Horny Goat Coffee - New harvest from Raro Nansebo

Horny Goat – beautiful specialty coffee from Ethiopia

The latest harvest of Horny Goat Coffee has come from washing stations located in the village of Raro Nansebo in the Guji zone of the Oromia region of southern Ethiopia. This is a relatively young, but already famous, coffee area which is recognized for its unique and distinctive cup profiles. It is a beautiful landscape of forest jungle at a high elevation of 2,100 - 2,350 meters above sea level. This high altitude does wonders for the slower maturation and development of flavour of the coffee cherries.

Our producer partner Ture Waji is famously known as ‘The King of Guji’! He is the gentle owner of Sookoo Coffee, located in the Woredas of Uraga and Shakisso. He has built strong connections to the land, its community and farmers, as he grew up in the region. Thanks to the trade and coffee liberalization in Ethiopia in recent years, he was able to build his first washing station and export his first coffee in 2018. We are proud to be partnering him at this moment.

The people behind Horny Goat coffee

Our Horny Goat coffee comes from the Laayyoo natural lot, undoubtedly amongst one of the best coffees in the region. This natural lot was processed and dried in the sun with the fruit on for more than 21 days. This all happens at the Raro Nansebo washing station, in the Kebele (village) of Raro Nansebo. The cherries are farmed by a community of washing station registered outgrowers in the Kebele (village) of Teraga.

The word Laayyoo refers to the indigenous tree growing in this area, used for shade on coffee plantations. Its deep roots allow for the falling leaves to offer rich, nutrient-dense compost, acting also as a fertilizer for the coffee.

The farmers, the community and the infrastructure

The owner of the coffee company, Ture Waji, invests his time between harvests to educate farmers on good agricultural practices to help improve the quality of their cherry. His company provides pre-harvest loans to farmers who, for example, need to pay labour to do maintenance on the farm, such as weeding and planting. Although we cannot draw a direct relation, this access to finance should mean that smallholder farmers need to draw less upon their family members, including their children. The washing stations employ a ‘woman-first’ policy and the company has built a school for the children. Roads have also been built to improve the infrastructure. Creating a sustainable future for the local farmers and their families is a key goal for Ture.

Fairer prices and high quality coffee

We are very happy to be working with Coffee Quest and Ture in sourcing and importing this coffee from Guji, and their commitment to working with the local communities and the export partner to improve quality, traceability and fair pricing to all those in the value chain, starting with the farm workers. These kinds of initiatives are vital to not only improving the livelihoods of a lot of people but also to help ensure that we can all still have access to these brilliant coffees long into the future.

Our Horny Goat coffee is more than just an homage to Kaldi and his dancing goats from 1000 years ago. It also represents our strong beliefs in the shared values we have with our partners to bring fairer priced and beautiful coffees to a wider audience. We hope you enjoy it!

Buy Horny Goat Specialty coffee?

Click here to go to our Horny Goat coffee.

Click here to find out more about Ethiopian coffee and our travels to this beautiful land

By Richard Jones, founder of Jones Brothers Coffee