Vivid notes of berry jam, black cherry, and apricot, complemented by a complex finish of dark cocoa and vanilla, all wrapped in a rich, full-bodied mouthfeel.
The Tokuma Group Blend brings together lots from four members of the Agaro-based Tokuma collective: Mensur Abahika, Nesru Aba Nura, Mohammed Aba Nura and Biya Faris. Each farmer looks after their own trees and processes their own coffee, drying the cherry slowly on raised beds for around three weeks. What you get in the cup is sweetness, clarity and plenty of expressive fruit.
The JARC 74110 and 74112 varieties were developed by Ethiopia's Jimma Agricultural Research Centre, which has spent decades selecting cultivars for disease resistance, steady yields and cup quality. Both came from mother trees in the forests around Bishari village in Metu, in south-western Ethiopia, and were catalogued in 1974 and released in 1979. Farmers value their resistance to coffee berry disease, and drinkers tend to find a clean, floral sweetness with bright acidity, which works beautifully in a natural.
Natural processing has deep roots in Ethiopia, partly because water isn't plentiful everywhere, and in Jimma it has become a deliberate choice. Drying the whole cherry on raised beds gives the fruit's sugars time to work their way into the seed, often bringing a fuller body, pronounced berry notes and a winey complexity. Tokuma's farmers take their time and turn the cherry regularly, which keeps the cup clean and bright. Since the 2022/23 harvest, several members have also been making washed lots, and the better facilities and closer attention that came with it have lifted their naturals too.
- Country: Ethiopia
- Region: Oromia
- Zone: Jimma
- District: Gomma
- Sub-region: Agaro
- Collective: Tokuma Farmers Group
- Elevation: 1,950 to 2,150 m.a.s.l.
- Variety: JARC 74110 and JARC 74112
- Processing method: Natural, dried on raised beds for around three weeks
Tokuma Farming Group: Transforming the Ethiopian Coffee Industry
Tokuma means unity in Oromo, and this group lives up to the name. It started as a handful of smallholder neighbours in Agaro swapping farming know-how and helping each other sell their coffee. Today it's a formal collective built on quality, transparency and full farm-level traceability, which was rare when most Ethiopian coffee went through the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) and individual producers stayed out of sight.
Reforms in 2017 opened up direct export, and Tokuma's members have made the most of it. By looking after every stage on their own land, they can show off the character of their coffees and earn a fairer return for their work.
Our importer Osito has worked with Tokuma for more than six years, watching a close circle of friends become a leading force in Jimma specialty coffee. Mensur Abahika was the first single producer they bought from in Ethiopia, in the 2019/20 harvest, and the group had six members as of 2023/24, in step with Osito's approach of going deeper rather than wider.