Ethiopia Sasaba

South of Addis Ababa, along the road to Moyale, you pass through Yirgacheffe’s renowned coffee-growing landscape before the road winds through Guji’s dramatic, cloud-covered mountains. Just outside the bustling town of Bule Hora, in the Kercha district, lies the Sasaba washing station. Here, each harvest season, Tsegay Hagos Tesfaye and his team receive ripe coffee cherries from more than 500 smallholder coffee farmers in the surrounding highlands and ferments them under water with great care.

The result is exactly the kind of Ethiopian coffee that brings an extra smile to anyone who loves bright, fresh flavours. The sweetness is delicate and elegant, with notes of floral honey, while the fruit character is lively, juicy and bursting with fresh citrus. A clean, transparent cup that shows once again why Guji is one of the world’s most celebrated coffee origins.

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.