Lalesa is one of the finest coffee producing areas in Gedeo. Known for its dense layered semi forest vegetation structure encompassing “false banana” trees as well as shade grown coffee trees, Lalesa is a great example of best practices in coffee growing agroecology.

Alemayehu Tilahun built his wet mill in 2018 with the hope of purchasing exclusively red cherries from the nearby farmers in Lalesa. Alemayehu is a native of the Gedeo Zone; he started his journey to the coffee industry 17 years ago and still describes it as a success built on a strong foundation of relationships with the community.

Cherries are collected manually, hand sorted and pulped by a traditional Agaarde disc-pulper. Coffee is washed in channels, and pre-graded in water as parchment; lower density (lower quality) float and are removed, leaving only the denser and therefore higher quality beans which are separated as higher grade lots. The parchment then undergoes a wet fermentation for 48 hours. After fermentation, soaking takes place for 2 hours.

Coffee is then piled up in layers 2cm in height and dried over a 10 day period, followed by hand sorting for 2-4 hours