Lilac Dream

Danche is tucked high on a hillside in a remote corner of the Gedeb district. I first set eyes on it in 2019 and immediately had great expectations for the coffee from that hill. Thanks to its high elevation, the station only serves a small area—farmers usually prefer walking down to a washing station, not up (can you blame them!).

That tight radius is lucky for us, because we get to taste the unique coffee of this small region. Most washing stations collect cherries from 10 or more surrounding communities, but this one draws from just three: Kubi, Sisota, and Sike. It has only 386 member farmers—less than half the number of its sister station, Chelbessa.

This particular lot is a mix of two regional landrace varieties: Kurume and Dega. If you sort through the beans, you’ll see some smaller ones (Kurume) and larger ones (Dega). These are the classic Gedeo varieties, found in the best-quality areas of the Gedeo zone—formally known as “Yirgacheffe.”

The Danche station is owned by Veer Trading PLC, a sister company of Snap Specialty Coffee. Snap is relatively new to coffee, originally starting as a computer trading company. In the early 2020s, they leapt into the coffee world by buying up washing stations at a rapid pace through Veer Trading. (In Ethiopia, exporters aren’t allowed to own washing stations, so the operations had to be technically separate.) This move allowed them to vertically integrate, control their supply, and build both quality and volume.

Over the past five years, I’ve followed Snap’s journey. Some of their stations have dipped a bit in quality—growing pains are real—but others, like Danche, have stayed consistently excellent. It’s a classic Southern Ethiopian coffee: clean, elegant, and brimming with florals. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.