Hunkute

Location: Dalle, Sidamo, Ethiopia
Producers: Hunkute Cooperative has 2149 members
Process station: Hunkute 2
Elevation: 2150 meters above sea level
Varietals: 74110, 74112
Bought since: 2010

Hunkute is a very special coffee to us at Drop; we have been buying Hunkute every year since 2010. It is an important profile in our portfolio and our history; the coffee is delicate and pretty like no other. Hunkute is the direct opposite of loud and bold still so many of our Drop Coffee drinkers hold this as one of their favorites. And so do we. 

Hunkute is located in the Dalle region in Sidamo and is made up of two washing stations where the coffee is being processed. This coffee is from Hunkute Site 2 located at 2150 masl. The members of the cooperative, delivering coffee to the Hunkute washing station during harvest, are small-scale farmers with 0,5-5 hectares, from the surrounding area.

Ethiopia and Yemen are the birthplaces of coffee. In Ethiopia there are over 1.1 million smallholder coffee farmers, delivering cherries to local washing stations. In the region where coffee is growing, most people dry, roast, and brew their coffee themselves. As a country, Ethiopia is consuming over 40% of what they are producing itself, compared to Kenya where they keep less than 5% of all the coffee produced in the country.

Hunkute is two washing stations (Site 1 and Site 2) both belonging to the Hunkute Sidama Cooperative, which is made up of 2149 members, the Hunkute Cooperative is connected to the Sidama Union. 

Hunkute site 2, started nine years ago, is collecting cherries from both the members of the cooperative and surrounding farmers who want to deliver their cherries to the washing station. Most farmers delivering to Hunkute site 2 have about half a hectare to five hectares with an average of 1500 trees per hectare. One tree in Ethiopia is typically producing cherries equal to less than 100 - 200 grams of green coffee, bear in mind when you buy the 250g box from us. Throughout the year, organic fertilizer is common at farms.

During the harvest period, from November to January, the farmers are collecting their coffee cherries every third week. The farmers in the area around Hunkute are helping each other with the harvest, circulating with the neighboring farms. Many of the farmers are also working at the washing stations during harvest. A few farmers that have bigger farms are hiring local staff during the harvest.

Hunkute cooperative belongs to Sidamo Union, which now has its own dry mill where the coffee is milled and graded before putting into protective bags and loaded on the containers.

Since Sidama is such a Mecca in coffee, the market is competitive for the cooperatives in the region. This is one of the reasons Hunkute is paying the farmers upfront daily during harvest (November-January) unless the farmer prefers to be paid differently. All of the volumes and coffee cherry prices are displayed. They also have a second payment based on the selling price which is being paid to the farmers very latest by August, which is a great difference compared to how late we've seen some farmers being paid when visiting different cooperatives in Ethiopia. In the Sidama Union, about 70% of the payment is going back to the farmers and the rest is for investments at the washing stations and the cooperative. 

Hunkute, and Drop Coffee, are fully organic certified. Being certified Organic and with UTZ and Fair Trade, helps the washing station to keep documents and reports of payments and data logging of the production.