Ethiopia Bette Buna Washed Decaf

Introducing Twilight, our new all-rounder decaf. It was nearing the end of the day for affordable and delicious decafs on the market, so we decided to get creative. Historically high green coffee prices and increased demand for decafs using the ethyl acetate (‘sugar cane’) process have caused supply shortages and MUCH higher costs, but we don’t think you should have to go without tasty decaf at reasonable prices.So here’s our strategy: We’re finding less expensive coffees that we think (based on our experience) will make for a sweet, chocolatey decaf. We’re sending them off to be decaffeinated as a special order and bringing them to you at prices that can work for all of us — farmers, cafes, Skylark, and coffee drinkers. With Twilight, you'll get reliably accessible coffee with satisfying notes of chocolate, biscuit, and cherry cola. Typically, importers make the choices and take the chances on which coffees to decaffeinate. It’s not always easy to predict how a decaffeinated coffee will turn out, and the minimum order for decaffeination is 4 tonnes, so it’s not usually a risk roasters want to take. However, we believe there are plenty of special yet affordable coffees out there that will taste great decaffeinated, so we’re willing to roll the dice. Right now, Twilight is a washed processed coffee from our friends at Bette Buna in Guji Ethiopia. It was a very fresh crop ‘grade 4’ coffee when we got our hands on it, so the producers paid less for the sorting of the green coffee. We’ve run it through our optical colour sorter to make it more consistent, and it’s tasting delicious. Everybody wins, and we’ll continue looking for opportunities to make decafs with impact throughout our supply chain for the foreseeable future. Elevation: 1400-2100 MASL Varietal: Heirloom Cup Score: 84.75 Price paid per KG: £10.19 Process: Sugar cane decaf, done in Bremen Germany

This "kickstart" natural coffee is super sugary and juicy thanks to a special processing technique developed by our good friends at Bette Buna. The cherries were flash-fermented before continuing with the natural process, giving them an extra burst of sweetness alongside fruity-floral notes of cherry juice and coffee blossom. This is the coffee we want to drink all day, every day! For a bit more about Bette Buna, check out our blog post here or read on below ... Betta Buna was founded by partners Hester Westerveld-Syoum and Dawit Syoum when they inherited their grandfather’s tiny family farm in Taferi Kela, Sidamo. With a background in NGO and development work, they decided to grow and scale the farm as the foundation for a larger company with greater impact. Starting in 2019, they have now grown considerably, expanding the Taferi Kela farm from 2 to 50 hectares and spreading to a second 50-hectare farm in Megadu, Guji. Both farms have tree nurseries where climate change-resistant varietals are grown to share with surrounding farmers. Similarly, they have facilities where they not only process their own lots but also educate other farmers in processing techniques, while their Coffee Campus programme provides training in roasting, brewing, and even exporting. They provide countless opportunities for their farming communities by not only teaching and motivating farmers but also hiring local workers at their nurseries and mills, including single mothers and disabled people who would struggle to find employment elsewhere. They also prioritise sustainable farming methods, rewild forests on their land, and protect local wildlife to promote ecosystem health for future generations. We're proud to support Bette Buna and plan to partner with them for many years to come. To create this lot, the cherries were given a “kick” by putting them in an anaerobic environment for a short amount of time before continuing processing. Not long enough for official fermentation to begin, but long enough for the structure of the sugar within the cherries to change. After this, the coffee was dried normally on raised African-style beds. Once the correct moisture level was reached, the cherry was bagged, tagged, and stored for a minimum of 8 weeks to improve the complexity and intensity of the cup profile. After dry milling locally to remove the hulls, the team applied another round of hand sorting to remove any primary defects. After that, the bags of green coffee were loaded on a truck to take a 3-5 day drive to the Bette Buna dry mill in Gelan, close to Addis Ababa. Here the green beans underwent another round of cleaning, screening, and colour sorting, and were bagged a final time, ready to be exported. Elevation: 1900-2100 MASLVarietal: 74112, 74110, Wild Guji MegaduCup score: 87Price paid per kg: £15.56Process: Kickstart natural

