"It takes quite a journey to get to Shimekt Daba’s large 120-hectare coffee farm in Wolemso, in the Limu Kossa district of western Ethiopia. After a scenic drive through green forested hills and a 30-minute trek through the forest, you walk over a small log bridge spanning the Dembi river, past a small nursery of coffee seedlings, and arrive at the farm’s washing station. At an altitude of 1780 meters above sea level, this is one of the lowest points of the farm.

In 2008, the hills that rise from the washing station were covered in dense forests of sesa (Albizia gummifera), berbera (Milicia/African Teak), and acacia. Today, the older trees live side-by-side with new coffee trees, providing shade for the newcomers in their semi-forest home.
A lot of what makes the Wolemso farm special is the care and planning that went into it. Shimekt’s father used to own a coffee farm in the same area in the 70s but lost it when the communist government came to power. Thirty years later, Shimekt had a chance to ask for land in the same area. Well-versed in what coffee trees need to flourish, he first made sure he found land that had the ideal altitude, proper rainfall, and a great source of water.

The Wolemso farm is set on hills, and therefore has altitudes ranging from 1750 to 2000 meters above sea level. Choosing four different varieties of coffee suitable for the range of altitudes, Shimekt and his team set to work preparing the land and planting the seedlings in 2008. In 2016, the farm got its washing station and started washing its own coffee. About the same time, the Wolemso farm earned its CERES organic certification as well.
The Wolemso farm produces top-quality grade one Limu coffee. This is not because of chance, every step is carefully monitored. As Shimekt says, “Quality is in the process. We have inspections at every stage. That is the only way we can make specialty coffee.” There are 120 full-time and part-time workers on the farm all year caring for and tending to the coffee trees. This involves painstaking and time-consuming work on each individual coffee tree, as well as shade management on other trees on the farm. During harvest season, the farm hires 400-500 temporary workers to help with the harvest. After harvesting, there are inspectors on site who check each batch of cherries. “If by any chance there are cherries that have slipped through the fingers of our workers, they are weeded out here”, says Shimekt.

The cherries are then washed and processed using water from the Dembi river. The river itself is fed by a spring that flows from the base of Sekar mountain a few kilometers away, meaning it is pure, untouched water that the washing station uses. After washing, the beans are slowly dried on shaded African drying beds.
Part of the Wolemso farm’s produce is also used to produce natural sundried specialty coffee at Shimekt Daba’s dry mill in Limu Genet town. Here too, Shimekt trains his staff to ensure the process maintains quality at each step.

Having grown up in Limu, Shimekt is quite passionate about Limu coffee and wants to make sure that only the best gets sent around the world. His plans for the future include setting up a final processing plant and warehouse in Addis Ababa that can process Wolemso coffee – as well as other Limu coffees – to standards suitable for final export, ensuring that Limu’s unique flavors make it unaltered to the rest of the world."