Ethiopia Halo Beriti G1

ROAST: Filter Roast

PROCESS: Washed
REGION: Yirgacheffee
ELEVATION: 1780-2100

VARIETAL: Mixed Heirloom

CUP: Floral, Yellow peach, Pear, Honey

Mr. Tadese Teko — Shale Village, Yirgacheffe

This exceptional single-producer lot comes from Mr. Tadese Teko, a dedicated coffee farmer in Shale village near the town of Worka in the renowned Yirgacheffe region of Ethiopia. 

Mr. Tadese is one of the many hardworking farmers who cultivate coffee in Ethiopia’s lush highlands. He resides in the Gedeb district of the Gedeo Zone in Southern Ethiopia — a region celebrated for its outstanding coffee quality. Unlike most local farmers, Mr. Tadese owns 8 hectares of land, twice the regional average of 4 hectares. With his income from coffee production, he supports a large family of nine children and has managed to send them all to school — a powerful testament to the role coffee plays in improving rural livelihoods.

In his farming practices, Mr. Tadese, like many others in the area, uses only natural fertilizers made from organic waste. No chemical fertilizers are applied, aligning with traditional, sustainable growing methods. During harvest season, many smallholders, including Mr. Tadese, also work at local washing stations to earn extra income.

Mr. Tadese primarily produces washed-process coffees, which he typically delivers to nearby washing stations. This particular lot has been selected and separated in recognition of its exceptional quality — a well-deserved honor for his dedication and care.

This coffee is part of the Single Farmer Project, an initiative created to provide Ethiopian producers with access to a transparent and traceable marketplace for their coffees.

The project began in 2012, during a challenging period for Ethiopian coffee exports. Cafe Imports’ Partner and CEO Jason Long collaborated with a forward-thinking cooperative to export some of Ethiopia’s first-ever farm-traceable lots. This marked a turning point: for the first time, roasters could directly credit individual Ethiopian farmers for their work — a major leap forward for traceability in the country.

From humble beginnings — including stories like carrying backpacks full of Ethiopian Birr to pay premiums directly to farmers — the project has grown into a meaningful movement. It now thrives thanks to close collaboration with key export partners who help identify, support, and promote coffees from individual producers.

Under this program, green coffee samples are shared with potential buyers, and the price is negotiated with the farmer’s involvement. No contract is signed unless the producer agrees on the terms — and every contract bears the farmer’s name.

“Our goals with this project would be to help garner and develop long-term relationships between the producers we are already working with and coffee roasting companies that share in the values of transparency, traceability, and relationship that this program represents," says Claudia, green-coffee buyer for Cafe Imports.