Tibebu Roba

We have been buying coffee from Tibebu Roba for the last five years. We first found Tibebu’s coffee through Trabocca’s Cherry Red programme. The programme exists to help farmers like Tibebu access international buyers who will pay a premium for exceptional coffee, and this coffee is exceptional. Tibebu has mostly Kurume and Wolisho varietals on the farm. They are planted in six separate blocks, which are divided according to plant age and productivity. All of the coffee is processed using the natural method where the cherry is spread out on patios or raised beds to dry in the sun, before being hulled at the dry-mill and then exported. We recently visited the farm and were welcomed by Tibebu and his family with whom we enjoyed coffee brewed, freshly roasted from the new harvest following the traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony. The coffee was served with dabo (an enriched wheat-based bread) and honey from the farm’s beehives. This is about as fresh as coffee can get, it would have still been on the trees only a few weeks ago, dried, and then hulled by hand before roasting on an open flame. Tibebu also grows false banana which is a staple in the local diet, and runner beans which help to fix nitrogen in the soil. He studied Theology before growing coffee and so now divides his time between his church work and the farm.