Ethiopia Tulise Natural Anaerobic Filter

The Tulise Washing Station sits in Gedeb, one of the highest and most celebrated coffee-growing districts of Ethiopia’s Gedeo Zone. Around 500 smallholder farmers from the villages of Idido, Cherbenta, Wachota, and Gerbota cultivate tiny family plots at approximately 2,000 meters above sea level. Coffee is rarely grown on large estates here — Instead, each family typically tends less than one hectare alongside crops such as enset, maize, and bananas, creating naturally diverse agroforestry systems.

Coffee farming in Gedeb remains largely traditional. Most work is done by hand, from selective cherry picking to transporting freshly harvested coffee to the washing station. The coffee trees grow beneath native shade trees in a semi-forested environment, where cool nights and warm days slow cherry maturation and contribute to exceptional sweetness and complexity.