Mulugeta Muntasha - Washed

MEET THE PRODUCER | Mulugeta Muntasha grew up in the Bursa village of Arbegona, Ethiopia—a region which didn’t really grow coffee a decade ago. As a teenager, he worked as a truck driver in neighboring Arsi, transporting coffee lots from local smallholders to a private washing station. It is there that Mulugeta learned the business of coffee, and he took his newfound knowledge and understanding back to his home village of Bursa in 2021, shortly after farmers there had begun to plant coffee trees in an effort to cope with economic strain and climate change. He established his own drying station in the area, called Dawencho, and placed second in the Cup of Excellence only a year later.  Today, Mulugeta owns a small network of washing and drying stations throughout the Sidama region, and his name is a mainstay at CofE cupping tables. He and others in the region are working to create agency and build value for themselves as coffee producers—a feat which has not often been undertaken, or ap