffees and purchasing ripe cherries from “outgrowers” in the surrounding areas. This coffee comes from one of their outgrower groups: 45 coffee farmers from Okolu village, a small subsection of Dambi Uddo kebele. We began working together in 2019, and have focused on purchasing from this group because of the distinct florality we find in the cup.
Farmers from Okolu village deliver hand-picked coffee cherries directly from their farms to the dry coffee processing site in Suke Quto. Upon delivery, underripe, overripe, and pest-damaged coffee cherries are sorted out by hand. Only the perfectly ripe cherries make their way onto the raised drying beds, where they dry in the sun for 18 to 21 days. To maintain uniform drying, the coffee is manually turned on the beds six times per day. At night, the cherries are covered with nylon mesh and plastic to avoid pests and rehydration from dew. Workers begin carefully monitoring the cherry's moisture loss after 15 days and pull finished cherries off the beds when they reach a moisture level between 9.5 and 10.5 percent. There are many factors that impact the quality of the coffee cherries, including variety, soil quality, and amount of rainfall. Yet, the main driver of Okolu’s fruit and floral complexity is this natural processing technique.
