Ethiopia - Nano Genji

 Nano Genji by Red Coffee Merchants

After twelve years of loving Nano Challa, we’re pleased to welcome Nano Genji, Nano Challa’s sibling mill, into the Agaro family. Historically one of the most coveted coffees in all of Western Ethiopia, Nano Challa membership did such an amazing job with production and processing that the tremendous premiums they were receiving caused their membership to swell to a level that pushed their capacity as far as it could go. Last year, they opened Nano Genji a few miles away with brand new Penagos equipment along with dozens of drying beds to accommodate their growing membership. With 630 members between the two washing stations, they’re looking forward to continued growth and success—and we’re looking forward to even more, even better coffee this year and beyond.

Part of the larger Agaro region in Jimma, these coffees have always formed a core of the Red Fox menu. In fact, our relationship with Agaro extends back far before Red Fox was born. In 2009 when Aleco first traveled to meet the people behind the Nano Challa cooperatives, their coffees were flowing into the marketplace undifferentiated and undervalued. Once USAID’s Technoserve project, which focused on improving African coffee farmers’ lives by helping them get better prices for their coffee, established the Nano Challa washing station, Aleco saw the unique character of their coffee and invested in developing relationships with its producers, which have grown stronger to this day.

Eleven years later, due to our longstanding relationship with the leaders of the larger Kata Muduga cooperative union, we’re proud to have the right to first selection in this region, and the results of that opportunity are clear on the cupping table. Nano Genji brings an intense, lively sweetness like candied ginger and a sparkling, champagne-like finish, a testament to the work put into these coffees during growing, picking, processing, and beyond.