BIRTHDAY BREW: Bette Buna “Kickstart” (Natural) | Ethiopia

More about Megadu & Bette Buna:

Bette Buna is an impact driven coffee company, established by Hester and her husband Dawit Syoum after Dawit’s grandparents asked them to take over their family coffee farm and nurture the local community in Taferi Kela village. Bette Buna literally translates to “Home of Coffee” and their work includes acting as an exporter as well as operating their own farm and coffee nursery and two processing sites - Taferi Kela, Sidama and Megady, Guji’. But perhaps most importantly they are a pillar in their communities, using quality coffee as a tool for inclusive local development.

At the Taferi Kela farm, freshly picked cherries are delivered to Bette Bunna’s wet mill, where they are processed alongside cherries supplied by surrounding community farmers. The farm here also serves as a “living classroom” where farmers learn through practical demonstration, experimentation and direct observation. Additionally, Taferi Kela farm also runs a coffee seedling nursery, employing a diverse team and providing seedlings of high quality, resistant varieties to local growers.

In Megadu, Guji, Bette Bunna works with local chiefs and farmers to manage and harvest coffee from shared land, with cherries processed at the Megadu wet mill. This structure is designed to keep knowledge, responsibility and value within the producing communities. At Megadu site, Bette Buna produce a variety of special preparation coffee including anaerobic, static cherry and yeast added fermentations.

As Bette Buna explain: “We are a Dutch-Ethiopian family growing specialty coffee and opportunities.”

About Megadu and this lot:

This lot comes from Bette Buna’s second site in the Guji area. Alongside supply of cherry from their own land, Bette Buna work in partnership with farmers and local leaders in the Megadu community. Farmers including Sentayu, Duba, Saffay, Hassan, Haji Bule and Birkeneh form part of this broader supply network, which is built around trust, quality and shared growth. This year we have selected four different exceptional lots from Bette Buna’s Megadu site and we are excited to release this one as our Birthday Brew, celebrating our roastery’s 10th Anniversary!

This particular lot is processed using their “kickstart” natural method where cherries first undergo a 24hr period of oxidation laid out on raised beds before being collected again and fermented for 48hrs in closed barrels before finally drying on raised beds again until correct moisture content is reached. And the result is a wonderfully jammy and sweet cup with bright fruit notes reminding us of strawberry and peaches!

Spreading the birthday joy & investing in the next generation - 20% of sales go directly to Taferi Kela Kids Club!

Although our partnership with Bette Buna is a relatevely recent one, our values of quality, traceability and positive impact are strongly aligned and we are very happy to investing in a supply chain making a huge direct impact in their community through their operations as well as additional social projects.

To share the birthday joy further we will be donating 20% of revenue from all sales of this coffee to Bette Buna’s upcoming project - Taferi Kela Kids Club - using football to teach and empower kids and their families to pursue their dreams.