BASHA BEKELE DUWANCHO

About the Coffee

Basha Bekele farms alongside roughly 100 small producers in Bombe, a ridge community sitting at 2,300 meters above sea level in the Bensa zone of southern Ethiopia. Duwancho is one of the highest-altitude washing stations in the country, and the coffees coming out of this area have placed consistently near the top of the Ethiopian Cup of Excellence. Basha himself took first place there, which surprised no one who had been paying attention to this region.

At 2,300 meters, the cooler temperatures slow down cherry development, giving the seeds more time to build density. Denser seeds tend to hold more complexity through roasting. The coffee here uses the washed process, meaning the fruit is removed before fermentation and drying, which strips away a lot of the sugary fruit pulp and puts the focus squarely on the seed itself. The varietal is 74158 Heirloom, a selection developed by the Jimma Agricultural Research Center from Ethiopia's native forest coffee populations.

Traffic has been sourcing from this region for several years, and Bombe Duwancho is part of the same producer network that gave them Nguisse Nare, another coffee from this area that earned a strong following. The relationship runs deep enough that they've continued coming back every harvest.

About Traffic

Traffic Coffee was founded by Greg Lancot and Jessie Lewin in Montréal. The two came at coffee from a creative angle, and that shows in everything from their vividly illustrated packaging to how they approach sourcing. They work in small batches and keep their relationships with producers direct and ongoing rather than transactional.

Their sourcing philosophy lands in two camps: either they let a varietal speak for itself with minimal processing intervention, or they lean into more experimental techniques. The Duwancho sits in the first camp, a clean washed coffee from a single, well-documented washing station where altitude and farming do most of the talking.

"Traffic's breadth of coffee is remarkable - from dark roasts reminiscent of your grandmother's kitchen, to wild co-ferments with tasting notes we admittedly have to look up. The packaging and the coffee inside is meant to captivate you, and I hope you feel the same when you try this coffee."

- Dean, Director of Coffee