Relationship
This coffee comes through Falcon Coffee, a relationship that has become one of our most active sourcing partnerships since we first worked together in late 2024. Corey, Nathan, and Alejandra have been instrumental in how we approach sample selection, and we tend to arrive at the same tasting conclusions, which makes the process efficient and reliable. This lot is another example of Falcon steering us toward something we would not have found as quickly on our own.
It is also our first time working with Alo Coffee, and a producer we had been wanting to source from for a while. After the purchase was already made, Tamiru, Hanza, and Firaol visited our shop and roastery following World of Coffee. Getting to know them in person, seeing how they think about quality and community, opens the door to what we hope is a longer and more permanent relationship with the Alo Coffee team.
Country
Ethiopia is the birthplace of Arabica and a place where coffee is woven into daily life. From home roasting to the bunna ceremony brewed in a clay jebena, coffee is not just a crop. It is a social ritual and a marker of hospitality, celebration, and conversation. Generations of farmers have tended coffee in mixed garden systems around their homes, intercropping with food and shade trees and passing seeds and knowledge within the community.
Economically, coffee is Ethiopia's most important agricultural export and a primary source of rural livelihoods. Most production comes from smallholder families who pick ripe cherry and deliver it to local washing stations or dry it at home for natural processing. The station-centered system emphasizes careful cherry selection, clean fermentation, and slow drying, steps that drive quality and preserve the character of Ethiopia's broad genetic base of landraces. High domestic consumption keeps a meaningful share of the harvest in-country, while exported lots like this one showcase Ethiopia's enduring connection to coffee on the world stage.
(Source: Coffee Story: Ethiopia, USDA FAS Coffee Annual)
Region - West Arsi Nensebo
West Arsi sits in the Oromia region of southern Ethiopia, roughly 400 kilometers south of Addis Ababa, adjacent to Sidama. Nensebo is a district within West Arsi, and one that has only recently begun establishing its own identity in the specialty market. For years its coffees were sold under the broader Sidama designation, but a growing number of traceable, station-level lots have started putting Nensebo on the map in its own right. West Arsi had five coffees place in the top 30 at Ethiopia's 2021 Cup of Excellence, a signal that the region's potential was no longer going unnoticed.
The district sits in mountainous terrain with volcanic soils and well-distributed rainfall, conditions that support slow cherry development and the kind of dense, aromatic seeds that produce clarity and fruit intensity in the cup. Gemechu Station operates at 2,250 to 2,380 meters above sea level, notably high even within a district known for elevated farms, and that altitude is a meaningful part of why this lot shows the definition and aromatic lift it does. The 74158 JARC variety is well established here, and at these elevations it performs at the upper end of what the selection can express.
(Sources: Tectonic Coffee Co., LCC Roastery, Alo Coffee)
Processing Station - Gemechu Site
Alo Coffee was founded in 2020 by Tamiru Tadesse, a former electrical engineer and university teacher who spent years working within the Ethiopian coffee sector before deciding to build something of his own. The turning point came when Ethiopia held its first Cup of Excellence competition that year, a moment that demonstrated exceptional quality could finally be properly recognized and rewarded. In 2021, Alo Coffee's very first submission won the competition, a lot from the Alo village in Bensa, Sidama, and the company has grown steadily since.
Tamiru now operates an extensive network of processing stations across Sidama's Bensa, Bona, and Burra zones, as well as West Arsi Nensebo. Gemechu Station sits in Mewa Village within Nensebo and is one of his sites in the district. Across his network he works with around 800 contributing farmers, reinvesting profits into community development including schools and seedling nurseries, and distributing quality bonuses to farming families during periods of financial difficulty. His approach treats processing infrastructure not as a purely commercial tool but as a means of giving smallholders stability and market access they could not reach independently.
This is our first time working with Alo Coffee, and a relationship we have been looking forward to starting.
Variety - 74158
74158 is a selection developed by the Jimma Agricultural Research Center (JARC) in Ethiopia, part of the 74-series released in the late 1970s. The name reflects the year the seeds were collected (1974) and the varietal number (158). It was developed for its disease resistance, adaptability at high elevations, and strong yield potential, but it is the cup quality that has made it one of the more sought-after JARC selections among specialty roasters. At high altitudes and in the hands of careful processors, it produces lots with aromatic clarity, fruit intensity, and the clean structure that defines the best southern Ethiopian naturals. Gemechu Station at 2,250 to 2,380 meters is well within the range where 74158 performs at its ceiling.
(Source: World Coffee Research, Jimma Agricultural Research Center)
Process - Natural
Ripe cherries are selectively hand-sorted at intake, with rigorous visual sorting to accept only fully ripe fruit before processing begins. Cherry is laid out immediately on raised African drying beds, where it dries over an average of 22 days. The team turns the cherry every hour throughout the drying period and covers the beds with shade between 12 and 3 PM daily to protect against direct sunlight and prevent over-drying. When cherry reaches 10 to 11% moisture, it is sealed in GrainPro bags to lock in and preserve aromatics, then transferred to jute bags and rested for a minimum of 45 days before dry milling. That extended rest before milling is part of what keeps the blueberry and melon character so defined and clean in the cup.
(Source: Alo Coffee)
