Alaka is the name of a village located at an altitude of about 2,000 metres in the woreda of Hambela, in the Guji appellation. It is here that METAD took over the management of a beautiful coffee forest at the end of the 2010s. The area is known for its majestic trees of numerous species. Their shade, combined with rich soils, contribute to the production of a rare quality of coffee. The cherries are harvested by METAD, then dried in the sun on African beds.
About
The farm in detail
Altitude
2000 Environment
Semi-Forest Shady
Forest coffee Agroforestry level
3 - Forest
The origins of coffee in Guji go back several centuries, with wild varieties growing naturally in the region's forests. Local communities, mainly of the Oromo ethnic group, used coffee in their traditional practices long before it was commercially exploited.
For a long time, the Guji appellation was included in the Sidama appellation. In order to better distinguish the quality of the coffee produced here, this designation was separated by the Ethiopian authorities in the 2000s. This new designation makes it possible to refine the traceability of Ethiopian coffees and, above all, to better reflect their quality in terms of taste and typicality in the cup.
Today, the Guji appellation produces some of the finest coffees in the world. Coffee here is an ancient crop, grown on hilly plateaus in a dense forest or semi-forest environment, where the diversity of endemic species provides optimal shade for the coffee trees and contributes to the fertility of the soil.
