The Sheka forest

The Sheka forest is located in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) in the far southwest of the country near the border with South Sudan.

The forest, one of the most beautiful places we have visited during our years of coffee travels, is one of the largest areas of indigenous forest remaining in Ethiopia, known for its production of wild honey.

While the healthy bees here are a good sign of biodiversity and minimal chemical use, much of Ethiopia has become very intensively farmed in recent years.

The government has aimed to widen this intensive approach by offering grants to encourage agriculture across the still relatively untouched SNNPR.

Especially tea and coffee production is incentivised, leading to the involvement of foreign investors, deforesting swathes of land to create large estates and enforcing questionable working conditions for natives.

Moplaco

This carefully produced raw material is then taken to Moplaco’s Sheka mill to be processed. This station is Moplaco’s newest, and has mainly produced natural coffees so far, as the large fermentation tanks required to produce washed coffees were only just completed before the beginning of this harvest season.

The Moplaco spirit of experimentation that we have witnessed on our visits is also present here, small lots of carbonic maceration and anaerobic processes have been produced en masse, like the small experimental lot we were able to share in last year’s Advent Calendar.

"Many coffee buyers work here, often bidding against each other for the top lots each harvest."

fruity & balanced

Sheka Natural

Natural coffees have been exported from Sheka several times now, and are now produced using a well-defined protocol. Cherries are carefully selected before drying raised beds under shade.

Plastic covers are often used, and the drying takes slightly longer than it would in much of Ethiopia due to frequent rains and cool temperatures during harvest.

This long drying results in a soft and rich sweetness in the cup, softening the kiwi notes we found in several Sheka lots this year into ripe tropical fruit, while maintaining the distinctly complex florals.

Floral & acidic

Sheka Washed

Sheka doesn’t have access to the large de-pulpers seen throughout the rest of the country. This means that to accomplish this washed process, the entire lot had to be de-pulped using a a small hand cranked de-pulper, before being washed in the new tanks, and dried on raised beds over 17 days.

This has led to a clean and fresh expression of the Sheka terroir, one we came to recognise rather clearly during rounds of cupping together with Moplaco earlier in the year.

The floral aromas here are complex, fresh and almost herbal, while the cup is dominated by a note of fresh and ripe kiwi fruit.

Ethiopia

Semi-forest coffee

Forty kilometres outside the town of Masha lies Moplaco’s Kawo Kamin farm, probably the single most beautiful coffee farm we have ever visited.

Here, coffee is grown in synergy with the Sheka forest, using the indigenous forest as shade for the trees, keeping biodiversity alive. This also has a positive effect on coffee quality; the plants are well-nourished and grow in ideal moist conditions under the forest canopy.

Most of the local farmers have even been able to maintain their bee hives in the 150 hectares of protected forest that surround the farm. This mode of production, working alongside the forest to cultivate coffee while still pruning and managing the plantation, is known as semi-forest coffee.