[Light Roast]

Region: Qunqana, Sidama

Farm: Qunqana Washing Station

Processing: Washed

Variety: Heirloom

Altitude: 1900 - 2100 Masl

About Qunqana:

Qunqana washing station sits in the Bensa district of Ethiopia's Sidama region at 1,900–2,100 masl — one of the country's most celebrated coffee-growing areas, known for producing the highest-graded coffees in Ethiopia thanks to its exceptional elevation, cool temperatures, fertile soil, and over 100 inches of annual rainfall. Cherries here ripen slower than in any other region of Ethiopia, building remarkable density and complexity.

Qunqana is the "mother station" of Daye Bensa Coffee — the very first washing station founded by brothers Asefa and Mulugeta Dukamo. Asefa grew up cultivating coffee alongside his parents and began trading cherries as a teenager, travelling long distances to reach the nearest processing facility. That experience planted the seed for what would become one of Ethiopia's most significant coffee enterprises. He built Qunqana in Bensa's Daye town as a hub where local smallholder farmers could deliver their cherries without the burden of long travel. From that single station, Daye Bensa has grown into a major Ethiopian exporter now operating dozens of washing stations, multiple dry mills, and its own farms across Sidama. The company also invests heavily in its communities, having funded the construction of five schools serving over 1,400 students and running a processing training program that has graduated more than 50 students. In 2020, a Daye Bensa lot placed seventh in Ethiopia's Cup of Excellence competition.

Why We Sourced This Coffee:

There's a reason washed Sidama coffees are a cornerstone of specialty — when the terroir and processing are right, they deliver a clarity and elegance that's hard to match. This lot from Qunqana is a textbook example: green plum, chamomile, apricot, and lemon tea — a clean, bright, and beautifully layered cup that showcases everything Bensa's high-altitude heirloom varieties are capable of.

The washed process here keeps things transparent — cherries are picked ripe and depulped the same day, fermented for 8–12 hours in open-air tanks, washed in water channels, then slowly dried on raised beds. It's a straightforward approach that demands discipline at every step, and Daye Bensa's decades of experience at Qunqana show in the result. At $18 for 200g, this is an exceptional entry point into Ethiopian specialty — a coffee with real pedigree, from a station with deep roots, at a price that invites you to drink it every day.

Notes: Green Plum, Camomile, Apricot, Lemon Tea