Bursting with ripe sweetness, juicy acidity and vibrant flavours of strawberry and peach, with blueberry jam in the aftertaste and a buttery, white chocolate body.
Perched in the highlands of Shakiso, in the Guji zone of southern Ethiopia, the Sawana drying station is a relatively new arrival – established in 2022 – but it's already producing some pretty special coffee. Before Sawana came along, cherries from the Bookkisa and Shoondhisa communities were processed together at a single shared station. Since 2022, Sawana has been operating as a dedicated home for Bookkisa coffee, sourcing cherries from around 30 smallholder farmers in the surrounding area. That separation matters. It means traceability, consistency, and a real sense of place – and it's that sense of place that gives this coffee its name. Bookkisa is the sub-kebele, the small settlement, where the farmers delivering to Sawana are based. The coffee is named after them and the land they tend. Simple as that.
Ethiopian coffee farming looks very different to what you might picture in, say, Colombia or Brazil. Forget sprawling estates with row upon row of trees. Here, farmers tend small plots – on average around 2.5 hectares – where coffee grows alongside subsistence crops, often in semi-forested or fully forested systems. It's closer to cultivation in its most natural sense. Trees are shaded, spaced, and largely left to find their own rhythm. The trade-off is yield. Planting density is low, and the national average sits at a remarkable 0.8 kg of cherry per tree per year – a fraction of what you'd expect in more intensively farmed regions. But what the trees lack in output, they more than make up for in flavour development. Slow growth, forest canopy, and rich highland soils at 2,000–2,150 metres above sea level all contribute to coffees with genuine complexity. All cherries delivered to Sawana are organically produced – a reflection of how these farms have always operated, rather than a certification to aspire to.
This lot is made up of two JARC selections – Gibirinna 74110 and Serto 74112 – both released by the Jimma Agricultural Research Centre following years of field trials. They're among Ethiopia's most celebrated cultivars: disease-resistant, high quality, and brilliantly expressive of their terroir. Sawana is part of the Sookoo Coffee network, owned by Ture Waji – one of the most respected names in Ethiopian specialty coffee. Sookoo works closely with farmers across the Guji region, offering fair pricing for cherries and investing in the infrastructure that makes traceable, high-quality lots possible. That relationship is central to what ends up in your cup. Processed naturally – cherries dried whole in the sun on raised beds – this coffee carries all the depth and fruit-forward intensity that Guji naturals are known for. Expect it to be generous.
- Country: Ethiopia
- Region: Oromia
- Zone: Guji
- Woreda: Shakiso
- Kebele: Bookkisa
- Drying Station: Sawana Station
- Collective: Sookoo Coffee
- Producer: Smallholder farmers
- Varietals: Gibirinna 74110 & Serto 74112
- Processing: Natural
- Altitude: 2,000–2,150 m.a.s.l.