Last year we began a collaboration with Kanketi, a family run business, from Yirgacheffe, that manages 6 washing stations and a private farm of 85 hectares.

Kanketi Coffee export is managed and run by siblings Tsedenia and Fikadu Abayneh. Tsedenia studied marketing and worked for other companies before she joined Kanketi full time in 2017. She manages administration and customer relations, and divides her time between Addis and the family home in Yirgacheffe during the season. She is an aspiring film maker, while also being deeply involved in her families busines.

Fikadu Kanketi manages the production and quality control at the stations. He has been involved in the family business for a long time, but only began working full time for the company in 2015.

Kanketi Coffee export was founded by their father, and Tsedenia and Fikadu both grew up in Yirgacheffe, immersed in coffee their entire lives, this second generation has a new vision and is exploring ways to improve the business and the livelihoods of the farmers it serves.

Wedeykejima is the village name of the farm founded in 2010, located in Eastern Yirgacheffe close to the Abaya Lake. Located at an altitude of 1800 masl, volcanic soil, slight warm and dry microclimate it is separated into 2 main varieties: 74112 (highland variety) and 1377(local variety planted in 1974). We're calling coffees from this farm Foge, because it gets processed as natural on this specific station for its cooler climate and more optimal drying conditions.

Manager, Hagi Elemo, has been in coffee for the past 40 years and understand the needs of the 80 000 trees that he manages on this farm.

• Organic farming methods
• Planting of shade trees
• Purchasing of organic material: wood chips, straw, manure and more..
• Production of their own organic composte
• Artificial pond to irrigate the farm
• Planting new trees in April to prepare it for the rainy season
• inter crop with banana, pees and beans.

55 of the 85 total hectares were planted 3 years ago and are only now starting to give cherries. We are expecting to see a larger production in the next few years. The remainder of the hectares are planted with old trees that used to be owned by local farmers. They each had respectively 15, 7 and 8 hectares. They still manage their crop, though the land is no longer in their possession but in Kanketi's.

Foge Washing Station

Coffee from Foge surprised us on the cupping table as being rich and velvety with a good amount of fruits and florals. Kanketi are working on identifying communities that deliver to their washing station, in order to increase traceability and farmer profitability. For now they have identified 2 main varieties: 74110 and 74112. There's very little competition for cherry in their subregion, which means that they are able to keep their prices relatively stable at 13 BIRR per kg.