From Cafe Imports:

Keramo

Keramo Daye Bensa Station, owned by brothers Asefa and Mulugeta Dukamo, serves about 381 smallholder farmers growing and harvesting coffee in and around Keramo, Sidama, Ethiopia, a place known for its rich vegetation and climate. Keramo farmers have built a reputation for picking only red cherries, and in 2020 Daye Bensa Coffee earned a Cup of Excellence award.

Its founders Asefa Dukamo and MuluGeta Dukamo opened this washing station under their company Daye Bensa Coffee. 

In addition to owning their own farm, Daye Bensa Farm, they also own 16 washing stations and 4 dry mills in Bensa, Aroressa and Chire districts of Sidama.

From Daye Bensa:

Being a child of coffee growing family Asefa used to help his parents in cultivating coffee and other garden crops as all other villagers do but the burden on him was heavy being the first son of his parents.

When he became a teenager he started to do small but many jobs including shoe polishing outside school times which later on progressed to become a coffee supplier to washing stations buying coffee cherries from near by relatives and villagers in addition to coffee from parents garden. By the time he was doing this business there were limited number of washing stations in the area and he had to travel long distances to find a market for his coffee. This was a birth of his dream to become the owner of a washing station if he can help coffee farmers nearby in cutting short their travel time, cost of transportation and of course coffee cherries to be supplies as they are fresh.

His dream became a reality by setting up his first ever washing station in Girja village, less than a mile from his parents’ house with other co-founders holding a major share in 1997 and another washing station in Eltama 30kms away from Girja a year after.

Moving towards the heart of coffee land where he already started living and working after making a family in Daye town in Bensa district he set up a mother washing station called Qonqana (some times called Asefa No. 1 washing station on coffee maps) in 2002, a number one in capacity in the region where many educational trainings and demonstrations take place even by the regional authorities. A dry coffee mill in the town was added to help out with milling the natural coffee. Many expansions and certifications works done since then and now it is one of international coffee visitors destinations in the region.

Coffees in Ethiopia are typically grown on very small plots of land by farmers who also grow other crops. The majority of smallholders will deliver their coffee in cherry to a nearby washing station or central processing unit, where their coffee will be sorted, weighed, and paid for or given a receipt. Coffee is then processed, usually washed or natural, by the washing station and dried on raised beds.

The washing stations serve as many as several hundred to sometimes a thousand or more producers, who deliver cherry throughout the harvest season: The blending of these cherries into day lots makes it virtually impossible under normal circumstances to know precisely whose coffee winds up in which bags on what day, making traceability to the producer difficult. We do, however, make every available effort to source coffee from the same washing stations every year, through our export partners and their connections with mills and washing stations.

Typically farmers in this region don't have access to and therefore do not utilize fertilizers or pesticides in the production of coffee. 

Sidama

The Sidama region is known for producing the most coffee at the highest grades in Ethiopia, and the geography explains why this is. This region spreads across fertile highlands, where half of the land is cultivated. The surrounding rivers and lakes along with the very high elevation results in cool weather and fertile soil. These factors, in combination with over 100 inches of rainfall per year, cause the coffee to ripen slower than in any other region in Ethiopia. There are over 50 cooperatives and 200 washing stations throughout Sidama.

Natural Process (aka Sun-Dried or Dry Processed)

Fruit Removal: After drying
Fermentation: Occurs inside the fruit mucilage surrounding the seed and under the pulp, will take place as long as there is fuel available to the microorganisms (e.g. sugar, moisture, acids, etc); the seeds typically become inhospitable to microorganisms when they reach 11% moisture
Drying Time: Up to 30 days on average, weather permitting.
Profile: Noticeably fruity or “pulpy” flavors, often described as “boozy” or “winey”; can also have strong nutty and/or chocolate characteristics, and typically has a heavier or syrupy body.

While Washed coffees have their fruit removed relatively quickly after harvesting, Natural or “Dry” process coffees are something like the opposite, in a manner of speaking: The fruit is instead picked when ripe and allowed to dry completely around the seed before being husked or hulled off. While historically this hulling was done by hand with a kind of mortar-and-pestle setup, today it’s done by machinery that can be finely calibrated. Natural process coffees are most commonly found in Ethiopia, Yemen, Brazil, and Costa Rica, though producers around the world are also experimenting with this methodology.

As with all coffee preparation, there is fermentation occurring during the processing, from the moment the coffee is picked (or possibly earlier, whenever an access point is created in the fruit). Local or intentional populations of yeast and bacteria will enter the fruit at the access point and begin to metabolize the sugars and acids inside the coffee fruit immediately, a process that can continue until the coffee is dried to the standard of 11% moisture. While the coffee itself is not held in “fermentation tanks,” its fermentation process can be altered by things like ambient temperature and exposure to full sun or shade; depth on the drying bed; rotation of the coffee during drying, etc.

(Note: At Cafe Imports, we typically avoid describing these coffees as “Sun-Dried” and instead prefer the term “Natural,” since many other coffees are also dried under the sun. We also avoid using the term “Unwashed,” which is common in some parts of the world.)

Drying Natural coffees is considerably longer and the overall process is riskier than for Washed coffee, which hints at some reasons the Washed technique was developed: Naturals take more space on drying surfaces, require more attention and labor (to prevent mold and infestation during drying, for example), and are constantly at potential risk for spoilage or “overfermentation,” as the fruit material that is intact on the seeds provides a longterm and concentrated fuel source for yeast and bacteria to metabolize.

Natural processing is the oldest basic technique for preparing coffee, and in ancient times (as well as currently in some cultures and applications), it’s possible that the coffee fruit was allowed to dry completely while still on the branch, allowing it to be harvested only when needed. Modern Natural coffees are harvested ripe and intentionally dried, typically on patios, raised beds, or drying tables; they cannot be dried in mechanical dryers as Washed coffees can.