Our most recent Ethiopian coffee celebrating our partnership with Catalyst Trade, Bombe, and our newest Coffeebar family member. A bright, floral roast with notes of strawberry jam and blackberry.

A proud partnership between Assefa Dukamo of Bombe Washing Station, Michael & Emily McIntyre of Catalyst Trade, and Coffeebar.

Taking its name from Ethiopia's Bombe Mountains that lie just to the south, this washing station is the end-product of years of work by Sidama local Assefa Dukamo and his family. While two other washing stations in the area, Shantawene and Qonqona, also partner with Catalyst Trade and produce high-end specialty coffee, Bombe has focused on Organic-certified production for coffees from all three villages. By focusing on microlots and unique processing methods, rather than simply producing large volumes of coffee, Bombe has been able to dramatically increase the profitability of the product. Daily wages are higher at this site, and farmers receive extra premiums for the fruit, as well as second payments via profit sharing. The specialized processing techniques used include shaded fermentation tanks, further fermentation experiments, and raised and shaded mesh drying beds. Additionally, lots are sampled multiple times at all stages of processing, to ensure both consistency and quality. 

Michael and Emily McIntyre of Catalyst Trade have been involved on the ground with the cooperatives in this region for several years now, and at the end of 2018 moved to more fully vertically integrate their coffee sourcing work at origin with sales in the US market. Catalyst Consulting thus became Catalyst Trade, and can now take full control of the product from origin to market. Furthermore, as part of the restructuring, their Relationships Manger, Zelalem Girma, as well as several of the washing stations/producers, were named as co-founders and shareholders, making the company majority-Ethiopia owned. The goal of Coffeebar's Vertical Sourcing methodology has been to remain very intentional with our purchasing, choosing those projects where our investment can be most effective at empowering producers to improve their lives. Catalyst Trade already embodies these principals, yet continually strive to further raise the bar. In their own words, announcing the re-structuring: 

"We are so excited to continue working together with you. We can push the boundaries of exploration and opportunity with you and truly change the way coffee is traded."

That'll do for us too.

Design Notes

Aside from coffee, Ethiopia and Coffeebar also share a very important symbol — the lion. As Ethiopia's national animal, the lion is honored for its bravery and strength. We at Coffeebar believe the lion symbolizes facing challenges, growing from them, and honoring your path. As we welcome into the world the newest Coffeebar family member, Naia Buchheister, it only seemed fitting to celebrate that with our next coffee. Depicting a lion cub playing in the river that feeds to this farm, we recognize the change, curiosity, and chain of events that move us forward to grow into something bigger than ourselves. We are expanding our family on personal and global levels and that is something to be proud of.

Photos by: Catalyst Trade

Design by: Coffeebar