From source to sip
The story behind your next cup.
In the forested highlands of southern Ethiopia, coffee grows the way it has for centuries: under shade canopy, among wild heirloom varieties no nursery ever catalogued. This is that same Sidamo cup, with the caffeine gently removed and the character left intact.
This coffee comes from members of the Oromia Coffee Farmers' Cooperative Union, the largest Fair Trade producer in Ethiopia. Founded in 1999 by a handful of small cooperatives seeking to reach the specialty market directly, Oromia now represents tens of thousands of smallholder farmers. The premiums those farmers earn fund health clinics, schools, and clean water across their communities.
Read the full story
The Coffee Story
The SourceOromia's Forest-Grown Heirlooms
This coffee comes from members of the Oromia Coffee Farmers' Cooperative Union, the largest Fair Trade producer in Ethiopia. Founded in 1999 by a handful of small cooperatives seeking to reach the specialty market directly, Oromia now represents tens of thousands of smallholder farmers. The premiums those farmers earn fund health clinics, schools, and clean water across their communities.
Sidamo sits in Ethiopia's southern highlands, where coffee is often forest-grown at altitudes between 1,500 and 1,900 meters . The cool air and slow cherry maturation here build the sugars and bright acidity that made Sidamo one of the most recognized names in the country that gave coffee to the world. The varieties are heirloom, a wild and uncatalogued genetic mix passed down through generations.
The CraftDecaffeinated With Water, Not Chemicals
The cherries are washed at origin, fermented and rinsed to strip the fruit before drying, a method you can read more about in our guide to washed and natural processing . That clean, floral foundation is exactly what makes Sidamo worth preserving through decaffeination.
To remove the caffeine, the green coffee is soaked in a water-based process that draws out caffeine while leaving the flavor compounds in place. No chemical solvents touch the beans. We then roast to City+, a level that protects the delicate aromatics rather than burning them away, so what reaches your cup still reads as Ethiopian Sidamo and not just generic decaf.
The CupThe Sidamo Character, Caffeine Aside
The cup opens with the berry sweetness Sidamo is known for, blueberry and blackcurrant leading into a lift of citrus and a soft floral finish. The body stays medium and round, the acidity bright but never sharp. Most who drink it alongside our caffeinated Sidamo struggle to tell which is which.
