Malawo Smallholders

Description

Malawo is an extraordinary washed Ethiopian coffee, produced by smallholders working with Daye Bensa in Sidama. These 74158 coffee beans deliver bright citrus acidity, a silky body and elevated jasmine florals.

Flavour Characteristics

Best As: Filter Coffee and Black espresso-based drinks

Flavour Profile: Jasmine Florals | Lemonade | Candied Lemon | Lemongrass | Peach

Origin & Producer Details

Producer: Malawo Smallholders

Organisation: Daye Bensa

Origin: Sidama, Ethiopia

Growing Area: Malawo, Arbegona

Variety: 74158

Process: Washed

Sourced Via: Coffee Legends

Suitable for

Espresso✓ Suitable

Filter Brewing✓ Suitable

Recommended rest

Days 0–23
Resting

Days 24–50
Best-tasting window

50+
Freeze

Recommended rest: For the best-tasting results, we recommend brewing this particular coffee 24–50 days off roast. Read our full guide to resting coffee. Learn why light roasts reward a longer rest.

Bought more than you can drink at its peak? Our guide to freezing coffee shows how to keep it tasting this good for months.

About Malawo

This is the third time that we have featured coffee produced by smallholders working with Daye Bensa. This particular lot was grown across small plots surrounding the village of Malawo, within the district of Arbegona in Ethiopia’s Sidama Region.

Coffee is the principal cash crop for many farming families in Arbegona, although farmers commonly cultivate it alongside sugar cane, enset—sometimes known as false banana—spices and vegetables. The area’s cool climate, substantial rainfall and dense vegetation slow the maturation of the coffee cherries, supporting the development of dense seeds with pronounced sweetness and aromatic complexity.

Daye Bensa is a family-run coffee producer and exporter founded by the brothers Assefa and Mulugeta Dukamo. The organisation has more than 20 years of experience and works with smallholder farmers through an extensive network of washing stations across Ethiopia’s coffee-growing regions. Across its wider operation, Daye Bensa reports working with approximately 2,500 member farmers alongside operating 71 washing stations, four coffee farms and 11 dry mills.

Washed Processing

Farmers deliver ripe coffee cherries to Daye Bensa’s washing station, where they are floated in water to remove lower-density and unsuitable fruit. Once sorted, the selected cherries are depulped before the parchment coffee is spread across raised African drying beds fitted with mesh nets.

The coffee is dried for approximately 12–15 days, depending on weather conditions. During this period, the parchment is turned every 30 minutes to encourage consistent airflow, promote even drying and protect the clarity of the finished cup.

This careful processing complements the natural characteristics of Malawo’s 74158 variety, resulting in a particularly clean and expressive coffee with jasmine-like florals, vibrant citrus and delicate stone-fruit sweetness.

The 74158 Variety

74158 is an Ethiopian coffee selection commonly associated with the Jimma Agricultural Research Centre, usually abbreviated to JARC. It is also frequently identified as Krume 74158.

The first two digits refer to the year of its selection work—1974—when researchers evaluated indigenous Ethiopian coffee populations for desirable characteristics such as cup quality, productivity and resistance to coffee diseases.

Following selection, successful varieties were propagated and distributed to coffee-growing communities. Today, 74158 is prized for the clean florality, citrus character and stone-fruit sweetness it can produce.

How to Brew This Coffee

Dial In With Accuracy

Because this coffee is expressive and extremely floral, accurately measuring your dose and yield will help you hit the sweet spot. We strongly recommend using a reliable scale — see our guide to the best coffee scales and our bench favourite, the Felicita Parallel.

Brewing Tips

Rest window: Follow the recommended 24–50 days off roast for the best clarity and balance.

Filter brewing: Start with a 1:16–1:17 ratio and a medium-fine grind, adjusting to balance the coffee’s floral notes and citrus intensity. Grind quality makes a big difference with filter, so here’s our pick of the best filter coffee grinders for home.

Espresso: Start with a longer ratio, such as 1:2.2–1:2.4, to showcase the coffee’s floral aromatics, citrus character and sweetness. An even, level tamp matters here too; see our guide to the best coffee tampers.

Starting recipe: Orea V4, 15.5g coffee, 250g water, target brew time of approximately 2:20.

Explore More Recipes

To try recipes from world-class coffee brewers, explore our guide to the best filter coffee recipes of 2026.

Explore Other Coffees

Bookkisa – a vibrant, tropical Ethiopian natural from Guji, with pineapple, blueberry juice and white peach.

Manuel Marlo Gesha – a bright, effervescent Peruvian Gesha with bergamot, jasmine and orange blossom.

Abner & Vanessa – a natural Brazilian coffee from husband-and-wife duo Abner and Vanessa, with notes of Hobnob biscuit, pear and creamy macadamia.

El Vergel Decaf – quite possibly the best decaf we've ever found. World-class flavour, without the buzz. Also available as a decaf subscription.

From our archive: Bekele Kachara – a natural 74158 from Sidama with clean blueberry, tropical fruit and Earl Grey character.

Browse all single-origin coffees

Want coffees like this delivered? Try our Single Origin Coffee Subscription, a rotating selection of our favourite single-origin coffees. Buying for someone else? Our gift coffee subscription makes a great present, and our office coffee subscription keeps your workplace stocked.

Explore Our Coffee Collections

Espresso Coffee Beans

Filter Coffee Beans

Coffee Subscriptions

Learn More About Coffee

A Complete Beginner’s Guide to Coffee Processing Methods

Text from Harmony Coffee's listing.