Tsebel - Guji

MORE ABOUT THIS COFFEE: 
So much can be said about the hard work, planning, relationship building and luck that goes into growing, harvesting and importing truly high quality, high value coffee. 

Tsebel is a stellar representation of what makes Ethiopian coffees so unique in terms of flavor, but also a great example of the complicated, often precarious orchestra of international players required to create something so beautiful, even while fleeting. 

For many years this organically grown, traceable community-lot coffee had been available to us and we're extra grateful for being able to return to it year after year.

It was brought to us by the Catalyst Trade team - a small, quality focused Portland-Ethiopia based coffee importing company that focused on Ethiopian coffees. Beginning in 2018, Marigold worked with Catalyst as a reliable pipe-line to some really terrific coffees. Not only were their coffees phenomenal but as a company we felt at ease knowing their ethical approach always centered on equity and transparency with the growers and stakeholders in Ethiopia. 

It is not an exaggeration to say, that great tasting, high-value and ethically traded coffee is a miracle, given all the things that can (and often do) go wrong along the way.

Sadly, our friends at Catalyst Trade are no longer in green coffee business. We're very grateful for having been in relationship with them these past years.  Their impact on so many of us small and medium sized roasters in the Pacifica Northwest was truly outsized. We'll miss working with them! We'll miss their beautifully curated selection of special coffees!

The international arena of green coffee procurement and trade is an intricate and complicated dance. Like so many things these days, the world of sourcing, shipping and international trade involve an incredible number of steps, numerous stakeholders, huge capital investment, and all of it is subject to machinations at play that are beyond any individual's control: monetary policy; changing interest rates; political interruption; investor's cold feet and for lack of better terms, the capricious winds of luck. 

When you're a small fish among whales, the tides of change in a rapidly changing environment can be greater than your ability to weather the sea change. The people who started Catalyst - Emily and Michael MacIntire and Zelalem Girma Bayou - did something extraordinary, admirable and ambitious. They should be proud of their accomplishments and for how they made so many of us think differently about coffee quality. They're also ones to continue to follow in the ever-evolving world of coffee. 

One last hurray as Tsebel! It's one of the last offerings that we have from Catalyst, and one to savor!