This location is one of our primary location which has a huge potential for sourcing special coffee. On this location we have more than 27 workers permanently and on peak season we have up to 350 temporary labors.

Hambela is owned by the METAD Agricultural Development PLC, a family run business; the land on which it sits was awarded to Muluemebet Emiru, the first African female pilot, after World War II. Her descendents now run the estate and farm, with Aman Adinew at the helm of METAD. Adinew (Emiru’s grandson) is one of the founding executives of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange, the dominant organization in Ethiopia for commerce and trading. METAD plays an active roll in the local community: their workforce is over 70% women, and they provide healthcare for employees, award university scholarships and sponsor an elementary school with over 700 students. METAD was also first to partner with Grounds for Health in Ethiopia to implement a successful cervical cancer screening program for women within the coffee growing communities.  METAD provides technical assistance and shares modern farming equipment with other local farmers.  METAD also has the first and only private state-of-the-art SCAA certified coffee quality control lab on the African continent used to train both domestic and international coffee professionals.

The Hambela site has its own washing station, drymill and drying beds, so the processing of their coffee cherry can be done in-house. This coffee is a natural process, also known as dry processing, where the skin and pulp of the coffee cherry is not removed prior to drying. This process takes a much longer time than washed processing, and varies depending on humidity, temperature and amount of sunlight. Cherries are dried on African style raised beds for proper airflow all around and the coffee itself must be frequently turned. When the desired moisture content is achieved the dried cherries are milled down to the internal seed or bean.