Right now as we speak our Moyee team is trekking across the beautiful hills of Jimma (Ethiopia) talking, listening and planning for the future with our FairChain farmers. The focus of their conversations? The Limu coffee bean. The Limu beans is the basis of all our Moyee coffee, and with reason – it consistently ranks atop the list of Africa’s best beans. So while our team battles the heat, the monkeys and the extraordinary beauty, we thought we’d give you a quick master class in why the Limu bean is so important to our mission.
Coffee aficionados know how influential geography is to the flavor of coffee. For example, Latin American coffees have nutty, chocolate nuances, while Asian coffee is assertive with tones of herbs and spices. African coffees, on the other hand, are fruity, flowery and intense.
Of course, there are all sorts of other factors that determine the quality and taste of coffee (i.e. the amount of shade and fertilization), but no factor is more important than the altitude in which the coffee is grown. The higher coffee is grown, the greater its aromas and flavours. Moderate rain, sunshine and a nice steady temperate of around 22⁰C enable the coffee cherry to ripen gradually.
Which brings us back to the Limu bean. Grown in the Beletta forest high in the mountains of Ethiopia, the Limu enjoys near-perfect (okay, perfect) growing conditions. What makes the Beletta forest special is the forest itself. It is easy to forget that coffee is a shade-grown fruit, and the Limu’s taste profits from this natural protection from the sun. You taste the results – the Limu always scores high in international competition – well above the 85 score needed to be called specialty coffee.
So now you know why our guys are sitting down with Limu bean farmers working the Beletta forest. We’re not the only guys sourcing Limu beans from the region, but we’re the only ones giving twice the going Fairtrade rate to the farmers for growing it. Judging by the sheer number of plantations asking us to visit them this week, the farmers are starting to take notice. The revolution is growing!
