Our Story
Founded by Q-processing professional Mr. Robel Kidane and his Family, Lulo Coffee is a vertically integrated Ethiopian coffee producing and exporting company.
Robel’s roots in the town of Dilla (a coffee trade hub surrounded by Sidama, Gedeo (Yirgacheffe) and Guji) is where the passion for coffee came from.
Lulo Coffee export office and The Lulo Lab is located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Our coffees are sourced mainly from the coffee growing regions east of the rift valley; such as Sidama, West Arsi, Gedeo (Yirgacheffe), and Guji. We can’t tell you for sure if the volcanic ash that had fallen on this side of the valley is the reason, but we can all agree these areas are known to produce some of the most exquisite Ethiopian Specialty Coffees.
We source our coffees in three different ways
From our partner farms – Single farm coffees
Through our program called The Lulo Promise, we identify and work with single farmers who have a minimum of two hectares and with commitment to produce high quality, truly traceable single farm micro-lots. Working as their agent, we help these farmers in finding a market for their coffee, handling the final pre-shipment processing and dealing with export logistics. And, we pass up to 88% of the value to the farmer. The Lulo promise both to the farmer and the buyer is an absolute transparency in pricing and traceability.
From ours and our partner’s Mills
Where having a farm is impossible, we set up a mill or work with mill owner in a particular area. Through this arrangement, we now have presence in Hambella Guji, Idedo Yirgacheffe, Nensebo West Arsi and Cheri Sidama producing some of the best quality Fully-Washed, Honey, and New-Natural Specialty Coffee
From our farms
We are working to have our own farms in each of the regions stated above. We acquired our very first farm in Gedeo Zone. The farm, currently under development, would be planted with 32,000 coffee trees by late summer 2021 and should be ready for first harvest by 2024. We are already working on our 2nd farm in Hambella Guji. Wherever we have a farm, we plan to set up an out-grower program that would encourages smallholder farmers within the district to closely work with our team.
Commitment to Organic Farming and Processing Practice
Though we have yet to certify ours and our partners’ farms and mills, we strictly adhere to organic farming and coffee processing practice. Neither we nor our partner farmers practice the use of chemicals as fertilizer, insecticides, or pesticide. All our coffees are grown organically using composts made out of fallen leaves, mowed weeds, cow manure, and coffee pulps (a byproduct during coffee processing).
High Altitude, Shade Grown, Garden coffee
Our specialty coffee offerings are all grown in shades, above 1800masl and in garden style coffee farms. Garden coffees are grown in mixed-crop plots where other fruits and food staples are grown with coffee in conjunction. These conditions are ideal for a soil health and to get sweet, fruity and floral coffee that are typical to the Ethiopian highlands.
Commitment to Sustainability
Wherever we have farms we promote biodiversity and regenerative agricultural practice to sustain a healthy soil composition that are nourishing to the coffee trees. For every four coffee trees we plant, we plant one false banana and one indigenous tree. False bananas hold water from the rainy season in their trunks, and they disperse the water into the surrounding ground during the dry season keeping the soil moist for most of the year. Leaves fallen from the trees become natural compost to the farmland.
In wet processed coffee, Organic matter from the pulp and acidic waste water from fermentation tanks are the most damaging waste to the environment if they are allowed to join the local rivers and streams untreated. The two create uninhabitable atmosphere by depleting available oxygen and acidifying the river eco-system. We implement improved waste management system to neutralize the acidity and to filter and collect organic matters from our waste water.
Social
Impact
Besides creating over 100 seasonal and permanent job opportunities in every mill and farm we operate, our social program “The Lulo Promise” is transformational in bringing value to our partner farmers. The Lulo Promise provides opportunity to farmers with two hectares and above to be able to export their own coffee. We work as the farmers’ legal agent in finding them a market and handling the final green coffee pre-shipment grading and export process. Through the program, we are passing up to 88% of the sell price to the farmers. We promise an absolute price transparency both to the farmer and the buyer.
Our mission is to become a producer/exporter that is socially conscious and environmentally sustainable, while bringing the most value to the farmers.
Single Farm Coffees
Currently, we have over 30 single farmers
who participate in our program, The Lulo
Promise. In this program, we help farmers
find a market for their high quality, single
farm coffees. Up to 88% of the coffee
value is passed to the farmers…
Coffee from our Mills
Through ownership and partnership, we
are currently operating a total of four
mills in Guji, Sidama, Yirgacheffe and
West Arsi…