Landrace
Washed
Tagel Alemayehu

Tastes Like: Tangerine, Raspberries, Yellow Florals

Origin: Hambela, Guji, Ethiopia

Variety: Kurume, Dega

Producer: Tagel Alemayehu, Olkai Coffee

Elevation: 2,350 masl

Process: Washed

Behind this lot is Tagel Alemayehu, the founder of Olkai Coffee—a producer known locally for moving fast and working efficiently, but also for the kind of humility and warmth that makes people stop to greet him on the road. Coffee has been woven into Tagel’s life from the beginning: he grew up in Bule Hora as the son of a local coffee trader who helped shape the region’s early infrastructure, including building the area’s first washing station and bringing in Ethiopia’s first Pinhalense dry huller. After managing a washing station starting in 2004, Tagel launched Olkai in 2018 as export regulations opened—still very much a family effort, with his wife serving as export manager. Today, Olkai operates around a half-dozen washing stations across Guji, Bule Hora, and Sidama, built on relationships formed through two decades of cherry collection—trust so strong that communities have even sold land to make space for washing-station operations in their own towns. This coffee is sourced through a network of 130 registered outgrowers, reflecting a community-scale effort where smallholder farmers and a deeply rooted local operator share in the work of bringing these coffees to life.