Chalchissa, Limmu Kossa Jimma, Ethiopia

About

The Chalchissa farm covers over 150 hectares and is located deep in the heart of a beautiful forest in the Jimma appellation. It is born of a small family farm run by the father of its two owners. Inspired by their farmer father, Mesfin and Yidnekachew Dabessa invested in the Chalchissa farm 10 years ago to replicate the family business on a larger scale. Today they produce a fully-washed coffee with subtle notes of lemon, cane sugar and honey. It is a coffee harvested by hand by farmers that possess a meticulous know-how, which is becoming increasingly rare. The coffee trees at Chalchissa benefit from a rich natural environment. The forest’s unique flora produces a high-altitude coffee of a superior quality, and Belco is its only distributor in Europe.

Chalchissa

The farm is located in the Oromo region, 80 kilometres north of Jimma in the heart of the Oromo appellation. It covers 150 hectares. Its two owners are brothers who chose this site, located just 2 kilometres from the family plantation of Wolensu, themselves. They invested heavily in the project in 2008 by developing the land to obtain an export permit, allowing them to position themselves on the international market and in the United States in particular. Mesfin and Yidnekachew Dabessa met Jacques one year ago at our Addis Ababa office. Jacques quickly realised that their forest coffee was of a particularly high quality, and Belco is now the exclusive distributor of part of their harvest in Europe.
The Chalchissa farm has a nursery with more than 80,000 plants. It is situated deep in a dense forest home to a great diversity of species. Some, like the Qararo, which is a slow-growing tree that it is forbidden to cut down, are becoming increasingly rare in Ethiopia. Generally speaking, coffee production helps to preserve the forest, unlike some other agricultural crops. Mesfin and Yidnekachew Dabessa have also chosen to preserve two hectares of woodland as a protected area, free of any form of production.
Mesfin and Yidnekachew have created a family structure that is currently managed by Mesfin. His brother is still present, as he lives near the farm in Limmu and can help whenever necessary. Mesfin dedicates his time to ensuring the Chalchissa farm is running smoothly. He also oversees coffee processing and exports from Addis Ababa.

STRENGTH

Forest coffee | Care for the environment | Endemic forest | Sustainable agriculture awareness | Manual harvest | Protected nature reserve.

THE STORY OF THE PRODUCER

Although helped by his brother, Mesfin Dabessa is now the sole manager of Chalchissa. He graduated in the 1990s from Harrar University with a diploma in agriculture. He worked for several years for the Ethiopian government, and subsequently in the private sector and for NGOs. More experienced and knowledgeable, and convinced of the unique qualities of the coffee produced in his native region, he then decided to return and become a producer. He had seen his father struggle all his life to develop his small family farm, and so he chose to embark on a larger venture and increase his production. He worked hard to pay tribute to his father’s work, and to give him the satisfaction of seeing a larger coffee farm rise out of the ground. For the past 10 years he has been successful in rising to this challenge, and now provides excellent Jimma de Chalchissa coffees for the international market. It is because of this history, combined with his high-quality production, that Belco is particularly interested in the work carried out at this farm.