LALESA - Ethiopia

Producer: Lalesa

Origin: Ethiopia

Process: Natural

Altitude: 2150 - 2200

Varietal: 74110,74112 & Heirloom

Tasting Notes: Blueberry & Dark Chocolate

SCA Score: 87

Lalesa comes from Gedeb in southern Ethiopia, where nearby farmers bring their ripe coffee cherries to the Lalesa washing station, run by Ephtah Specialty Coffee. It’s a busy place during harvest, bringing together hundreds of seasonal workers to sort, dry and prepare the coffee.

There’s a lot of work behind every bag of single origin coffee. With Lalesa, that work stretches from the farmers growing coffee beneath shade trees to the local women who carefully hand-sort the green beans before export.

From cherry to green coffee

The harvest runs from late November through January, during Ethiopia’s long dry season. After months of rain supporting flowering and fruit development, the drier weather provides the conditions needed to harvest and dry the coffee.

At Lalesa, cherries are first sorted using water to separate out lower-density fruit. The selected cherries are then spread across raised drying beds for around 12–15 days. This natural process means the coffee dries inside the whole fruit before the dried outer layers are removed.

The site has 350 drying beds and employs around 20 permanent staff, with a further 250 seasonal workers joining during harvest. Once processing and sorting are complete, the coffee travels to storage in Addis Ababa, then by train to Djibouti for export.

The people behind Lalesa

Ephtah’s work goes beyond buying and processing coffee. The company aims to build lasting relationships with farmers, paying them when their cherries arrive and providing further support through quality premiums, second payments and help with school fees.

Supporting women is a particular focus, recognising the role they play in both coffee production and the wider community. Plans for further investment include expanding drying facilities, improving flotation equipment and growing additional crops for local markets.

For me, these details are an important part of a coffee’s story. Knowing where it was grown matters, but so does understanding the work behind it and how the people producing it are supported.

Coffee details

• Origin: Gedeb, Ethiopia

• Washing station: Lalesa

• Producer organisation: Ephtah Specialty Coffee

• Process: Natural

• Drying: Raised beds for approximately 12–15 days

• Harvest: Late November–January

Importer: Falcon

Purchase Price: $7.61/lb

Price Vs Fairtrade Minimum: 322.52%