OMA FONTULE

Farmer: Musa Abalulesa
Origin: Ethiopia
Process: washed
Varietal: JARC 74110 & 74165
Roast level: light
 
In the cup: grapefruit iced tea, northern wildflowers, brownies
This coffee producer is no stranger to our menu. Musa makes some super nice coffees. This one is a pocket-friendly nice cup of washed Ethiopian coffee that does what it does. sweet tea like body & with some great fresh stone fruit flavours, but with some nice chocolate in the finish. This is easy to brew & easy to love. What's not to love about that?
 
About Musa & his family...
Musa Abalulesa and his brothers, Mustefa and Gugu, each farm small holdings in Gomma, Agaro. Musa and Mustefa jointly manage two farms outside Beshasha—Koye and Chanko—on land at 2,100 meters that was once dense jungle.
Before it was cleared for coffee, that parcel served as a hideout for their father, Abalulesa, a guerrilla resisting the Derg military regime. After repeated failed attempts to capture him—and mounting losses—the government placed a bounty on
his head. As his health declined, Abalulesa entrusted an old friend with a final request: claim the reward by telling authorities he had killed him, in gratitude for caring for him in his last months. Abalulesa died in 1977, when Musa was two. Under a later amnesty and reconciliation program, the government granted land to the family—property his sons now farm.
In 2006, Musa won a national competition organized by the Ethiopian government among 500 selected participants. The prize sent him to AFCA in Uganda and included both cash and a hand pulper. He reinvested the money to expand his farm to 43.8 hectares. Two years later, however, the launch of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange ended direct export, forcing him to sell locally in Agaro at commercial prices.

That shifted in 2016, when export liberalization allowed certain farmers to secure their own licenses. Crop to Cup became Musa’s first direct-sale customer that year. His success has encouraged others in the region—including Gugu—to pursue
direct export in search of stronger prices. Premiums earned since have funded farm renovations, new seedlings from his nursery, additional drying beds, shade cloth, and a larger warehouse. Musa farms organically, grows avocados, and keeps honey bees to diversify income. Together, Musa and Mustefa also operate a seed production business, supplying seeds to local government seed banks.