Ethiopia Bensa Bombe

Heleanna Georgalis is a third-generation coffee exporter. Despite complex politics and difficulties operating in Ethiopia over the past five decades, her family’s company has expanded to managing quality-focused coffee farming, milling, and now brewing at their café in Addis Ababa under her leadership. This coffee comes to us from her washing station in Sidamo: Bensa Logita.

This season, Bensa purchased coffee cherries from farmers in the neighboring community of Bombe. The people of Bombe maintain ancient traditions, such as round housing structures—identical to those used in this area 10,000 years ago—and ritual campfire gatherings at the end of each day. Bombe producers have retained many of the indigenous coffee varieties, whose small beans offer vibrant, saturated flavor.

Our exporting partners seek out these beautiful, traditionally grown coffees for their unique flavor, but also to maintain a market in a community that is increasingly turning to non-native crop production. Our selection this season is small, but we hope to see coffees continue to be available from the Bombe community in the future.