A New Release from Ethiopia via Catalyst Trade

We are excited to be able to share Demeka Becha, a special, limited release coffee, brought to us by our friends at Catalyst Trade. 

Introducing Nossa Familia’s Demeka Becha Coffee

Demeka Becha, our new, light roast coffee from Ayele Tulu of the Demeka Becha Washing Station in the Sidama Region, is an outstanding example of the washed processed Ethiopian flavor profile. Sweet and tea like with citrus fruit and peach and luscious floral notes. 

The Demeka Becha Washing Station

By Catalyst Trade

Nossa Familia’s special release was grown at 2100-2200 meters above sea level by producers surrounding the Demeka Becha Washing Station in the Bona Zuria District of the Sidama region of Ethiopia. The Demeka Becha site is situated at the top of a hill, which is ideal for air flow along the drying beds. 

Owner Ayele Tulu & Family

The Demeka Becha site is owned by Ayele Tulu, a Sidama man who is deeply integrated into the local area of Bona Zuria where he has a few sites. His son Tsegab Ayele, who speaks fluent English and is eagerly involved with coffee culture globally through social media, is his right hand and manages the project. Tsegab’s younger brother Abinet (still in college but clearly on route to joining the family business) is responsible for photography and making sure that his dad has a chair and is comfortable. 

Photos (from left to right): 1. Tsegab Ayele speaking to Michael McIntyre of Catalyst Trade, 2. Ayele Tulu, Demeka Becha owner and father of Tsegab Photo Credit: Catalyst Trade

The heart, perhaps the true engine, of the family is Genet Haile Endeshow, Tsegab’s mother and Ayele’s wife. She fills up their lives and the home with her warmth, and her embrace expands to include everyone who has the privilege of working with the family and their coffee producing sites. She’ll make you a killer doro wat or chicken stew, which is served to honor guests in Ethiopia, and follow it up with traditional Ethiopian buna (coffee), served on her porch below the flowering vines that shade it even in the heat of midday.

Photos (from left to right): 1. Genet Haile Endeshow, 2. Genet with Emily McIntyre of Catalyst Trade, Photo Credit: Catalyst Trade

Sourcing & Processing

Demeka Becha site pulls cherries from nearby communities including Dilla Suke, Demeka, Goacho, Becha, and Bashiro Dale—close to 10,000 producers situated in the areas surrounding the washing station. 

Producers bring their cherries to be weighed on the characteristic blue scale, logged in the book by Cashier and General Manager, Alemu Gobaro, and floated before being dumped into the cement hopper to begin the journey through the 4-disk Agard pulper and into fermentation tanks and cement washing channels. There are 10 tanks for density grades 1 and 2, and 2 tanks for low density coffee destined for our Community Lot program if it meets our standard, or for the local market.

Following fermentation and washing, the parchment coffee is carried by hand to the drying beds where laborers spread it out to the depth of a fingertip and keep it turning until it is dried and moved to the locked storehouse to await trucking to Addis Ababa and final processing.

Photo Credit: Catalyst Trade

Our Partnership with Catalyst Trade

Photo Credit: Catalyst Trade

By Rob Hoos, Director of Coffee, Nossa Familia

Nossa Familia’s Director of Coffee, Rob Hoos, has known Michael and Emily McIntyre for almost as long as he has worked at Nossa Familia Coffee. That’ll be 9 years as of February 1, 2021. Rob met Michael and Emily in the lab at Nossa Familia Coffee back when it was located at NW 13th and Johnson in Portland’s Pearl District. From that first meeting, a level of trust and friendship was established that has only become stronger over the years as Rob, Nossa Familia, and Catalyst Trade have grown in Portland’s coffee scene. 

Why We Buy from Catalyst Trade

The reason we buy coffee from Catalyst Trade is simple. Our values mutually align in many ways. We all seek to see coffee farmers properly compensated for the hard work and beautiful coffees they create. We all have the goal of making the world a better place. We also share expectations around good quality coffee, and good quality relationships.

We all have the goal of making the world a better place.

When Michael and Emily started Catalyst Trade with their partner Zelalem Girma Bayou (based in Ethiopia), Rob knew Nossa would have to buy coffee from them. Ethiopia, the birthplace of arabica coffee, features cultivars, varieties, and flavors not seen in much of the rest of the world, and we want to be able to share that with you. While we've not yet had a chance to visit the farms, or share a cupping table with the coffee growers, we trust the team at Catalyst implicitly to support the farmers in the same way that we would ourselves.