Coffee marketing is full of borrowed badges. We sell certified Grade 1, single-origin, natural-process Ethiopian coffee — and we would rather explain those three words carefully than print a logo we have not earned.
Ethiopia grades export coffee by defect count and cup quality. Grade 1 is the top of that ladder — the fewest defects, the cleanest cup. Every lot we buy carries that grade on its export paperwork, and it is the only grade we sell.
Yirgacheffe is Yirgacheffe. Sidamo is Sidamo. Guji is Guji. We never blend regions and sell the result as a single origin — the whole point of Ethiopian coffee is that each highland tastes like itself.
All current lots are natural process: whole cherries dried on raised beds under Ethiopian sun. It is the traditional method for these regions, it uses no wet-mill water, and it is where the fruit and wine notes in the cup come from.
We are not certified organic, Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance or B-Corp, and you will not see those logos on our bags. Most Ethiopian smallholder plots are farmed without synthetic inputs, but a certificate is a certificate — if we ever earn one, it will be on the label. Until then we say only what the export paperwork says: Grade 1, single origin, natural process.
We buy Grade 1 lots, and Grade 1 commands the highest price in the Ethiopian export market. We do not publish per-lot prices yet; when we can do so properly, we will. We will never quote a "percent above fair trade" figure we cannot document.
Coffee is roasted in Ethiopia at origin, then imported and packed by Liyyu Coffee LLC in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania. Every bag is stamped with its roast date. We sell the current import lot — not a roast-to-order story we cannot keep.
Matte stand-up pouches with a foil-lined interior and a one-way degassing valve. We chose them for freshness first; they are not compostable, and we would rather say so than print a leaf on them. Details are on the packaging page.
Taste the difference the grade makes