Ethiopia Suke Quto Farm

When this Ethiopian rarity drips through the filter machine, the scent of plum and peach will tickle your nostrils. Its flavours of rosehip, lemon and jasmine spread around the mouth with every sip. Suke Quto is a luxurious coffee with an equally prestigious SCA score of 87.25 points. It is made from the Kurume and Welicho varieties grown by Tesfaye on the Suke Quto Farm, at an impressive altitude of 1,800 to 2,200 metres. Through vision and perseverance, Tesfaye has managed to bring forth an economic and ecological revolution throughout the region. It all began with a bush fire in Guji that destroyed vast swathes of greenery. At the time, Tesfaye was a public servant working for the department of natural resources and environmental protection. He had the idea of reforesting the area and enriching the local vegetation with coffee plants. He asked the local farmers to support his project, but as soon as they realised that it takes 5 years for coffee seedlings to produce their first harvest, they turned their backs. So, Tesfaye took things into his own hands and started growing the Kurume and Welicho varieties on a plot of land – Suke Quto Farm. His project was a success, so much so that there are many coffee farms in Guji now, and all have been inspired by Tesfaye’s example. The Suke Quto Farm coffee is organic and Rainforest Alliance-certified. Not only is it grown according to environmentally friendly principles, it is also a source of steady income for the farmers who produce it.