Our washing station
Welle Magado Washing Station
Welle Magado Kebele, Hokko Woreda, Bensa Zone, Sidama Region, Ethiopia.
The place
An ideal location for distinct flavour and aroma.
Our washing station sits at 1,900 metres above sea level, adjacent to the Bulota River. The area receives an average of 1,208.5 mm of rain a year, has an average annual temperature of 18ºC, and its dominant soil is rich loam — conditions that give coffee grown here its distinct flavour and aroma.
During harvest season about 150 local smallholder farmers supply us with handpicked, quality coffee cherry.
Where our coffee comes from
Find Welle Magado
Zoom from Ethiopia down to our washing station. Select a stop or let the map guide you.
From cherry to export
The journey of every bag
Follow our coffee from the tree in Bensa to a sealed, traceable lot ready for your roastery.
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01
Ripening on the tree
In the highlands of Bensa, at around 1,900 metres, cherries ripen slowly in an average of 18ºC on rich loam soil — the source of the distinct flavour and aroma of our coffee.
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02
Handpicked by smallholders
Around 150 local smallholder farmers selectively handpick ripe cherry and deliver it to our washing station during the harvest season.
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03
Sorting & pulping
Cherry is sorted on arrival and pulped the same day. Our wet mill can process up to 5,000 kg of cherry per hour.
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04
Fermentation & washing
The beans ferment in our tanks, then are washed and graded in the channels, where our team works the coffee with wooden rakes.
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05
Drying on raised beds
Our 250 seasonal workers — 200 of them women — spread the parchment on raised beds and turn it by hand until it reaches the ideal moisture.
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06
Hand sorting & quality checks
Every bed is checked and hand sorted. Defects are removed so only clean, even coffee moves on.
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07
Export-ready green coffee
Rested, hulled, graded and bagged — each lot traceable all the way back to Welle Magado.
Vertically integrated sites
The same care, beyond our own station.
The coffee we supply also comes from vertically integrated sites. They apply just as much care and diligence to buying and processing coffee as we do, so we have full confidence in what we receive from them.
We facilitate planning, quality control and management at these sites. That keeps quality consistent, increases the efficiency of their work, and lets us and our buyers trace every lot to its origin.
