Farm info

Bette Buna is a vertically integrated coffee company founded in 2020 by husband-and-wife Dawit and Hester. Their coffee journey began following the passing of Dawit’s grandfather, who farmed coffee with his wife, Emame, in Tefari Kela, Sidama for nearly a century. Dawit and Hester took over operations at the family farm committed to the mission of creating equal opportunities for coffee communities through the production of outstanding coffee. Today, Bette Buna operates farms in the coffee growing regions of Guji, Yirgacheffe, Sidama, and Bench Maji, as well as sourcing coffee from allied farmers throughout these regions. 

Two local chiefs, Duba and Saffay, play an essential role in the team’s work in Guji. As highly respected community leaders, they help manage the farm plots and ensure that coffee can be grown in a sustainable way. Their knowledge of social structures and ability to address issues within the community have been invaluable. This particular lot is named in honor of Chief Duba and comes from the plots he manages. It represents a top-quality Guji natural, showcasing the classic profile that the Megadu area is known for.

This coffee is a single farm lot sourced from Bette Buna’s farm in the Megadu woreda of Ethiopia’s Guji zone. The farm covers 220 hectares of land, and is divided into plots of semi-forest and wild forest with coffee planted throughout. Employees at the farm are a mixture of full-time and seasonal employees totaling 850 people who are responsible for harvesting, sorting, and processing each lot. In addition to providing a living wage for the employees, Bette Buna also provides weekly transportation to the relatively remote farm, housing, meals, and satellite education for employee’s children who travel with their parents to the farm during the busy season. 

The coffee was dried in the traditional Guji method on raised African beds, allowing consistent airflow and moisture control throughout the cherries. This process typically takes 20–25 days, depending on the sun and climate conditions.

Once the cherries reached the ideal moisture level, they were bagged, tagged, and stored for a minimum of 8 weeks. This resting period helps stabilize the coffee and enhances both complexity and intensity in the cup. The parchment was then dry milled locally to remove the hulls, followed by another round of hand sorting to eliminate primary defects. The green coffee was loaded onto trucks for the 3–5 day journey to Bette Buna’s main dry mill in Gelan, near Addis Ababa. There, the beans underwent final cleaning, grading by size and density, and color sorting before being bagged and prepared for export.

As the coffee industry continues to grow in Ethiopia, the country’s historic growing areas don’t always match up with the current-day maps defining Ethiopia’s geography. Our goal is to provide the clearest and most accurate information about the coffees that we offer, and we’re proud to provide the most specific location information we have for these coffees. Learn more about Ethiopia’s coffee growing regions on our blog. 

Region: Oromia
Zone: Guji
Woreda: Megadu
Kebele: –
ECX Growing Area: Guji