ICON 71 - Darara Dots

This lot is comprised of what is colloquially known as “Dots”, a term used for peaberries and tiny seeds. A true peaberry forms when only one seed develops in the cherry, giving a single rounded bean in place of the usual flat-sided pair. The Dots are mostly simply exceptionally small seeds, sorted out from the main harvest. These tiny, dense seeds are prized for their powerful flavour and as they dry and roast differently from standard-sized coffee, they are tracked and processed as their own lot rather than blended.

Ripe cherries are hand-picked and the small-seeded fruit is sorted out. The cherries are then dried whole on raised African beds as a natural, spread in thin layers, turned regularly for even drying, and covered against rain and moisture. Once they reach the right moisture content, the dried fruit is hulled away to reveal the green coffee.

Daye Bensa was founded in 1996 by brothers Asefa and Mulugeta Dukamo. It started with a single washing station in Bensa, Sidama, and has grown into one of Ethiopia’s best-known producer-exporters. Most of its coffee comes from tens of thousands of smallholders. The Duka Project goes further: it is a range of single-farm lots from a handful of small estates in the Bensa and Arbegona highlands, including Gatta, Rama, Arara and Darara. Each farm’s harvest is kept separate and processed in several deliberate ways, from simple naturals to extended anaerobic fermentations. That means each lot can be traced to one plot of land and one processing method.

Darara is a small farm of just 0.88 hectares in the highlands of Hamasho, Bensa, at 2,200–2,300 metres above sea level. In the local language Sidamigna, the area’s name refers to snakes, a nod to its past as dense forest. Darara was established in 2019 on that old forest land. It enjoys cool highland temperatures, sunny days, good airflow across rolling slopes and rich soil. Coffee is grown organically alongside other crops and livestock, with care taken to protect the area’s biodiversity. The farm is planted with JARC 74156, a selection known for its clarity and bright acidity. Cherries are harvested between December and February and processed at Daye Bensa’s Gatta Farm station.