Wete Ambela Coffee is a startup founded in 2018 by producer Mekuria Mergia, his wife and head of quality control Enatenesh Desalegn, and Elias Yifter, an expert in the export business. While their office is based in the capital city Addis Ababa, they have two washing stations - one in Wote Konga in Yirgacheffe, one in Hambela in Guji. The company name "Wete Ambela" is a combination of these two locations and a reflection of what Southern Ethiopia has to offer. Mekuria works together with multiple independent coffee producers and runs both washing stations. In Ethiopia where numerous independent producers bring in their harvest to a single washing station, it is essential to grade all the cherries to ensure overall quality. As such, Mekuria selects and grades the coffee cherries during three different harvest periods - beginning, middle, and end. While this demands extra workload, it ensures a quality cup throughout the harvest season. The trust between Mekuria and the local producers stem from the efforts he makes in improving the coffee quality, as well as their community. He offers financial stability to producers by providing fair wages and a bonus for excellent coffees, and cares for their health and education by investing in building hospitals and elementary schools for their children. This washed coffee provides a clean and comforting cup with nutty notes of almonds, rich like black tea, with a subtle sweetness and acidity of blueberries.