This wash lot from Rumudamo is a great example of what we love in a washed Ethiopian. When enjoying it black, it’s delicate and tea-like with lots of sweetness and a bright ac...
This wash lot from Rumudamo is a great example of what we love in a washed Ethiopian. When enjoying it black, it’s delicate and tea-like with lots of sweetness and a bright acidity. We’re really enjoying flavours that remind us of peach, lingonberry (or at least the Ikea cordial version!) soft florals like orange blossom and chamomile and a sweet, creamy note like dulce de leche.
Daye Bensa Coffee was founded in 1996 by brothers Asefa and Mulugeta Dukamo in the Bensa region of Sidama. They started with a single farm and washing station, initially selling coffee only within Ethiopia’s strong domestic market, where around half of the crop never leaves the country. In 2006, they began exporting internationally, and since then Daye Bensa has grown into one of Ethiopia’s top five exporters by volume—widely respected for quality—while remaining family-owned and based in-country.
Asefa’s brother-in-law, Atrie, who had managed at Daye Bensa and later worked in UK finance, opened a UK office (Coffee Legends) to represent the company. His focus is on promoting Arbegona, a newer coffee-growing area within Sidama.
Arbegona illustrates how climate change is reshaping coffee’s future. Arabica plants thrive in cooler conditions, but rising global temperatures are putting pressure on lower-altitude farms, leading to reduced yields, greater vulnerability to pests and disease, and lower cup quality. In contrast, Arbegona’s higher elevations—once considered too cold for coffee—are now proving ideal. Farmers there are successfully producing some of the highest-grown coffees in the world.
This shift highlights both the challenges facing traditional coffee regions and the potential of new, high-altitude areas to sustain specialty coffee.
Unlike older Ethiopian regions with long histories of cultivation, Arbegona’s coffee production is relatively new, built mostly on improved cultivars from the Jimma Agricultural Research Centre (JARC). This focus on a small number of JARC varieties means farmers and buyers can clearly trace which plants make up a lot, resulting in a more defined and consistent flavour profile compared to areas where landrace varieties dominate.
The region’s extreme altitude also plays a key role. Even as rising global temperatures affect lower-altitude farms, Arbegona still benefits from cool nights that slow down cherry maturation. The cherries here are often unusually small, producing dense beans full of intensity and complexity. Combined with careful farming and processing methods, this has quickly given Arbegona a reputation for producing some of Ethiopia’s most exciting and high-quality coffees—rivalling more established kebeles.
Processing is meticulous: cherries are de-pulped on arrival, wet fermented for 48–72 hours, washed, and then dried on raised African beds for 8–12 days, further enhancing flavour clarity and cup quality.