Reminds us of - Sugar cookie & lemon drops
12oz Retail | 5lb Bulk Bags

Smallholders // Fosan CWS, Yirgacheffee, Ethiopia
Washed heirloom varietals // 2100+ masl

Mickias (Micki) Alamirew emigrated from Ethiopia to the Denver metro in the late '90s. As the city has grown, so too has the diaspora where now more than 35,000 Ethiopians call the city home. This vibrant community maintains many Ethiopian traditions, including at-home coffee ceremonies with friends and family. With so many Ethiopians needing raw coffee to roast for these ceremonies, Micki saw an opportunity to import coffee from back home and sell it to his community in Denver.

So, Micki and his wife Mercy started Lucy Coffee to invest in Fosan, a small yet carefully managed 3.5-acre farm and washing station in Yirgacheffe, the famous coffee-growing area in Ethiopia's southern Gedeo Zone. We met Micki around this time as he sought feedback from local commercial roasters about the quality of the coffee he was importing. Needless to say, we were blown away. 

The coffees from Fosan are a remarkable expression of its high-elevation terroir, grown at an altitude of 2,100+ meters above sea level. Purchasing cherry from neighboring smallholders as well as growing their own, coffees at Fosan are processed using both traditional washed and raised-bed natural methods, allowing the unique floral, citrus, and stone fruit characteristics of Yirgacheffe coffee to shine.

What's more, Micki and Mercy are dedicated to improving both the infrastructure of Fosan and the livelihoods of the people in the community. They have invested in equipment and training on the farm, with particular emphasis on improving incomes for women and workers with families.

Beyond the farm, they have also funded improvements to the community's school and coordinated with local officials to aid with road construction. According to Micki, "I’m fortunate enough — I live in America — I’ve got everything. [In Ethiopia] it’s tougher. The lifestyle is different. The local officials have asked us to fix the road, fix some school equipment, and stuff like that, so we’ve done that so far, but we want to do it on a larger scale. We started on a small scale, and now we’re getting a little bit bigger, so we’re trying to give back as much as possible.”