Gara Agenta, Ethiopia

ORIGIN OF THE PRODUCT Gara Agenta, Ethiopia

Faysel Abdosh established the Gara Agena station in 2020 with a clear intention: to create a space dedicated exclusively to premium natural coffee. The location was not accidental — the station sits in Hayissa Olocho village in Bura Woreda, Karamo, Sidama, alongside the Geta River. To reach it, you drive beyond the city of Daye and enter an 8-kilometre ascent through the Karamo mountains — a rugged route that ends at a summit where the Gara Agena mountain overlooks the station. The cool breeze from the Geta River and the microclimate created by the mountain are inseparable from this coffee's character. In its very first year of operation, a lot from Gara Agena placed in the Top 10 of the Cup of Excellence. Faysel's commitment extends beyond coffee: he invests in the surrounding community — electricity for nearby villages, school facilities, and clean water access. Processing at Gara Agena follows a precision protocol rarely seen in natural coffee. It begins with strict cherry selection — 95% peak-ripe, 5% overripe — followed by a density sort in water tanks to remove all floaters and retain only the most concentrated fruit. A 4-hour immersive soak follows, initiating a controlled enzymatic reaction that develops honey-like sweetness and conditions the cherries for a stable, prolonged drying cycle. Cherries are spread on raised beds at low density — 25kg per bed — in high-ventilation areas under shade netting to prevent direct UV exposure and flash drying. The drying phase extends to 35 days, slow enough to allow complex chemical transformations and physical stability in the bean. At Handpickers, we selected Sidama Gara Agena because it combines two things that rarely coexist: exceptional-altitude terroir with a microclimate perfectly suited for natural processing, and a producer who applies precision typically reserved for washed lots. The 74158 variety — a descendant of 1974 Bishari forest mother tree selections — carries decades of Ethiopian coffee heritage. This coffee belongs to our Exotic category: for those who want to understand what Ethiopia looks like at its peak.