Moyee Presents our latest Microlot Shakiso - Limited Time Only The Microlot Shakiso has classic and pronounced Guji profiles, including: citrics, florals, and stonefruits. Tasting Profiles:  Roast: Medium   Flavours: Citrics, florals, and stonefruits. Cupping Info: Floral, Blue Berries, Vanilla  Altitude: 1800m Process: Washed  Farmer Haile's Story   Coffee is Haile’s enemy and his friend. At the age of 10, Haile Gebre and his family fled their home near Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia because feudal lords claim their land to produce coffee on a large scale. Although Haile is a son of a coffee smallholder, he felt betrayed by coffee. It took years for Haile to turn his childhood enemy into a dear friend.  After a fleeting three month stay at the University of Addis Ababa in his twenties, Haile signed up to the Navy in 1972. His superiors find Haile to be a smart and cunning recruit, so they assign him to the engineering and navigation division. But for Haile, this role came without a challenge, so he returned to the University.    Haile's Imprisonment & Government Work   The back and forth from the army to University paved a way to Haile picking up a government job, working for the Ministry of Land Reform and the Cooperative Institute in Awassa from 1973 – 1976. Haile became known to be a passionate and opinionated official. His active approach towards some sensitive social issues eventually brought him a 3-year prison sentence. When released, Haile decided to leave Ethiopia to study Business Management in Moscow.  After five years in Moscow, he graduated in 1984 and returned to Addis Ababa to teach Cooperative Management. From there, he became the Oromia Regional Governor and established the Cooperative Bank of Oromia Cooperative Union – with a specific focus on coffee cooperatives.  RECONCILING WITH COFFEE   In 2001, Haile reconciled with coffee. Together with his wife and seven daughters he returned to his coffee roots and made a home in the highlands of Guji. There, he inherited a piece of family land suitable for growing coffee. From there, Haile started to dream big. He spread seedlings among locals and convinced them that this crop would change their lives. In the last fifteen years, Haile oversaw Guji transform from a cattle farming area to a coffee region. This is largely due to his pioneering spirit, putting Guji Coffee on the map. Today, more than 45 washing stations and 55 dry mills have been established since the introduction of coffee in the Guji region.  About our Microlot Series  Our ambition is to provide our customers with radically good coffee, to roast 100% of our beans in the coffee belt so that more jobs, skills, and value can stay local; to ensure coffee farmers earn a living income and their communities thrive. Our Microlot series allows us to transport YOU to coffee-growing countries throughout the world while offering a truly unique tasting experience. We aim to put a face and a name to the coffee you will be drinking and celebrate the skill and dedication that the growers have for their trade. In the same way, you would say thank you to your local barista in the morning, we want to acknowledge the tireless effort of all the farmers and roasters we will feature throughout the series.  Moyee Coffee Impact Mission Currently, 90% of the proceeds of the total coffee production disappear into the pockets of a number of large multinationals, which we call the 'Big Coffee'. This means that the coffee farmers are left with only 10% of the value. Value where nothing has been 'added' - only 2% is actual profit! We may be entrepreneurs, but this imbalance cannot be justified in any way.  By applying FairChain principles we leave 300% more money in the coffee-producing country. We also pay our farmers a 20% FairChain premium with the aim of growing towards a living income.