Sidama, at 2,400 metres

Bensa sits high enough that the nights come close to frost while the days stay warm. Coffee grown there ripens slowly because the plant shuts down every night and starts again every morning.

Slow ripening means denser seed and more accumulated sugar. It also means a longer, more fragile harvest window, because a single hailstorm at 2,400 metres can end a year of work in twenty minutes.

One farmer, one lot

Most Ethiopian coffee is still blended at the washing station. Single farmer projects reverse that: the cherry is weighed, tagged and processed on its own, and the grower is paid on the quality of their own lot rather than the average of the village.

Separation costs money at the station. It is the only way a careful farmer ever gets paid more than a careless neighbour.

That is the argument for paying more, and it is the reason we agree prices before the harvest rather than after the cupping table has decided.