Ethiopia Dimtu Tero Farm

A fully washed organic coffee from Dimtu Tero, a renowned organic specialty coffee farm with its own washing station in Ethiopia’s Guji Zone (Odo Shakiso District). This coffee has a refined, tea-like elegance, with floral notes and a delicate, elegant citrus acidity.

Dimtu Tero was founded in 2016 by Getachew Zeleke and comprises over 150 hectares of semi-forested land at elevations ranging from 1,800 to 2,200 metres above sea level. Getachew is actively committed to preserving the natural environment in its pristine state. Dimtu Tero also works closely with 416 local smallholder coffee farmers, who collectively own 989 hectares of coffee-growing land. Their small farms are located around the villages of Tero, Jelewo Anona, Mancity and Hangadi.

BACKGROUND

Dimtu Tero is an unusually large coffee producer in Guji, southern Ethiopia, offering a high degree of traceability. Its operations are centred around Tero in the Odo Shakiso district, at elevations of approximately 1,800–2,200 metres above sea level. The Dimtu Tero farm itself covers around 151 hectares and is described as semi-forested: the coffee plants grow within the existing forest and beneath natural shade trees. This sets it apart from many Ethiopian origins, where the coffee is typically a blend sourced from numerous very small farms.

The operation is run by Getachew Zekele. He began working in the coffee trade around 2010, later building washing stations and establishing the farm in its current form in 2016. Today, Dimtu operates as a vertically integrated company: it grows coffee, purchases coffee cherries from contracted smallholder farmers, processes the coffee and manages its export.

ABOUT THE GUJI REGION

Guji is located approximately 300–400 kilometers south of Addis Ababa, in the Guji Zone of Ethiopia’s Oromia Region. The area has a long coffee-growing tradition and was established as its own coffee-producing region in 2002, when it was separated from Yirgacheffe, which had previously been part of the larger Sidamo area. Guji takes its name from the Oromo people, who have cultivated coffee here for generations.

Coffee from Guji was once lumped in with coffees from all over the Yirgacheffe region. Before Yirgacheffe was its own region, those coffees were blended with coffee from a wide geographical area that encompassed much of central-south Ethiopia under the grade “Sidamo”. Despite its long journey, Guji coffees are widely recognized as distinct from both Yirgacheffe and Sidamo coffee thanks to the unique local varieties and microclimates.