Ethiopia Sasaba Natural Coffee

Ethiopia Sasaba Natural Coffee Beans

Guji, Ethiopia | Natural Process

A fruit-forward Ethiopian natural from Sasaba, selected by Staccato after an extensive search for an expressive, berry-driven coffee.

This natural-process coffee comes from Sasaba in the Kercha district of Guji, Ethiopia, where coffee is grown by hundreds of smallholder farmers in the surrounding highlands.

The Sasaba station was founded by Tsegay Hagos Tesfaye and works with more than 500 smallholder farmers. Coffee in the area is grown at approximately 2,000–2,150 meters above sea level, and the station operates more than 600 African drying beds for processing coffee.

For natural-process coffees like this one, ripe coffee cherries are dried with the fruit surrounding the seed. At Sasaba, natural coffees typically spend approximately 15–20 days drying before being prepared for export.

Our Sasaba was sourced through Trabocca, which has worked with Sasaba since 2013. We're currently developing the final production roast at Staccato Roasters and will add our complete tasting notes and roast details once that work is finished.

Coffee Details

• Country: Ethiopia
• Region: Guji
• District: Kercha
• Station: Sasaba
• Founder: Tsegay Hagos Tesfaye
• Process: Natural
• Variety: Mixed Heirloom
• Altitude: Approximately 2,000–2,150 MASL
• Importer: Trabocca
• Product Form: Whole Bean Coffee

What Makes Sasaba Special?

Sasaba sits in the highlands of Guji, one of Ethiopia's best-known specialty coffee-producing areas. Coffee production here is built around smallholder farmers who grow coffee at high elevations and deliver harvested cherries to centralized processing stations such as Sasaba.

The station works with more than 500 farmers from the surrounding area. Its more than 600 African drying beds provide the space needed to carefully dry coffees during processing, including natural lots where the harvested coffee cherries remain intact during drying.

Sasaba's founder, Tsegay Hagos Tesfaye, has also worked to support participating farmers through training and quality premiums. Trabocca has maintained a relationship with Sasaba since 2013, creating a long-running connection between the station and the specialty coffee market.

Learn more about coffees from this origin in our Ethiopian Coffee Beans collection.

Natural Processing at Sasaba

For this coffee, harvested cherries are naturally processed, meaning the coffee seed dries while still surrounded by the fruit of the coffee cherry.

Natural processing can produce intensely expressive coffees, but the process requires careful drying and management. At Sasaba, natural coffees typically dry for approximately 15–20 days on African drying beds before further preparation and export.

The process doesn't guarantee any particular flavor. Variety, growing conditions, cherry ripeness, fermentation, drying, roasting, and brewing all contribute to what ultimately appears in the cup.

If you're curious about why some coffees can naturally develop pronounced berry and fruit characteristics, visit our Blueberry Coffee guide.

Why We Chose Sasaba

I had been searching for a coffee with the kind of expressive berry character that first made me fall in love with fruit-forward Ethiopian coffees. As soon as I tasted the first Sasaba sample, I realized this was what I had been looking for.

The berry character was right up front. It immediately stood out and made me want to keep working with the coffee to find out what we could bring out of it through roasting.

That first tasting wasn't the end of the development process—it was the beginning. We've been sample roasting, tasting, adjusting, and learning how Sasaba responds as we work toward the production roast we want to put in the bag.

Rather than publish final tasting notes before that work is complete, we're going to let the coffee tell us where it lands. Once the production profile is approved, we'll update this page with our final flavor profile, roast level, brewing recommendations, and more of what we've learned along the way.

Coming Soon to Staccato Roasters

Ethiopia Sasaba Natural is currently in roast development and is not yet available for purchase.

Once the final production roast is approved, we'll update this page with tasting notes, roast information, brewing recommendations, available bag sizes, and inventory.

In the meantime, explore our guide to naturally blueberry and berry-forward coffee or browse our Ethiopian Coffee Beans.