This is Bette Buna’s signature natural coffee that was processed using the traditional Ethiopian method of sun-drying immediately after harvest without any fermentation. The result is clean, juicy, and balanced ... an elegant way to experience the coffee in a more pared-back way while still enjoying plenty of sweetness and acidity. For more about our deep partnership with Bette Buna, check out our blog post here or read on below. Betta Buna was founded by partners Hester Westerveld-Syoum and Dawit Syoum when they inherited their grandfather’s tiny family farm in Taferi Kela, Sidamo. With a background in NGO and development work, they decided to grow and scale the farm as the foundation for a larger company with greater impact. Starting in 2019, they have now grown considerably, expanding the Taferi Kela farm from 2 to 50 hectares and spreading to a second 50-hectare farm in Megadu, Guji. Both farms have tree nurseries where climate change-resistant varietals are grown to share with surrounding farmers. Similarly, they have facilities where they not only process their own lots but also educate other farmers in processing techniques, while their Coffee Campus programme provides training in roasting, brewing, and even exporting. They provide countless opportunities for their farming communities by not only teaching and motivating farmers but also hiring local workers at their nurseries and mills, including single mothers and disabled people who would struggle to find employment elsewhere. They prioritise sustainable farming methods, rewild forests on their land, and protect local wildlife to promote ecosystem health for future generations. We're proud to support Bette Buna and plan to partner with them for many years to come. To create this lot, fresh cherries were hand sorted by each farmer to clean out underripe/overripe cherries and any leaves or sticks. The sorted cherries were dried on African raised beds for about 20-25 days until they reached the right moisture level. The raised beds are important to facilitate airflow and ensure equal drying of each cherry. Once the correct moisture level was reached, the cherry was bagged, tagged, and stored for a minimum of 8 weeks to improve the complexity and intensity of the cup profile. After dry milling locally to remove the hulls, the team applied another round of hand sorting to remove any primary defects. After that, the bags of green coffee were loaded on a truck to take a three- to five-day drive to the Bette Buna dry mill in Gelan, close to Addis Ababa. Here the green beans underwent another round of cleaning, screening, and colour sorting, and were bagged a final time, ready to be exported. Elevation: 1900-2200 MASLVarietal: 74112, 74110, Wild Guji MegaduCup score: 87Price paid per kg: £10.03Process: Sundried natural

We’re so excited to feature four exquisite new natural lots — all under the 'Cherry' name — from our good friends at Bette Buna! This lot underwent a 120-hour carbonic fermentation period to highlight clarity and depth while developing luscious notes of strawberry, blueberry, and clementine. Led by Gabriel Restrepo and Hester Syoum, the expert processing team at Bette Buna are always impressing us with their unique flavour profiles as they push the boundaries of experimental fermentation techniques. If you'd like to be able to compare and contrast the processing results of all four new lots, check out our special Bette Buna Tasting Set here. Betta Buna was founded by partners Hester Westerveld-Syoum and Dawit Syoum when they inherited their grandfather’s tiny family farm in Taferi Kela, Sidamo. With a background in NGO and development work, they decided to grow and scale the farm as the foundation for a larger company with greater impact. After starting in 2019, they have now grown considerably, expanding the Taferi Kela farm from two to 50 hectares and spreading to a second 50-hectare farm in Megadu, Guji. Both farms have tree nurseries where climate change-resistant varietals are grown to share with surrounding farmers. Similarly, they have facilities where they not only process their own lots but also educate other farmers in processing techniques, while their Coffee Campus programme provides training in roasting, brewing, and even exporting. They provide countless opportunities for their farming communities by not only teaching and motivating farmers but also hiring local workers at their nurseries and mills, including single mothers and disabled people who would struggle to find employment elsewhere. They also prioritise sustainable farming methods, rewild forests on their land, and protect local wildlife to promote ecosystem health for future generations. We're proud to support Bette Buna and plan to partner with them for many years to come. This lot began with carefully sorted cherries placed in hermetic barrels or high-capacity bags, where carbon dioxide was introduced to create an anoxic environment. Over 120 hours, this controlled CO₂ fermentation promoted intracellular activity within the coffee seeds and guided selective microbial growth, dominated by yeasts and lactic acid bacteria. Elevation: 1900-2200 Metres Above Sea LevelVarietal: 74112, 74110, Wild Guji MegaduCup score: 90.5Price paid per kg: £18.85Process: 120hr carbonic natural