Ethiopia Kolla Bocha

We're very excited about our new single origin offering, Kolla Bolcha, via our wonderful partners at Red Fox Coffee Merchants. An exceptional Ethiopian coffee, Kolla Bolcha came about partially because of the investment of the nonprofit organization Technoserve. Ten years ago, the Agaro region where Kolla Bolcha is grown was not known for high-quality coffee. What changed?

With the help of Technoserve, the farmers in Agaro were able to purchase a Penagos coffee pulper and began to adopt a washed process for their beans, rather than the natural process they used previously. The end result of the collaboration between the Ethiopian farmers and Technoserve is the coffee we enjoy today.

The farmers of the Agaro region are far from the only coffee growers who have benefitted from the assistance of Technoserve, which is why we'd like to highlight this exceptional organization and give consumers an awareness of who they are and what they do.

Technoserve was founded by American businessman and philanthropist Ed Bullard in 1968, while he was volunteering in Ghana. He realized that by providing underprivileged producers with access to funding and information (i.e. giving them access to the privileges he himself enjoyed) they would be fully capable of producing high-value products on their own. 

Ed's intuition proved to be correct. Since the organization's founding, Technoserve has improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of producers in developing countries through training, funding, and market access. The organization has focused much of its effort toward empowering women in particular.

So successful has Technoserve been at achieving its mission, that in February of 2020, it was awarded the National Coffee Association's Charity of the Year award. Additionally, major nonprofit watchdogs Charity Navigator and GuideStar have consistently rated Technoserve highly. Technoserve also partners and coordinates with other aid organizations, notably USAID.

Snowy Owl is proud to recognize the efforts of Technoserve and to serve coffee that has been facilitated in part through their efforts.

SWP Natural Ethiopian Decaf

Region: Sidamo

Producer: Smallholder Farmers

Farm: Smallholder Farms

Altitude: 1,800 meters above sea level

Varietal: Kurume, Dega, Wolisho

Process: Natural, Swiss Water Decaf

Harvest: November-March

Tasting Notes: Berry, Honey, Chocolate

This naturally processed Swiss Water decaf coffee comes from the Sidamo region of Southern Ethiopia. Smallholder farmers produce and harvest this coffee at an elevation of 1,800 masl, selecting only the ripe cherries individually by hand. They often rotate among trees every week or so, only choosing cherries that are at their peak ripeness. This coffee is made up of local varietals such as; Kurume, Dega and Wolisho. Coffees from this region are known for their sweet, fruity profile and this decaf coffee is no different as a cup of this coffee yields berry, honey, and chocolate flavor notes. 

Sidamo, also known as Sidama, is not only a region but a tribal group. It is also a vast coffee producing agricultural area that contains the smaller but well-known subregions Yirgacheffe and Guji. Most coffees that come from this area come from one of the large co-ops in the Sidama Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union in the northwest of the Yirgacheffe subregion. This union is made up of 51 highly respected individual co-ops that each represent thousands of farmers.